After a thirty-year career, Sunderland midwife Lynn Metcalfe is to retire and has been presented with a very special gift showing the faces of 28 of the babies she helped deliver.
Lynn, who joined the NHS at just 18 as a student nurse at Ryhope General Hospital. She began her midwifery training in 1993 and is now retiring after thirty years in the job. She has been a mentor, supervisor and professional midwifery advocate - which means she has supported women giving birth with complex birthing plans.
An award-winner, she won the Sunderland Echo’s Best of Health Midwife of the Year Award in 2018, she's now planning to spend her newly-found free time with husband Gary, to whom she has been married forty years.
Lynn is a member of the Calvary Christian Fellowship in Silksworth - and maternity support worker and fellow church member Bethany Adamkiewicz presented her with a photo book featuring the 28 babies she helped deliver within the Christian Fellowship - including her own four children - to mark the occasion.
Lynn said: "I truly believe pregnancy and birth is a journey, not just an end product, and that women need to feel supported and empowered on that journey. During my career I have really enjoyed being a mentor to student midwives, I feel really proud watching them develop into caring, compassionate, strong midwives.
"I have worked with the most amazing team, have made lifelong friendships and feel so blessed to have had such a lovely career in nursing and midwifery. I am looking forward to keeping healthy and having more free time to spend with my friends and family.”
Dawn Edmundson, head of midwifery at the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust, paid tribute. She said: "We are devastated to say goodbye to Lynn. She has been a good friend and colleague to those in our department over the years and we wish her a happy retirement.
“She leaves behind a legacy through the midwives she has helped train. She has welcomed so many babies into the world, we know people will join us in wishing her well and sending their thanks for the care and support she has offered during her time as part of our own maternity family."
Bethany added: "Lynn is a treasured member of Calvary Christian Fellowship Church, where she has supported many friends as their midwife and delivered a total of 28 babies over the years.
“Lynn's skill, wisdom and love for us has been invaluable, and we couldn't possibly let her retirement pass without marking it with something extra special, so we collected this birth stories and photos. We know she will love reflecting on all the beautiful babies and experiences.
"I've had the privilege of knowing Lynn as a colleague as well as a special friend. She has gone the extra mile for patients and colleagues more times than could be counted."
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