Geraldton celebrates Mother’s Day 2024 with Women in Better Business breakfast and special guest Sara Armitage

Award-winning obstetrician-gynaecologist and wonder-woman Sara Armitage knows her job puts her in a privileged position of being a constant witness to new life. About 120 Geraldton businesswomen gathered for the Women Inspiring Better Business Mother’s Day breakfast at Skeeta’s Restaurant on Friday to celebrate motherhood and hear wise words from Dr Armitage, before quizzing her on what makes an OB-GYN tick. Dr Armitage, who recently took home a Rural Health Excellence Award for specialist of the year, began practising in Geraldton in 2010. The keen cyclist describes obstetrics as “the ultimate team sport”. “I’ve had a very nice, boring stable life with no major achievements,” Dr Armitage modestly told the crowd. Hailing from Townsville in Queensland, Dr Armitage comes from a medical family with both parents and her sister being doctors. “My brother is the black sheep . . . he’s an engineer,” she joked. Dr Armitage showed the audience a photograph of herself in her fourth year of training, delivering a baby. It was early in the piece and was gifted to Dr Armitage by the patient and still hangs in her office to this day. Dr Armitage marvels at the wonder of “this parasite that grows in women’s bodies, and women just have to adapt” and said there was a certain adrenaline about the job. The regions have always called to Dr Armitage, who has done stints in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and Darwin before moving to Cairns to do her diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology. Dr Armitage then moved to Perth for six years before the time came to relocate again. A conversation between herself and husband Darren followed three rules. “Nothing further south than Sydney, it has to be country, and there must be surf,” she said. The pair settled on Coffs Harbour. But they found it hard to settle there, and soon wound up in Geraldton and welcomed by a community with open arms. The pair had a son, Toby, in Geraldton. Darren is the primary care giver, with Dr Armitage praising his efforts at home. Dr Armitage joked that being the breadwinner has meant her cooking skills have worsened. During question time, Dr Armitage was asked if she was striving towards anything given, she already had achieved her goals and seemed to have her life under control. “One of the lovely things you can do with medicine is you can always keep developing,” she said. “You can push yourself surgically too.” Durack MHR Melissa Price asked Dr Armitage how she managed to deal with scenarios at work that were not always positive. “The highs are high, and the lows are low. The lows are very low. When I was in fourth year, there was a child that died and I was going home and crying every day,” she recalled. “Again, coming from a medical family my dad said, ‘You’re human so you should be’. I still get tears in my eyes, but I’ve got better at when and where those tears come out.” WIBB chair Kat Jackson said the turnout for the Mother’s Day networking event was great. “A big event for us is usually 70 or 80 people, and this is 120 people, so we have a full house,” she said.