Association of Ontario Midwives Summer 2012

More documents

Recommendations

Info

AOM News & Updates New practice in Attawapiskat will return birth to the community There’s only one word to describe midwife Christine Roy’s reaction when provincial Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Deb Matthews called her personally to let her know Ontario would be funding a midwifery practice in Attawapiskat: “Stunned,” Roy says with a laugh. “I was very thrilled.” Roy says the minister thanked her for the work she was doing. “She was happy to know we were going to do great things for women and their families in this community.” The road Roy and fellow midwife Carol Couchie traveled to get to this moment was a long one. The two have known each other for more than 20 years and got the idea to build a midwifery practice in Attawapiskat several years Attawapiskat Fort Albany Moosonee/ Moose Factory Communities in WAHA catchment area Former routine evacuation sites Timmins Returning Birth to the North Kingston ago when they were working on the Quebec side of James Bay planning midwifery services for a Cree community in the region. The new practice, Neepeeshowan Midwives, will provide care and services in the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), which includes the communities of Moose Factory, Moosonee, Fort Albany and Attawapiskat. The midwives will provide midwifery care to women in the catchment area, aiming to return birth to the community while improving health outcomes. As part of midwifery care services, Roy and Couchie will also provide breastfeeding education and support and liaise with existing local health programs to reduce smoking rates, improve nutrition and provide sexual health education. Recent media reports have shone a light on how underserved the WAHA area is, particularly with regard to housing, sewage and waste disposal. The need for maternal care in the area is essential: the closest midwifery practices are in Hearst and Timmins, both more than 350 km away and the nearest physicians in the area are located in Moose Factory, more than 200 km away. Women are typically evacuated from Attawapiskat around 37 weeks to either Moose Factory (low-risk women), or Timmins or Kingston (high-risk women). Neepeeshowan Midwives wants to reduce evacuations by allowing low-risk women to remain in the community to birth because, according to Roy, “women should not have to hide their pregnancy because they are afraid of being sent out.” Roy says she and Couchie are planning on going to Moose Factory this fall for several months to work with health professionals in the local hospital and to look at what changes need to be made to policies and guidelines for processes such as emergency medical transfers prior to starting to practice in Attawapiskat. The new practice marks an important step in expanding midwifery services to remote areas as well as Aboriginal communities. AOM welcomes new registrants into the profession This list includes new registrant members from December 10, 2011 to May 31, 2012: Erin Bleasdale Cambridge Midwives Khadija Boulaftali Midwifery Collective of Ottawa Courtney Dini Midwives of Sudbury / Sagesfemmes de Sudbury Suzan Lorenz Midwife Alliance Susannah Merritt Diversity Midwives Jyothy Nair Talbot Creek Midwives Karen Ross Thames Valley Midwives Shezeen Suleman The Midwives’ Clinic of East York-Don Mills Ontario Midwife is published three times a year by the Association of Ontario Midwives. This publication is available online at www.aom.on.ca, or you may request a printed copy. All websites listed are “hotlinked” in the digital copy. Scroll over the website address and click to launch the site. We welcome all feedback. Please contact commsmanager@aom.on.ca, or by phone: 416-425-9974 x2261 or 866-418-3773 x2261. Association of Ontario Midwives 365 Bloor St. E., Suite 301 Toronto, ON M4W 3L4 www.OntarioMidwives.ca 2 ontario midwife • Summer 2012
Advocacy Midwives protest planned cuts to refugee health care Midwives across Ontario joined other care providers and concerned citizens on June 18 to protest cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program, which provides temporary health coverage to refugees and refugee claimants. Rallies across Canada including Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto drew thousands who oppose the cuts that will come into effect June 30 and leave already vulnerable populations without access to medications to treat conditions such as gestational diabetes, hypertension and nausea and vomiting. A group of approximately 40 midwives attended the Toronto rally, where midwife Manavi Handa addressed the crowd to highlight how the cuts will affect pregnant women. “The proposed IFHP cuts will result in a drastic number of women with no access to prenatal care. Prenatal care is well-known to be one of the most cost-effective interventions in health care and inadequate prenatal care will result in much sicker mothers and babies,” Handa said. Take action now Midwives and supporters who wish to speak out against the cuts can send Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney an e-postcard from the OntarioMidwives.ca website. National campaign calls for equal access to midwifery care On May 5, the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) kicked off their national campaign “Choice. Access. Midwives.” seeking midwifery care for all Canadian women and babies. Despite the fact that midwives are primary care providers in many provincial health systems, regulated midwifery care is currently unavailable to women living in the Yukon, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Many women living in rural and remote areas are being sent away from their families, their support systems and their communities weeks before giving birth because they lack access to obstetrical care. And, although midwifery care has been shown to greatly improve health outcomes in Aboriginal communities, the federal government is currently unable to employ midwives on reserves because the Treasury Board lacks a job description for midwives. CAM is urging all midwives and midwifery supporters to sign an e-letter addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Federal Minister of Health and other government officials pushing for equal access to safe, quality care for all Canadian women. CAM is pushing the federal government to: • work with and require all provinces and territories to legislate and fund midwifery as part of their health care systems; • support midwives in rural and remote regions of Canada, to ensure that women can stay in their communities during the normal and healthy process of pregnancy and birth; • include a job description for midwife in the federal Treasury Board, thereby allowing midwifery care to become part of direct services offered to Aboriginal communities under federal jurisdiction. Though regulated in Ontario, midwifery care is still out of reach for nearly 40% of women who seek it here. Midwives know the value of keeping birth close to home and keeping birth within the community. As the largest group of regulated midwives in Canada, Ontario midwives can prove valuable in voicing the need for access to midwifery care for all. Midwives can access the letter campaign on the main page of the CAM website, www.canadianmidwives.org. Supporters are also urged to copy the letter and send it to their MP. www.aom.on.ca 3
Page 1: Association of Ontario Midwives Sum
Page 5 and 6: Above: Attorney General John Gerret
Page 7 and 8: Top left to right: National Aborigi
Page 9 and 10: Heather Heinrichs (Laurentian) Thou
Page 11 and 12: Clinical Practice Guidelines Update

Association of Ontario Midwives Summer 2012

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?