Squamish General Hospital welcomes midwives

SQUAMISH, BC – Moms-to-be in Squamish have an expanded choice of obstetrical care options available to them now that a midwifery program is in place at Squamish General Hospital.

“I am pleased that pregnant women and their families now have more choice and can decide where they deliver their babies,” said MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky Joan McIntyre. “The new midwifery program at Squamish General Hospital will provide an extremely high quality of health care and enhance existing working relationships with doctors, nurses and other health care providers. Midwives are fully qualified to manage healthy pregnancies, through to labour and delivery, and post-partum care.”

The new midwifery program was officially put into place on November 15. Registered midwife Lydia Szymanski will begin seeing clients locally immediately, with two more midwives coming on board later in 2011. In order to qualify for privileges, midwives at the hospital must be registered with the College of Midwives of BC.

“This is great news for mothers and babies in Squamish. Registered Midwives will be able to provide excellent care for healthy women throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum, and babies will be able to be born closer to home,” said Shannon Norberg, President of the Midwives Association of B.C (MABC). “This announcement is completely aligned with our goals at the MABC, to care for a larger number of women, support expansion into underserved areas, and keep healthy pregnancy and birth in the community.”

The new midwifery program at Squamish General Hospital will begin slowly, and will gradually increase in scope. When fully established, the midwives will be able to offer the option of home or hospital birth for appropriately selected clients. The new program is complementary to the primary obstetrical care services already being provided by the family doctors at the hospital.

Community members have long requested that midwifery services be available at Squamish General Hospital. With this new program, it’s anticipated that as many as 70 babies will be born annually with a midwife in attendance at the community facility.

In order to support a midwifery program at Squamish Hospital, the Squamish Hospital nursing, medical and administrative staff, VCH-Coastal, the Midwives Association of BC and community members have been working together since 2006 to develop a local program that could work well within the acute care setting at Squamish General Hospital. Changes made to accommodate midwifery at SGH include:

• Renovations to delivery suites to accommodate increased births, including six new bassinets.
• Establishment of physician and nursing back-up support for midwifery care
• Formulation of written guidelines and protocols to support midwifery care in the acute-care health setting.
  
• Public information and pamphlets

“It is with great pleasure that we physicians welcome midwives to Squamish,” said Dr. Louise Martin, Obstetric Liaison, Squamish General Hospital. “One of the unique aspects of this new Squamish Midwifery Program is that obstetrical backup and support will be provided by our local family doctors. We look forward to working together with the midwives, sharing the common goal of excellence in maternity and newborn care.”

More than 400 babies are born annually along the Sea to Sky corridor, from D’Arcy to Lions Bay. Of this number, as much as 50 per cent are born at Squamish General Hospital. The remaining 50 per cent of babies are delivered in North Vancouver and beyond.

“We hope that by giving women more birthing options closer to where they live, VCH-Coastal can repatriate some of low-risk births back to the community of Squamish,” said Wendy Hansson, Chief Operating Officer, VCH-Coastal. “I am pleased that by listening to, and working with the community, we have been able to satisfy the long-standing request for midwifery services to be available at Squamish General Hospital.”

VCH is responsible for the delivery of $2.9 billion in community, hospital and residential care to more than one million people in communities, including Richmond, Vancouver, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky corridor, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.

The Midwives Association of British Columbia (MABC) is the professional body representing Midwives and the practice of Midwifery in the province of British Columbia. There are over 160 midwives registered in BC attending over 10 per cent of the births in BC each year. BC Midwives have been regulated by the government and publicly funded since 1998. Their services are covered for those with a BC CareCard and no referral is necessary.

Media contactTrudi Beutel
Public Affairs Officer
Vancouver Coastal Health
Phone: 604-708-5282
Cell: 604-812-1847
Email: Trudi.Beutel@vch.ca