Story courtesy of The Border Mail

For Papua New Guinean midwife Lucy Solomon, the high-tech facilities and sterile conditions of the Wodonga Hospital maternity unit were in stark contrast to medical sites at home.

'We don't have the hygiene practices of Australian hospitals,' Mrs Solomon said.

Mrs Solomon is from Kerema General Hospital, in the remote Gulf Province, about 360km west of Port Moresby.

With only one doctor serving a population of 125,000 people, the paediatric unit nurse has witnessed death more than life.

'Many pregnant women paddle for kilometres by canoe just to get to our hospital to have their babies,' Mrs Solomon said.

'Often they die on arrival because it takes so long to get there and they've lost too much blood along the way.'

Only when cases are deemed severe enough are patients allowed use of a government-funded aeroplane to fly 45 minutes to the bigger Port Moresby General Hospital.

'The wealthier ones have a better chance of survival because they can afford petrol for motor boats to get them to the hospital faster,' Mrs Solomon said.

Transportation, lack of hygiene and poor education have contributed to 700 women a year dying from child-bearing in the country.

Many women are believed to have suffered in a hospital system that uses birthing practices decades behind developed countries.

This fact had a powerful impact on Jennifer Gowland, from Yarrawonga, whose husband, Trevor, works at Kerema General Hospital as a health advisor for the Gulf Province.

'This figure is just astounding,' Mrs Gowland said.

'With malaria, AIDS and sexual health problems so huge, you just can't imagine what the conditions are like in the hospitals over there.'

It was a few years ago that Mrs Gowland met Mrs Solomon in Kerema, while visiting her husband.

'Lucy was so determined to think of ways to do something about the problems,' Mrs Gowland said.

'She suggested to me that it would be good idea for a nurse to observe midwifery in Australia and I thought this could really benefit the entire province.'

With the help of the Yarrawonga/Mulwala and Wodonga branches of the Rotary club, the Gowlands organised the visit.

In a report she will prepare for the chief executive of the Kerema Hospital when she returns, Mrs Solomon will list health classes in schools as a top priority.

'We need to make little differences at home, such as use proper linen, have fresh towels and be more hygienic to minimise the risk of infection,' Mrs Solomon said.

Maternity Unit Nurse Manager Stella McCourt said having Mrs Solomon at the maternity unit had been an asset.

'It's been a good knowledge-sharing visit for us as well as her.'

Mrs Solomon said the people in Wodonga had been kind and beautiful.

'They've been very friendly.

'It's been fantastic and, hopefully, I'll be able to use this experience to make some changes.'