Emotional farewell for Libby

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 525, 1 March 1994, Page 1

Emotional farewell for Libby

Long-serving community midwife Libby Tuthill said last week she was really sad about leaving Waiouru. At a farewell held at the community centre, she said her six years in Waiouru had been really happy. "No civilian would stay in Waiouru unless they liked it," said Libby. Waiouru had turned in to Libby' S second home, she said. It was her second-longest stay in one house - the longest was when she was a child. Libby says although she lived in an army environment, she still knows very little about the army and wouldn' t know one rank from another. Libby has seen a lot of families come and go and come

back again. She says she'd just get to know a group of people then they'd leave. One advantage of this is she now knows people all over New Zealand. She said she now has sympathy for the women married to soldiers, because "life is really hard being a solo mum a lot of the time". One part of the job that has been hard on Libby was always having to be on call. She says she didn't mind going to mothers in need, but being on call meant being tied to Waiouru and not being able to be a free agent. Turn to page 2

Emotional farewell

Waiouru' s winter weather was not to Libby' s liking, and she vividly remembers it snowing once a week for six weeks in a row. Two years ago Libby looked at leaving Waiouru because the weather was really getting to her. Luckily for Waiouru, she didn't get the job she wanted and decided to stay. Libby will be working in Raetihi and has already had enquires from three Waiouru mothers-to-be about delivering their babies in Raetihi. Libby expressed concern that she may not be able to provide post-natal care to these ladies under the new system. About 50 mothers plus a number of army representatives farewelled Libby at an emotional moming tea.