Honouring Motherhood

Former principal nurse Gloria Johnston (left) and midwife Liz Jull

Otaki hospital opened in 1899 and now it's a women's health centre. For much of last century it was a maternity hospital. Spectrum's Jack Perkins attends an open day at the historic hospital north of Wellington where former nurses, midwives, and mothers celebrate the hospital's history and the part they played in it.

Former principal nurse Gloria Johnston and midwife Liz Jull browse a cabinet full of medical equipment from the 1970s. An enema can and a brutal set of forceps stimulate memories and highlight how maternity care has changed.

Gloria recalls living at the hospital where emergencies were routine and it wasn't uncommon for a mother to be visited by her husband in the middle of the night via an unsecured window.

Kuia Hira Royal had 10 children there and is lavish in her praise of the maternity ward which used to be a home-away-from-home for so many Maori, Chinese and pakeha women in Otaki.