Photo by Vince Fedoroff
READY FOR MOMS-TO-BE – Midwifery clinic manager Elizabeth Morrison speaks at a news conference earlier this week at the Quartz Road facility. One of the birth rooms is seen at right.
Territory’s first midwifery clinic opens
The Yukon’s first midwifery program began seeing clients Thursday.
The Yukon’s first midwifery program began seeing clients Thursday.
The clinic’s launch marked the first time comprehensive, regulated midwifery services became available to Yukoners.
The program is accepting applications from clients who are within their first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Midwives will offer care in the clinic at 9010 Quartz Rd., at Whitehorse General Hospital, or in people’s homes.
“The Yukon Midwifery Program welcomes two midwives who will begin offering high-quality and consistent care, and expects to welcome an additional two midwives in the fall,” the government said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“As new midwives join the team and as the program becomes more established in the Yukon’s health care system, the scope of services will expand, from prenatal to postpartum, and the client caseload will increase.”
Access to the services are restricted to the Whitehorse clinic. There is no option yet for mid-wives to attend births in the communities, but that should happen as the program and its staff grow larger.
“The program is also actively working with community nurses and physicians to expand access to the new service,” the government said.
“It’s not that people in Whitehorse can’t use the service, but they need to be able to come to Whitehorse for care,” said Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee.
She said “all of the services aren’t online yet, but additional midwives are coming on.”
The program’s clinical manager, Elizabeth Morrison, said she is anticipating three births in November and four more in December from people who have signed up for the first intake.
More are expected in the New Year.
“We’re working with our partners in the communities to offer a safe, high standard of care,” said Morrison.
For more information or to register for the program, visit Yukon.ca/midwifery-program
“Offering free, integrated, safe midwifery services is important in supporting Yukoners through their pregnancy, birth and early parenthood,” said McPhee.
“We look forward to welcoming Yukon families into this new model of care that will better support expecting and new parents. Over the coming months, we will continue to work with our partners in the Yukon’s health care system to expand midwifery care across the territory,” she added.
“The Yukon’s approach to midwifery care is aligned with standards and best practices in Canada” the government said.
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Comments (7)
Up 5 Down 3
Where is my midwife? on Jul 11, 2022 at 8:19 pm
@Roy, thanks for engaging without being dismissive. I agree it’s refreshing. From the Yukon Bureau of statistics Jan 2022 it says that the population of Dawson City is 2300. Fort Smith says 2500 and Hay River 3500. These numbers seem up to date. I hear lots of babies are being born to Dawsonites. Maybe there are some untapped possibilities here in the Yukon. Maybe it’s just a matter of paying attention to the right evidence and information? Thanks for well wishes and the conversation.
Up 8 Down 1
Roy on Jul 11, 2022 at 4:31 pm
Thank you for the most productive and thought provoking conversation I've ever had on the Star message board :)
Yes - Hay River and Ft Smith have midwives - but both of those communities are larger than any of the communities in the Yukon - so would be expected to have more babies being born per year (to be clear I know that just because a place is larger or smaller doesn't mean more or less babies - demographics of those populations plays a role - perhaps more young people live in smaller Dawson vs larger Fort Smith?)
And as far as cost savings go we could stand to have more practitioners of any type (midwives included) and less office bound administrators.
Best of luck on pursuing training as a midwife!
Up 8 Down 1
Where is my midwife? on Jul 10, 2022 at 6:33 pm
@Roy..you make good and obvious points. Having a midwife in old crow or Keno would not serve the midwife or the people well would it? That would be very poor planning. I’m glad you have acknowledged that the midwives that were involved in bringing midwives to the Yukon are qualified, thanks . My aunt is actually a midwife and she has worked all over the world, and only retired recently. She says that you should likely read the statistics that prove that in remote areas, towns that have the capacity for a few midwives, the care actually saves the system money and it is ultimately safer to have these skilled hands in many situations that inevitably occur. Apparently our neighbours in the NWT have midwives in both Hay River and Fort Smith! Maybe it’s worth doing a little research on why remote birth services with midwives is feasible and important to a Community, before we decide it isn’t? Apparently there is a lot of research proving the safety of these programs. My aunt sent me numerous papers tonight. Maybe you would like to read them? Again..a quick google search will likely find them for you.
Thanks for the conversation. I’m thinking of applying for midwifery school, so this really interests me.
Up 6 Down 12
Roy on Jul 10, 2022 at 2:12 pm
I know that midwives are regulated everywhere else - my point is directed at anyone who feels that regulations have eliminated the wild west approach here - -go elsewhere then - find somewhere were there are no rules and anyone can call themselves anything.
