Summer 2022

Mark Aitken: Culturally and linguistically diverse colleagues deserve our support

Mark introduces this newsletter and asks us to work together to improve the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives.

Robert Fedele: Black African nurses battle racism in rural Australian workplaces, study finds

The ANMJ explores the experiences of black sub-Saharan African nurses in rural healthcare settings.

Catherine Ivanfy and Helen Macukewicz: Missing data obscures the hazard of racism in nursing & midwifery

Some nurses and midwives report experiencing racism daily in Australian workplaces, but many employers are not collecting data on the issue.

Podcast: Addressing the Cultural Safety Gap with Catherine Ivanfy and Helen Macukewicz

Catherine and Helen share insights from the NSWNMA’s Cultural Safety survey and explain how their CALD reference group is advocating for the wellbeing of marginalised nurses and midwives.

Podcast: Calling Racism Out with Bukwa Madzinga, Julie Ngwabi, Merilyn Homes, and Marty Williams

Bukwa, Julie, Merilyn and Marty share personal experiences of confronting racism and discrimination and how it harms nurses and midwives who do so much to enrich the profession.

Welcome to the Summer 2022 edition of the Nurse & Midwife Support newsletter: Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses, midwives, and students.

In this issue we look at some of the issues and challenges for CALD nurses, midwives and students, and suggest how non-CALD nurses and midwives can get involved and support them.

We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives are not part of the CALD community. In a future newsletter we will focus on support for, and the challenges experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives.

This newsletter explores complex topics including racism that may be sensitive or triggering for many people. If this newsletter raises any issues for you, please reach out. If you’re experiencing racism and want to do something about it, we can support you.

Nurse & Midwife Support is available 24/7 Australia-wide. Call us on 1800 667 877 for anonymous, confidential, and free support.

CALD — what does it mean?

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) describes the many Australians (and people living in Australia) who originate from different countries with diverse languages, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, traditions, society structures and religions. This may also include people born and raised in Australia whose families maintain cultural practices or identities from abroad.

Australia is a multicultural country

One in four Australians were born overseas and one in two have a parent born overseas. Australians claim more than 250 ancestries and speak more than 350 languages at home. We are also home to the world’s oldest continuous culture, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Our First Nations peoples have lived on and cared for our country for over 65,000 years.

Our community benefits from the wealth of experience people of diverse backgrounds bring to our nation. Many of us celebrate the strength this diversity offers.

A diverse workforce improves care

Our nurses and midwives come from a wide range of backgrounds. A culturally diverse healthcare workforce means better communication, cultural understanding, and representation for CALD people in our care. CALD nurses, midwives and students make an important contribution, and we celebrate everything your knowledge and culture brings to the professions.

But we hear from many nurses, midwives, and students that they experience racism not only from patients and relatives but from fellow staff members. They often don’t feel safe to report their experiences. To be heard and get the support you need call Nurse & Midwife Support on 1800 667 877.

Cultural safety – everyone’s responsibility

Since 2018 all registered nurses and midwives have been required to support cultural safety in their workplace. Our Code of Conduct states that we must:

• understand how our own culture, values, attitudes, assumptions and beliefs influence our interactions with others
• provide care that is free of bias and racism
• challenge beliefs that are based on assumption
• support an inclusive environment for the safety and security of all
• help create a positive, culturally safe work environment.

You can expect your workplace to:

• promote diversity and inclusion
• talk about racism and discrimination
• adopt practices that respect diversity, avoid bias, discrimination and racism
• offer cultural safety and diversity and inclusion training
• treat racism and discrimination as a workplace hazard.

