Curtin University’s Associate Director of Midwifery, Janice Butt, has been honoured with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement award at the 2012 WA Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards.
These annual awards publicly recognise and celebrate the achievements of individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the nursing and midwifery professions in Western Australia. The Lifetime Achievement Honour especially awards those who have made this dedicated contribution across their whole career.
Ms Butt said the awards program was a great source of inspiration for the state’s approximately 35,000 nurses and midwives.
“I am grateful for this personal recognition but see it as significant for the profession of midwifery in WA,” she said.
Dedicating 34 years to the midwifery profession, Ms Butt has more than 25 years of experience in midwifery education both in the United Kingdom and WA.
She is currently involved with the undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery programs at Curtin and with continuing education and return to practice programs at King Edward Memorial Hospital, where she holds a joint appointment as Coordinator, Midwifery Education.
She was jointly nominated for this award by King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH), where she has worked for 20 years, and the Australian College of Midwives. The nomination was endorsed by Curtin, where she has spent more than a decade teaching in all areas of midwifery.
The nomination emphasised how Ms Butt’s professionalism and clinical knowledge had enhanced midwifery education and practice in WA.
She has also been a tireless advocate of the midwifery profession: she is currently the WA representative on the Midwifery Education Advisory Committee and Fellow of the Australian College of Midwives, as well as being actively involved with the WA Women’s and Newborns Health Network.
Ms Butt said she had a strong desire to ensure that midwifery theory was fully integrated with practice and that midwives were prepared to achieve their full scope of practice.
More than 250 nurses and midwives were nominated for the 2012 awards across 16 categories. The annual event was held in September at the Burswood Entertainment Complex.
Contact:
Ms Janice Butt, Associate Director, Midwifery, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Health Sciences, Curtin University Tel: 08 9266 2369 Email: J.Butt@curtin.edu.au
Hillary Lambert, Public Relations, Curtin University
Tel: 08 9266 9085, Email: hillary.lambert@curtin.edu.au Web: http://curtin.edu.au
