Karen Daniells
Karen lives in Wellington with her partner and 14 year old son. She has been a midwife for over 20 years and most of that time she has been providing care for women and whānau all over the Wellington region.
Karen trained in the UK and worked in a midwifery team providing both homebirth and complex care in a tertiary facility. In New Zealand, she has worked as a lead maternity carer in a group practice, a midwife in an innovative continuity care team for women with complex care needs, a sole charge midwife in a birthing unit, an associate clinical midwifery manager on the delivery suite at Wellington Hospital and a Clinical Midwifery Manager at Hutt maternity. She is a strong advocate for evidence based, women and whānau centred care and has been involved in research throughout her career.
While working with the Women’s Health Research Centre on a project reviewing the cases of women who became critically unwell in New Zealand, Karen became aware of the high risk and huge impact that influenza had on pregnant women, babies and whānau. She became involved with WellKiwis because she believes that, with the help of Wellington families, this research will significantly contribute to protecting the health of families, not only in Wellington, but all over the world.
As part of the WellKiwis team, Karen is working with Wellington midwives, obstetricians and other health professionals to invite expectant mums and whānau to find out about and get involved with the WellKiwis study.