Cultural safety training benefits all of us

Ask your organisation if it offers cultural safety training to staff and find out if its diversity and inclusion policies support cultural safety. If you need support to do this please get in touch [email protected] or visit the Australian Human Rights Commission: Cultural diversity in the workplace

In researching this newsletter, I came across an important initiative by the New South Wales Nurse & Midwives Association (NSWNMA). They seek to understand, elevate and support the experience of CALD nurses, midwives and students in our workplaces. In 2019 the NSWNMA released the Cultural Safety Gap report. It was based on a survey of the experiences of nurses and midwives from more than 100 different cultural backgrounds and found that just under 10% of nurses and midwives experienced racial discrimination daily. It is essential reading for all nurses, midwives and students and their managers to better understand the experiences of CALD peers, and how everyone can support cultural diversity in our workplaces.

The NSWNMA established a CALD reference group in response to the report findings. And that group recommends that all nurses and midwives take cultural safety training. 

In this issue: Resources to support your workplace diversity

Blog: Black nurses report experiences of discrimination in rural workplaces

It’s only the skin colour, otherwise we are all people: This research study was published in the Mar-May 2021 issue of the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing (AJAN). The study reveals that Black sub-Saharan African nurses report incidents of discrimination and disadvantages based on their race and skin colour in rural workplaces, not only from patients but from their colleagues.

Robert Fedele examines the revelations of the study in this piece that first appeared in the ANMJ: Black African nurses battle racism in rural Australian workplaces, study finds. We thank the ANMJ for allowing us to republish this informative piece.

Blog: Racism is an occupational safety issue

Employers and workers need to take racism seriously as an OH&S issue. Experiences of racism can cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, chronic health conditions and suicidal ideation.

NSWNMA CALD reference group coordinators Helen Macukewicz and Catherine Ivanfy urge leaders and managers to do more to acknowledge the reality of racism, treat it as a workplace hazard that has effects that extend into workers daily lives, and implement measures to protect workers.

To combat racism and ensure that nurses and midwives feel valued, safe and equal at work we first need to understand their experiences. Read Catherine and Helen’s blog about the need to seek information and gather data about racism in healthcare settings: Missing data obscures the hazard of racism in nursing & midwifery.

Podcasts: Nurses and midwives talk about how to improve cultural safety in our workplaces

Hear six passionate nurses talk about their commitment to supporting CALD nurses and midwives. We worked with the NSWNMA to offer you two podcasts:

Episode 36: Addressing the Cultural Safety Gap with Catherine Ivanfy and Helen Macukewicz

Catherine and Helen discuss how the report findings led to the formation of the CALD reference group. Find out how you can advocate for improved cultural safety in your organisation. Listen to the episode.

Episode 37: Calling Racism Out with Bukwa Madzinga, Julie Ngwabi, Merilyn Homes, and Marty Williams

Four members of the NSWNMA CALD reference group – Julie, Merilyn, Bukwa and Marty share their lived experiences and motivations for tackling discrimination and the importance of calling racism out. They discuss candidly the harmful effects of racism, the benefits of being part of the CALD reference group and their reasons for raising their voices to spotlight discrimination. Listen to the episode.

Want to do more?

Join the Campaign: Racism. It Stops With Me (RISWM)

The Australian Human Rights Commission encourages us to join Racism: It Stops With Me, a national campaign that urges Australians to reflect on racism and take action against it. It comes with the Workplace Cultural Diversity Tool, a free, confidential self-assessment tool for organisations seeking to strengthen their approach to cultural diversity and anti-racism in the workplace.

The purpose of the RISWM campaign is to:

• Increase awareness and understanding of racism at the interpersonal, institutional, and systemic level across Australia
• Equip more Australians with the tools to engage in active anti-racism
• Create safer and more inclusive workplaces for First Nations people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities

NSWNMA webinars: Promoting Diversity and Inclusion for CALD Nurses and Midwives

All nurses and midwives should expect cultural safety at work. This series explains how we can all work towards more diversity, inclusion and safety in our workplaces. Topics include Working in Multicultural Teams, Bystander Action, How Culture Influences Work and more. Contributors include representatives of the Australian Human Rights Commission, African Women Australia, the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra, and other clinicians and researchers. I was lucky enough to participate as a NMSUPPORT representative.

