Meet our WNHS WA Nursing and Midwifery Awards finalists

In the lead up the 2025 Western Australia Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards on 10 May, we are shining a spotlight on our finalists from our Women and Newborn Service.

Meet Eloise

Congratulations to Eloise Pascoe, who is a finalist in Graduate of the Year category.

Eloise works in Midwifery Group Practice 4 at Women and Newborn Health Service.

The midwife is passionate about providing care to women and supporting them to bring babies into the world.

Growing up, Eloise said she greatly admired her aunty and grandmother who were both midwives and the warm way in which they talked about their profession, which made her curious about pursing a career as a midwife.

“In Midwifery Group Practice you provide every aspect of the woman’s care. You educate them through antenatal appointments; you empower them through birth and then you support them with breastfeeding and postnatal healing at home," Eloise said.

“The appreciation you receive as a professional who helped guide them in their journey is unparallel. Plus being able to cuddle babies is pretty great too.

“That final postnatal check after doing their antenatal appointments where you spend hours together discussed birth plans, perineal massage, breastfeeding, test results, ultrasounds and so much more, to supporting them through labour and birth where you are a shoulder to lean on and encourage them through one of the most physically and mentally challenging things they will ever do and then completing their follow up care in the comfort of their own home with their beautiful new baby debriefing their experience is incredible.

“Being nominated for an award is nice, but helping women achieve their dream birth is unreal."

Meet Melinda

Congratulations to Melinda Olive who is a finalist in the Excellence in Leadership – Emerging category.

Melinda is the Senior Project Nursing Lead for the Abortion Legislation Reform Project at WNHS.

With a background in project management before becoming a nurse, Melinda’s unique skillset fit perfectly with the roll out of the updated Abortion Legislation.

Melinda said she was drawn to this project, as it represents the opportunity to help remove barriers for patients trying to access care.

“Caring for patients having medical abortions opened my eyes to how difficult their journey was and how many barriers there were to navigate trying to access care,” Melinda said.

“The legislation reform removed a lot of those barriers and I wanted to be part of creating a smoother and more supported journey for patients seeking abortion care.”

Melinda was recognised is being a people person enriched with kindness, who had worked tirelessly to establish good governance and instil a positive culture within existing clinical groups and support the development of a gold-standard, women-centred, trauma-informed service.

A well-respected member of the team, Melinda was recognised for continuously looking for ways to influence and support others as a passionate and confident leader.

Reflecting on her journey as a leader, Melinda said she was incredibly grateful for the people she’s been able to work with.

“I have been so lucky to work with the most amazing, passionate people; from the dedicated clinicians on the floor providing world class care, to the NMHS Clinical Planning team who have been as invested in this project as we have, to our incredible WNHS Executive team who have been so supportive and involved. I’ve been in constant awe of the help and support we’ve received,” she said.

“There has been so many incredible leaders that I’ve learned from and I’m so thankful for their guidance.”

A particular highlight for Melinda was the development of the statewide Abortion Care Guidelines as well as all the achievements of her team.

“Having a dedicated guideline that ensures a safe and consistent approach to abortion care across the state is something truly remarkable and something I’m incredibly proud of,” she said.

Meet Jane-Anne

Jane-Anne Gardner is a Clinical Midwife Diabetes Educator and Midwife Educator at Women and Newborn Health Service, who is a finalist in the Excellence in Midwifery category.

She said she is deeply passionate about providing women and families of WA with the best possible care she can. Advocating for women is at the heart of everything she does as a midwife.

Jane decided to pursue a career as a midwife after a complicated pregnancy with twins. She gave birth at 32 weeks at King Edward Memorial Hospital and her twins were cared for in the Special Care Nursery.

A simple yet extraordinary act of care from her midwife to to help her breastfeed her premature twins led to Jane-Anne wanting to provide support and encouragement to others navigating their pregnancy and birth journey.

“When a woman and her family trust me as their midwife to keep them safe, it is an incredible honour and responsibility.” Jane-Anne said.

“Every day I strive to meet that trust with the upmost care and dedication. The moment a family turns to me and says, thank you for being with us, is my greatest reward. Knowing that I have positively impacted their journey is what drives me to continue in this profession.

“Every achievement I have had is thanks to the incredible WNHS staff, both past and present who have taken the time to mentor, support and simply listen to me. I wouldn’t be the midwife I am today without the WNHS family.”

North Metropolitan Health Service has a total of seven finalists in WANMEA. We wish all our finalists the best of luck.

WANMEA winners will be announced at an event on 10 May.

To view the full list of WANMEA finalists.