Claire MacDonald is a midwifery advisor at the New Zealand College of Midwives with portfolios in research, public health and equity. Claire has broad experience as a practising midwife across many settings including community, hospital, urban and rural. When the Canterbury earthquakes hit in 2010 and 2011 Claire was a lead maternity carer midwife providing care in Christchurch. The upheaval of this time highlighted the value and flexibility of the midwife-led model of maternity care in an emergency situation. Claire has been interested in midwifery care during emergencies since that time, and led the College of Midwives’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She supported the Hawke’s Bay midwives from afar in the College’s national office during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.