The webinar series was made in response to The Cultural Safety Gap report (2019).

Check out Webinars: Promoting Diversity and Inclusion for CALD Nurses and Midwives.

There is no place for racism in our profession

Racism has no place in nursing and midwifery. Nurse & Midwife Support is joining CATSINaM, NSWNMA, ANMF, NMBA and many other organisations to spotlight racism, its harmful effects, and work to eradicate it from our professions.

If you or your workplace are working to raise awareness of racism and celebrating cultural diversity, we would like to hear from you. If you experience racism in the workplace and don’t feel people are doing enough, we’d also like to hear from you. Please get in touch: [email protected].

The team at NMS are here to support you. Please get in touch on 1800 667 877 or by email.

Let’s work together to include and support everyone. 

Your health matters. Your workplace safety matters.

Racism and discrimination persist in the Australian community

Racism is when a person, people or institution from the dominant group use their power in ways — direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional — that harm a person or people from a racially marginalised group.

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC):

“In 1975 the Racial Discrimination Act came into force, making discrimination illegal.

In 1995, the Act was extended to make public acts of racial hatred against the law. Today, the Act continues to send a strong message about our common commitment to racial equality and the importance of a fair go for all.

Despite this legal protection, too many people in Australia continue to experience prejudice and unfair treatment because of how they look or where they come from.”

Discrimination can often be invisible to people from the dominant culture. If that’s you, it’s important to listen to your CALD co-workers when they speak on issues of racism and discrimination, because they often have the context and experience to see what you may not be able to.

The process of racism takes many forms:

• overtly racial insults and jokes.
• Implicitly racial comments or microaggressions, such as asking someone “Where are you really from?” or asking someone of African descent if you can touch their hair.
• Stereotypes and vilification of people from a particular racial or ethnic background, such as the racism and Sinophobia many Asian-Australians experienced in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Barriers to professional recruitment or advancement to people who are culturally or racially marginalised.
• Failure to acknowledge harmful or traumatic events, such as minimising the impact of the Stolen Generation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Failure to acknowledge or diminishing the achievements or a person or people of colour — see the #OscarsSoWhite campaign in response to a lack of diversity among Academy Award nominations.
• Consciously or unconsciously neglecting the needs of marginalised people, for example failing to provide examples of how skin conditions appear on people with darker skin in dermatology textbooks.
• Laws or policies that intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against members of a marginalised group — check out the AHRC’s timeline of racist laws and policies in Australian history.
• Violent attacks (verbal and physical).

Not all acts of racism are on the same scale, but all are harmful and are often experienced cumulatively by the target.

We are here for you all

We thank the ANMJ and the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) CALD Reference Group for their contributions to this issue, their insights and advice, and their ongoing work to advocate for CALD Australians.

If you have an experience you’d like to share or there’s a topic you think we need to address in a future newsletter, drop me an email: [email protected].

Workplace safety matters.

Mark Aitken RN
Stakeholder Engagement Manager
Nurse & Midwife Support

A new study has revealed Black African nurses working in rural Australia experienced incidents of discrimination and disadvantage based on their race and skin colour. 

This piece originally appeared in the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal. It has been republished with permission.

Black sub-Saharan African nurses experienced incidents of discrimination and disadvantage based on their race and skin colour from their colleagues and patients after migrating to live and work in rural Australia, a new study has revealed.

The overseas qualified nurses felt unwelcome, not trusted and undervalued. As a result, they adopted various coping strategies, such as blocking their minds of the negative behaviours to adjust to being viewed differently.

Published in the Mar-May 2021 issue of the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing (AJAN), the study, “It’s only the skin colour, otherwise we are all people”: The changing face of the Australian nurse, examined the experience of racial discrimination by black sub-Saharan overseas-qualified nurses working in rural Australia.

