Over the past three months, midwife advocacy groups have been waiting for the provincial government to deliver on its promise to hire four midwives in the province.
In light of International Day of the Midwife, and Chair of NB Families for Midwives Sonya Burrill said Thursday she wants to know when the positions will be filled.
“The good news is that this year with the new Liberal Government there has been quite a lot of work done behind the scenes to kind of get all the legislation done and work with the district health authorities,” Burrill said.
“There have been no midwives hired and even when that first practice opens, that’s going to be one practice in one city and there’s still going to be many many women all over New Brunswick who are still waiting that are disappointed.”
Health Minister Victor Boudreau says the government is still working to identify which region of the province will host the pilot project.
“Once we can get the location pinned down then we’ll be able to go out and hire the first midwife who will be the program coordinator if you will, and the three others will follow shortly after that and hopefully be able to get this up and running before the end of the year,” Boudreau said.
Mother of two Bronwyn Bonney is also a member of the NB Families for Midwives group. Bonney says she wishes she could have had access to a midwife when she gave birth to her daughters Mabel, age 2, and Pepper, 5.
“My [second] baby was due in January, it was a stormy, cold day. It would have been great to just be in the comfort of my own home, by my wood stove and labour at my own pace, without having to travel to the hospital,” Bonney said.
“Home birth was really my wish.”
“It’s about the choice of women. It’s about offering evidence and having a discussion and building a trusted relationship so that together they can make the best choice for the mom and baby,” said Burrill.
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