Midwives provide primary care that leads to quality outcomes for moms and babies. The midwifery model of care means rates of interventions, like c-sections, are low (about half the provincial average) – bringing value to Ontario’s health care system as whole. Read the newsletter »
Doctors should not automatically opt to do caesarean sections for breech births, according to new guidelines released Wednesday by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
Many Canadian obstetricians lack training in a technique to accommodate vaginal breech birth, so universities, hospitals and health professionals need to work together to provide the training so more women may choose to attempt to deliver that way, said Dr. André Lalonde, the society’s executive vice-president, who has delivered many breech babies vaginally. Learn more »
New research from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health has found lower cesarean birth rates among Medicaid beneficiaries with access to support from a birth doula than among Medicaid patients nationally.
The research indicates that policy changes to provide Medicaid coverage for birth doulas may actually decrease costs due to lower rates of cesarean births among Medicaid patients with doula support. Support during childbirth may be especially important for women with low health literacy or patients whose first language is not English and who may not fully understand all their clinical options during childbirth. Learn more »
Area health officials have launched an ambitious plan to create a state-of-the-art birthing centre in Ottawa that would replace existing maternity units at The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic and General campuses and see significant upgrades at other hospitals in the region. The proposal is not related to plans for a midwife-run facility in Ottawa announced last week by the province, but families who choose midwife delivery within the hospital environment would be allowed to do so. Read more – Ottawa Citizen »
Midwives to run new Ottawa birthing centre – Ottawa – CBC News
Ottawa birthing centre – 580 CFRA News Talk Radio
Birthing centre to open in Ottawa this summer – Metro News
Midwife-run birth centre to open in Ottawa – Centretown News
If access to midwifery care and choice of care provider are important to you, I invite you to write a letter regarding the way that the Transfer Payment Agency is requiring that Village Midwifery justify accepting clients outside their catchment area. This is an urgent matter that affects women’s right to choice of care provider, and could potentially limit access to midwifery care if the current policy is not changed. We ask that letters be written by January 31st to policy makers and care-providers: the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care; LHIN (the Local Health Integration Network who plan, integrate and fund local health services); the Transfer Payment Agency; the Association of Ontario Midiwves; the College of Midwives of Ontario; and to midwifery practices in the surrounding area.
You can also sign the petition to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long term Care, requesting that catchment areas not be used to limit access to care.
Midwives value their clients’ perspectives when it comes to making decisions about care and the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) committee at the Association of Ontario Midwives is now asking midwifery clients, past and present, to help create CPGs for midwives.
Volunteers will be asked to review information and provide feedback to a committee of midwives during telephone meetings that will take place a few times a year over the next 24 months. You would help formulate the questions that CPGs answer and review the final product. Learn more »
This video features a diverse selection of midwives speaking about the different kinds of communities they serve. From Ellie, a community-based midwife in mid-coast Maine and Tuesday, who serves “plain church” families in Indiana to Saraswathi, a midwife in British Columbia and Kim who serves a variety of women in Ohio, including those considering VBACS, midwives provide safe, stellar care to women in the United States and Canada in all settings and all kinds of communities. Watch the video »
Twelve midwives from across the US and Canada describe that value of the relationship between midwives and women: assisting women who hope to have a VBAC (and the low rate of C-section midwives have!), supporting women who are survivors of sexual abuse/trauma to have healthy, empowering births – as well as the important role midwives play in supporting the entire family during birth – and provide education around reproductive health. Watch the video »
East Ottawa Midwives has a few spaces available in January, March and May 2013. Please contact the office if interested: 613-590-1711.