The study states the arrival of black African people as skilled professional migrants is relatively new in rural Australia, with the presence of black sub-Saharan African nurses in Australian healthcare facilities “changing the face of the Australian nurse”.

Led by Sophia Dywili, from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health and Charles Sturt University, the study interviewed 18 sub-Saharan African overseas qualified nurses working in rural New South Wales who had migrated to Australia after being granted a 457 visa.

All participants had resigned from their full-time employment as RNs when they left their countries for Australian jobs. Some gave up senior positions, such as clinical nurse educator and district nursing officer.

At the time of the face-to-face interviews and focus group discussion, which took place in 2014, all participants worked full-time as RNs at either a public hospital or an aged care facility.

While participants described receiving positive support from their managers and some colleagues upon arriving in Australia, they quickly encountered unexpected challenges as they entered their workplaces, which they felt were because of racial differences.

Specifically, African nurses reported feeling unwelcome, and undervalued and not trusted in their workplace.

One study participant said, “There were racists among the staff”, with some not even wanting her to touch their cup. Others said patients showed discomfort in being nursed by black nurses, while in some instances, concerned relatives of patients did not want their loved ones to be looked after by a black nurse.

“She [relative] said to the nurse I was working with, “Excuse me nurse, I don’t want my mother to be nursed by a black person…in our family, we don’t do that; we don’t associate with them”.

Many of the incidents were not reported to management as most African nurses involved felt they had to deal with the issues alone.

The study found participants also felt they were not trusted, nor were their nursing skills recognised or valued by their colleagues and patients, resulting in loneliness and stress. For example, in some instances, participants needed to convince patients they were receiving the appropriate care.

“When we were new here and doing the medication round…they didn’t take the medication…and then when an Australian girl passed through, they would ask her if they should take that medication and then they took it…Obviously, you knew that they didn’t take the medication because they didn’t trust you”, one participant said.

Nurses attributed such encounters to them being of African origin. They also felt their colleagues did not trust them either and put the mistrust down to racism.

Generally, nurses felt they needed to deal with the issues by themselves.

They reported using various strategies to respond to the discrimination from their colleagues and patients to cope with being seen differently.

Some nurses suggested alternative carers for their patients, while others tried to stay out of the spotlight and attempted to block their minds of the negative behaviours and instead focus on their migration goals.

Some nurses, however, reciprocated the negative behaviours, which affected patient care.

“It seems the issue here was not just being an overseas qualified nurse; it was about being black and being an undesirable,” authors write.

“Regardless of participants possessing the required qualities and skills, some people had problems with this dark skin. The subtle discriminatory behaviours of patients and their relatives avoiding care from black nurses, nurses not providing help to their black colleagues with heavier workloads or managers limiting opportunities for black nurses to advance their careers, is not acceptable.”

According to researchers, the study’s findings illustrate the power of welcoming people to their new country, the existence of discrimination by race at their healthcare facilities, and the importance of trust and teamwork at the workplace. The study also highlights the resilience of black sub-Saharan African overseas qualified nurses in times of adversity.

Ultimately, the study found there are pockets of racial discrimination that need to be addressed within the Australian healthcare system, as they undermine the confidence of overseas qualified nurses in their professional practice.

Even though health services did not tolerate racism, more proactive processes could have been put in place to identify and prevent such racist intolerance, authors argue.

They suggest Black African nurses need more support from nurse managers to feel safe in their workplace and facilitate their integration. Nurse managers also need to be more vigilant in monitoring staff interactions in their units and intervene when racism is uncovered.

“Findings indicated that there were nurses who did not engage in such behaviour [racial discrimination], nurses who saw and heard these racist incidents but did not act to prevent them.

“A little more support would move those nurses a little higher above being just nonracist and being responsive to such incidents.”

To read the complete study click here.

Get in touch

If you need support to talk about your experiences, Nurse & Midwife Support are always here to listen. Free, confidential, 24/7. Call 1800 667 877 or email us.

