Organizer says P.E.I. midwifery program on track for approval by end of year
CBC
The organizer in charge of developing a long-awaited midwifery program on Prince Edward Island says regulations are on track to be approved by the end of this year.
Melissa Roberts, the program development lead for the province's midwifery program, says the draft received positive feedback from midwifery bodies such as the Canadian Association of Midwives and the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives.
"We've worked really hard for a long time on a lot of the pieces, but now I can say that at this stage of the program, there's a lot more excitement, because you're actually seeing it come to fruition," said Roberts.
After years of delays, having MLAs approve the regulations would be a significant achievement for both advocacy groups and families who have been calling on the province to add midwifery services to its health-care offerings.
Roberts said the draft regulations being sent to the legislature cover the full scope of what midwives can do.
"We wanted to follow the Canadian model of midwifery care, which was offering continuity to clients in terms of having a continuous care provider," she said.
"One of the big components of midwifery care is offering informed choice, which is having really thorough discussions about care... so we know at this stage that our regulations are reflective of that."
She said the intention is to start the program small and build it over time, so the plan to have an initial team of four midwives for the whole province remains the same.
But Roberts hopes more midwives will want to practise on the Island eventually.
"That is ultimately what we would really like to see. But having said that, the initial team of midwives — it will still provide a provincial program, so it will be a service that is accessible to everyone across Prince Edward Island who's interested in care, which is really wonderful."
Once regulations are passed, it will likely be early next year before families can begin to access midwifery care because there will have to be a hiring process.
Roberts says newly hired midwives will need time to settle into their roles and get to know the families who have applied for care.
"By the time we take all those things into account, having the program operational, hiring midwives, being really reflective of the continuity of care aspect, I'm hopeful [that] by early next year, by the summer months, we will have people who are actually due to have their babies within midwifery care, having attended appointments, learned about midwifery care, and due to bring their little ones earth-side," she said.
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