In New Brunswick, midwifery services aren’t easy to access, according to the association the represents midwives in the province.
Brittney Stairs said the province had created a demonstration site for four full-time midwives and in the past five years the demand has grown for the service.
A midwife provides prenatal care, birthing services, and postpartum care for new low-risk mothers. They are covered by Medicare and births can be performed at home or in hospital.
When it comes to pregnancy, midwives are considered primary care providers, who can order tests, perform exams, and write prescriptions.
“A lot of people in Fredericton, as soon as they call, they are put on a waitlist and they are not able to get into care right away,” said Stairs. “Scope of practice is low-risk, healthy pregnancies. We provide all the care.”
She said the demand hasn’t just been in the city, but increasingly in rural areas.
“We’re always getting messages from people in the Moncton area, up north, Woodstock area, people just … desperate to receive this midwifery care,” she said. “They are willing to travel or move in order to be able to receive this type of care.”
She said many people are frustrated that the program hasn’t expanded to other parts of the province. At one point, she said women were sharing their stories with the hashtag #WhereIsMyMidwife.
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Many people who seek midwifery services do so, Stairs said, in particular because of the postpartum care and the close relationship parents can develop with the midwife.
“People become really drawn to midwifery care,” she said in an interview. “So for instance, one thing that I hear time-and-time again is that the post-partum care is so important to clients.
“Because, for the first week after (the) baby is born, midwives will actually go into the home to check in on how infant feedings are doing, checking babies weight, any follow up with jaundice or things like that.
For her, the key challenges are geography and human resources.
The Department of Health said in an email statement that while there have been no additions to the program, an evaluation is underway.
“This independent, third-party evaluation will enable evidence-informed decision-making regarding the future of the program in New Brunswick,” said spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane.
According to the department, there have been 330 clients in care with 240 midwifery assisted births (172 in hospital, 68 at home) since the practice opened in October 2017.
Stairs said she hopes the evaluation will prove the program is worth it and help to provide a basis for expanding it in the province.
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