Some nurses and midwives report experiencing racism daily in Australian workplaces, but many employers are not collecting data on the issue. 

Anyone working as a nurse or midwife will tell you they have been doing it tough. Working flat-out through a global pandemic with chronic understaffing and stagnant wage growth, it’s no wonder they are leaving the professions in droves. Imagine how it feels then, to face the additional challenge of racism every time you go to work? That’s what the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association members reported in a 2018 survey — and here’s what we did about it.

It’s little surprise to anyone who has been in a hospital or nursing home lately there is a breadth of cultural, racial, and linguistic diversity in the nursing and midwifery workforce. But although we see it, we don’t know for sure the exact composition of the workforce, what their experiences are, or how culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives are represented across various pay bands and roles. That’s because there’s no comprehensive data being collected by employers — anywhere.

Why don’t we routinely collect data on CALD workers in healthcare?

Perhaps employers don’t think they need to know. After all, on the surface nurses and midwives appear to be getting on with the job. However, we will not know the true extent of the experiences of inequality and discrimination workers may be facing if we do not seek information through intentional engagement with workers, including data collection. Lack of information-seeking can lead to unchallenged systemic racism in workplaces and adverse outcomes for all workers.

Alternatively, in a worst-case scenario, maybe it’s that employers don’t want to know. Not knowing means that inaction can be justified and questions about the effectiveness of existing strategies to educate and value the workforce are left unchallenged. A ‘nothing to see here’ approach that serves employers so well, but leave workers unsupported.

What are the consequences of ignoring discrimination in the workplace?

The impact of racism on nurses and midwives can be career-damaging and — if addressed poorly or not at all — life limiting. Epidemiological research shows that depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and cardiovascular disease are just some of the harmful consequences of exposure to racism. It is important that employers acknowledge racism as a workplace hazard that causes physical and psychological harm.

What does the NSWNMA survey say?

The absence of data about the diversity of the workforce and issues impacting culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives, led the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) to survey their members in 2018 and find out what was really going on.

The findings in the Cultural Safety Gap report painted an alarming picture. Of the 1200 nurses and midwives who responded, half felt they had, or were unsure if they had, been discriminated against in the workplace. The main source of discrimination was co-workers and managers, closely followed by patients and residents.

Common forms of discrimination ranged from verbal attacks to isolation and unfair scheduling of workload. 5% had experienced physical abuse. Most respondents experienced discrimination at least monthly, but around 10% experienced it every time they turned up for work. The frequency and sustained nature of these incidents are a serious health and safety concern. The hazard is largely unseen or mismanaged by employers who lack the systems, insight, education or sometimes will to manage these risks appropriately.

Discrimination and inequity were also demonstrated through lack of career opportunities:

• 40% said they had been passed over for promotion
• 20% reported that they lacked confidence to apply for a management position.

Why don’t people just report the discrimination?

Although we don’t have the data to prove it, anyone looking at the composition of upper management in big health and aged care providers can see there is currently no room at the top for diversity.

Standing alone against racism in a workplace can be a lonely and dangerous experience that is aggravated when the people you report to are unlikely to be culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse themselves and are therefore less likely to innately understand what you are experiencing. In some cases, the people you report to can be the perpetrators of racism themselves. Otherwise, their mismanagement of the issue can contribute to the harm despite their best intentions.

Additionally, colleagues who want to take bystander action may fear being targeted themselves, lack the necessary skills to act or feel disempowered. That can lead them to experience vicarious trauma and additional harm.

What action can we take to promote cultural safety in nursing and midwifery workplaces?

Participate in professional networks

The NSWNMA recognised the vital role unions have in protecting the rights of nurses and midwives, supporting them to shift the imbalance of power whilst providing a layer of safety that collectivism brings. To achieve this, an ongoing partnership with members was established through a culturally and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives’ professional reference group.

