Mookai Maternal Health Care
Mookai has proudly supported families from Cape York Peninsula, the Torres Strait, and Gulf regions with maternal health care for more than 45 years.
Our midwives work closely with our GP Obstetricians, midwife and nurse navigators, and our Social and Emotional Wellbeing team to ensure women and families with complex needs are well supported throughout their pregnancy and the early days after bub is born.
Mookai Maternal Health is available for all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families from rural and remote communities throughout the Cape York, NPA and Torres Strait Island regions whilst they are in Cairns. This includes non-Indigenous women who are pregnant with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander baby.
Mookai Rosie is proud to offer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural birth attendant and doula services for our clients – commonly known in community as Chalali Doulas!
The birth attendants work alongside our midwives and can accompany you to the hospital for pregnancy checks, your birth and the days after bub is born.
Our care continues after your discharge from the hospital and we help you transition back to your home community. We also offer a bus service for clients who require assistance getting to their appointments. We encourage all eligible clients to see our midwives for new worries, pregnancy and postnatal checks, and opportunistic health checks whilst in Cairns.
Mookai Midwives accept clients referred by Community Clinics, Apunipima, the RFDS, Child Safety and Queensland Health, and supports access and referrals to visiting Allied Health professionals and specialist services. You can also book an appointment with our midwifery team without a referra
Midwifery Services
Mookai Midwives provide pregnancy care, support and education for expecting families. Using yarning circles and drawing on the cultural knowledge of communities, families and elders, we ensure mum, dad and bub are as prepared as possible for the new arrival.
Mookai Midwives offer:
- Long and short appointments,
- Complex pregnancy coordination,
- Antenatal and postnatal visits,
- Family planning,
- Care plans, and
- Vaccinations.
Kim Mitchell
Kim was born and raised in Zimbabwe and undertook her nursing and midwifery training in South Africa. She worked as a Nurse Practitioner in Primary Health care until taking up a position as director of an NGO caring for women with unplanned pregnancies. Her early career was birthed amidst the HIV pandemic in Africa and informed by the rich diversity of African strength and culture. Upon arriving in Australia she worked as an emergency nurse and completed a Master of Clinical Midwifery working as a team midwife, childbirth educator and group practice midwife. She feels privileged to have worked in Yarrabah, leading the maternal health team through their transition to community control, and supporting the co-design of a trauma-informed attachment-based model of care. She also went on to lead the sexual health, child health and chronic disease teams. Kim is passionate about ground-up, community-lead, transformational approaches to primary health care and primary health care education.
