After decades-long push, P.E.I. now offers midwifery to oversee pregnancies
After decades of proponents calling for the service, Health P.E.I. has hired its first two midwives to provide care both before and after new births on the Island.
The midwives began working at Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Jan. 30, and can offer care prior to birth and for up to eight weeks afterward.
That’s welcome news for P.E.I. moms like Sonya Rae, who used a midwife service in Ontario when she was carrying and bearing the first of her three children.
“It was such an immensely positive experience and I was so grateful to have their care, both prenatally, for the birth and especially postpartum,” Rae said.
“It was just lovely to have the continuity of care, to have the same providers, to have that connection already — and to have them come into our home and spare us trips in those early postpartum days to the doctor’s office.”
Sonya Rae and Susana Rutherford, members of P.E.I.’s midwifery advocacy group Born, and former MLA Kathleen Casey talk about how it feels to finally have midwives in the province after decades of work.
Each of the province’s two new midwives has over 10 years of recent clinical midwifery experience in Canada, Health P.E.I. said in a news release Thursday.
Midwives must be licensed by the College of Registered Nurses and Midwives of P.E.I. to work in the province, and have to hold a bachelor of midwifery from an accredited post-secondary school.
Expectant mothers can choose to give birth with the assistance of a midwife either at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or at home.
P.E.I. Health Minister Mark McLane told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin on Thursday that the province expects to hire two more midwives soon.
“There’s a lot of demand already for their services, so that’s a good sign,” McLane said. “They’ve been waiting for this service for a while, so now that it’s a soft launch … we have a lot of people who are interested.”
A long time pushing
Susana Rutherford knows all about that wait for midwifery services. She moved to P.E.I. while pregnant with her second daughter after using a midwife for the home birth of her first child in Ontario.
Rutherford, along with other advocates, created the Birth Options Research Network (BORN) in P.E.I. in the early 2000s to push the P.E.I. government to allow the service.
“Having midwifery never meant getting rid of the obstetricians; we need obstetricians for complex things and we need them for all the other aspects of women’s care. I think some people felt [midwifery] was a threat,” she said.
“We actually have lots of evidence that shows families … that use midwifery services make fewer visits to the ER with their new baby, they have more success with breastfeeding. There’s a lot of ways they’re supported through the process with that shared knowledge. It raises the health of mom and baby.”
Ex-MLA ‘thrilled’ at launch
Former Liberal MLA and speaker Kathleen Casey took up BORN’s cause during her time in the provincial legislature.
On Thursday, she urged families to use the service now that it’s finally available in P.E.I.
“I’m really thrilled to see midwifery, especially for new young moms,” Casey said. “Everyone says things move slowly in government. I didn’t think it would take this long, but if you keep pushing and you really believe in something, it’s going to happen.”
Health P.E.I.’s new midwives can also offer pre-conception services like discussing fertility issues, planning for a pregnancy or screening for things like HPV. They can order diagnostic tests and prescribe many medications.
Postpartum services include physical assessments, education and breastfeeding support.
‘I worry about them burning out’
Now that the service is in place on the Island, Rae hopes the province will continue to grow the program and thinks there will be demand to support more midwives.
She said a team of three to four midwives helped her throughout her Ontario experience, so she knows the need will be there.
I worry about them burning out, so I hope that there are plans underway to recruit more and to provide support to them.— Sonya Rae
“These people are humans. They need days off, they need vacations, they might get sick, they may need to go on some type of a leave of their own,” Rae said.
“One person is not enough to cover an on-call service, and I would argue two people aren’t enough to cover an on-call service either. I worry about them burning out, so I hope that there are plans underway to recruit more and to provide support to them so that this can be a successful program from the beginning.”
Any Islander interested in receiving care from a midwife can call the clinic at 902-288-1482, or make a request online. More information is available on the government’s website.