The group now meet bi-monthly online, so anyone living and working as a nurse or midwife in NSW can participate. The group also encourages non-culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse members to participate as allies, recognising that everyone has a role to play in stamping out racism.

Campaign for improvement and share resources

As part of their commitment to addressing racism, the NSWNMA signed up to the Australian Human Rights Commission Racism – it stops with me campaign. Through this campaign, members of the reference group have used their insights, personal experiences and expertise to develop guidance for health and aged care workers on what to do if they experience racism, how to take bystander action and also how to navigate those unacceptable workplace behaviours experienced by many. Check out the resources:

• Webinar: Promoting diversity and inclusion for CALD nurses and midwives
• Posters, flyers and brochures

Address the systemic issues in the workplace, industry and Australian culture

However, the group recognises that providing information, whilst helpful, is addressing the impact and not the cause. The group are committed to broadening their collective advocacy through ongoing projects, which tackle the systemic issues that allow racism to flourish.

There needs to be a cultural and racial safety lens scanning all health and aged care organisations that focuses on the lived experiences of nurses and midwives working in them. There needs to be a seat at the table in decision-making for culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives and empowerment through proportionate representation in upper tier management structures. A doing with, rather than doing for approach that is more likely to succeed in creating safer workplaces.

Let’s get on with it

If Australia is to really value, support and retain its health and aged care workforce, it’s essential the conversation and action starts now. Let’s get the data, let’s monitor the career pathways, let’s put our culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives at the heart of organisations, embedding accountable recruitment, support, and value systems within workplaces. Let’s stop talking about racism and get on with the job of tackling it head on.

Join the movement

If you are a nurse or midwife working in NSW and wish to join the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, visit our website.

If you are already a member and wish to get active in tackling workplace racism you can join the culturally and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives’ professional reference group by emailing [email protected] and putting ‘Join CaLD professional reference group’ in the subject line.

Get support

If you’re struggling with issues related to racism and other forms of discrimination in your workplace and would like to talk it out with someone, Nurse & Midwife Support is here for you — free, confidential, 24/7. Give us a call on1800 667 877 or by email.

Catherine and Helen share insights on how an NSWNMA reference group is advocating for the wellbeing of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses and midwives. 

Listen to Episode 36

Podcast details

Episode: 36
Guests: Catherine Ivanfy and Helen Macukewicz
Duration: 42:02
Tags: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD), discrimination, racism, xenophobia, cultural safety
Soundcloud: Listen to Episode 36

Introduction

Our Summer Newsletter is all about supporting culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses, midwives and students. We’ve partnered with the New South Wales Nurse & Midwives Association (NSWNMA) to offer you two podcasts with six passionate nurses committed to empowering CALD nurses and midwives. This is the first of two episodes, Episode 36.

In this episode of the Your Health Matters podcast we speak to nurses Helen Macukewicz and Catherine Ivanfy, NSWNMA Professional Officers who coordinate the organisation’s CALD reference group, which advocates for culturally and linguistically diverse nurses and midwives on a range of issues.

In 2019 the NSWNMA released the Cultural Safety Gap report based on a survey of the experiences of CALD nurses and midwives working in NSW. We discuss the survey’s important findings, the subsequent formation of the CALD Reference Group, and how you can get involved to tackle this problem by starting or joining a CALD support group in your workplace. You can also participate in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Racism: It Stops with Me campaign, which the NSWNMA also supports.

Helen and Catherine are committed advocates for fairer, more equitable and safer workplaces. We’re grateful they joined us to share their insights and help us all work towards Cultural Safety in our workforce.

You can also check out Episode 37 where we discuss the lived experiences of four members of the NSWNMA CALD Reference group: Podcast: Calling Racism Out with Julie, Merilyn, Bukwa and Marty.

If you need to chat about any of the issues raised in this podcast, we’re here 24/7 on 1800 667 877, or you can email us.