Let's not kid ourselves - there were "midwives" practicing in the Yukon that weren't able to practice elsewhere because they didn't meet the standards and regulations. That wasn't the case for your particular midwife - noted.
And why would adding 20+ health care workers to the system increase the cost to running the system? Is that really a question?
We already have doctors and nurses and counselors. You need them for a very very long list of reasons. Adding midwives in the communities will not eliminate the need for having hard to find nurses, doctors, and counselors there one bit.
Would having midwives in the communities expand the services available in a beneficial way? Of course. So would having surgeons.
Imagine if when you needed your hernia fixed you didn't have to leave Old Crow. That would be great! Would it be a reasonable expense to have an operating room there with equipment and staff (a couple surgeons, some surgery nurses, another couple doctors to put you asleep, technicians to sterilize the equipment etc)?
Lines have to be drawn after considering the options and ramifications. Large cities have more than enough babies being born to support all types of providers. Keno does not. Somewhere between a large city and a small hamlet a line has to be drawn - whether it be for midwives being paid for or surgeons being paid etc.
Would people support paying midwives to be in a community with 25 babies being born per year? Yeah probably makes sense. What about 5 babies per year....what about 2? Where do we draw the line - it's naive to think this doesn't come at a cost. And we accept that if we live in Old Crow we have to travel out to get our hernia fixed. But can I argue that I should have a midwife on standby in Keno?
Tough questions. No easy answers. There are limits, there are ramifications from living in remote areas, and there are costs involved- it's naive to think otherwise.
Up 14 Down 3
Where’s my midwife? on Jul 9, 2022 at 7:38 pm
@Roy…my midwife is University educated from Germany and is now registered in BC as a midwife. I hear the midwife that had pushed this issue for regulated midwifery has been a registered midwife in Canada for 15 years or so. (By the way a quick google search would tell you it’s regulated all over Canada, not a “free for all” like you say.) The point of having standards is not contentious, at all. This is exactly what our local midwives made happen. Why would midwives push for regulations if they didn’t believe in them, or if they didn’t qualify to practice under them? Our midwives are very qualified to work here. Very possibly more than the ones that have been chosen by this government.
And why would having midwives make taxes go up? Guess what? It’s hard to find midwives too. Guess what? Midwives don’t cost more than nurses and doctors. Guess what? Midwives offer much more than just birthing services so actually make a lot of sense if they can be enticed to move here. No one is arguing that the government made the right decision about regulating midwives . What we are saying is that the way they are doing it, is disappointing to those of us that understand the topic a much better.
Up 10 Down 14
Roy on Jul 9, 2022 at 3:41 pm
Anyone can call themselves a midwife just like anyone can "call" themselves a surgeon or a dentist or a school bus driver....but there has to be standards and licenses in place in order to protect the public and to reflect a standard of training and competence. This point should not be contentious at all.
Maybe some of the "midwives" from before the profession had local rules and regulations (ie wild west) don't meet the standard - easy solution there - they should bring themselves up to the standard if they want to work here. Or go somewhere in Canada where it's a free for all and we are all "midwives" just because we say we are.
People that think this is government overreach will be the same people, when something goes wrong, to demand the government answer "why was this person who doesn't qualify for this job, allowed to practice? I demand compensation!"
Doesn't matter if they were nice and wonderful. Lots of nice people out there - doesn't mean they get to call themselves a certain professional title if they don't meet the standard.
And prepare for your taxes to go up if we're gonna put midwives into the communities - it's already hard to find enough doctors and nurses and mental health counselors to work there. Now you want to find and pay 20+ midwives to work in these small towns that have less than one baby born per month. Each midwife will probably do 5 pregnancies per year...what are they gonna do with the other 90% of their paid time?
Up 23 Down 7
Where’s my midwife? on Jul 8, 2022 at 7:19 pm
I’m sorry but I’m confused. Don’t we already have local midwives? My midwife was Christina Kaiser! She is a midwife to many! There is another midwife that has led this movement towards regulation for years! I’ve been at every baby fair. They were wonderful! Our midwives and all those people worked tirelessly for us and YG has brought in strangers? Not only did they dispose of my midwife, but they made it impossible for many to access this care. Is it true that our community members can’t see a midwife? Does this government care at all about what Yukoners want? I know I speak for many. We are watching with disappointment. Why was my midwife not good enough for this government? Why did you treat her and her supporters this way YG? Is it because you want to look good? I’m afraid it has back fired. You look really shallow to us. You look like you are messing up what is a basic human right. One that YUKONERS have worked so hard for. You should be ashamed, yes! 5 years late! Midwives for all Yukoners! But that’s not what you did. You did this. I think there are many of us who supported OUR midwives and choice who wish we hadn’t wasted our time .