About our guests

Helen Macukewicz, RN, Msc SCPHN

Helen qualified as a registered nurse in 1989 and has worked in a variety of nursing roles including hospital and aged care management, regulation of health, aged care and children’s services and as a Health Visitor in the UK. She has been a Professional Officer at the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association since 2015, having moved to Australia in 2014. Helen is passionate about social justice and working to ensure all nurses and midwives receive a fair go.

If you’re a nurse or midwife in NSW, you can contact Helen about joining the CALD reference group. 

Catherine Ivanfy, RN

Catherine is a Professional Officer with the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association. Catherine is responsible for coordinating education and ensuring that nurses and midwives have the right knowledge to work safely in their contexts of practice. Catherine is a registered nurse and has worked and educated in a wide variety of clinical settings such as intensive care, neurology, gastroenterology and whole of hospital. Catherine is passionate about the nursing and midwifery professions and has a keen interest in education. Catherine’s goal is to bring education on topics of interest and allow easily accessible education for all nurses and midwives.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript.

Bukwa, Julie, Merilyn and Marty share personal experiences of confronting racism and discrimination and how it harms culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses and midwives who do so much to enrich the profession.

Listen to Episode 37

Podcast details

Episode: 37
Guests: Bukwa Madzinga, Julie Ngwabi, Merilyn Homes, and Marty Williams
Duration: 37:36
Tags: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD), discrimination, racism, xenophobia, cultural safety
Soundcloud:Listen to Episode 37

Introduction

Our Summer Newsletter is all about supporting culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses, midwives and students. We’ve partnered with the New South Wales Nurse & Midwives Association (NSWNMA) to offer you two podcasts with six passionate nurses committed to empowering CALD nurses and midwives. This is the second of two episodes, Episode 37.

In this episode we speak to four members of the NSWNMA CALD reference group. Julie, Merilyn, Bukwa and Marty share their lived experiences and the importance of addressing racism in the nursing and midwifery professions.

Our guests candidly discuss the harmful effects of racism, the benefits of being part of the CALD reference group and their motivations for putting discrimination under a spotlight.

It is a privilege to hear from passionate nurses who use their voices to highlight the issues, challenges and the pernicious impact of discrimination and racism. We thank our guests for sharing their insights and identifying opportunities to address racism in the workplace.

As Marty says on the podcast:

“Let’s use our voices so that our future (CALD members) don’t have to use theirs.”

You can also check out Episode 36: Addressing the Cultural Safety Gap with Catherine and Helen, where we discuss the findings of an NSWNMA survey on the wellbeing of CALD nurses and midwives and how the CALD reference group was formed in response. If you’re a nurse or midwife in NSW, you can contact Helen about joining the CALD reference group.

If you need to chat about any of the issues raised in this podcast, we’re here 24/7 on 1800 667 877, or you can email us.

About our guests

Bukwa Budzinga RN

Bukwa is a passionate and dedicated RN with experience in a variety of surgical settings. She has held positions as a Nurse Educator in Aged Care and a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Orthopaedics. Bukwa is a committed advocate for workplace equality.

Julie Ngwabi RN

Julie is a Registered Nurse with more than twenty years experience. She moved to Australia in 2004 and holds a Master's degree in Mental Health Nursing. She believes all Nurses and Midwives thrive and deliver to the community the best health care possible when they are safe and supported. 

Merilyn Holmes RN

Merilyn Holmes trained as an Endorsed Enrolled Nurse who worked in several health services in NSW. In 2010 Merilyn graduated as a Registered Nurse and currently works at Gosford Hospital in the Neurology and Stroke Ward.

 Marty Williams RN

Marty is a Paediatric Registered Nurse at Westmead Children’s Hospital with over 15 years of experience in Cardiology in the United States and in Australia.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript.

If you’re feeling like you need to chat, Nurse & Midwife Support is here for you — free, confidential, 24/7. Give us a call on 1800 667 877 or by email.