Background

As the rest of Canada is moving forward with midwifery services, we feel that Prince Edward Island women need to have the same birthing options available to them. For the past 3 years, BORN has been active promoting and educating Prince Edward Islanders about midwifery and doula care. Our education presentations have been very well received and we feel that we are building a strong grass roots support for midwives and doulas.

Our group receives many emails and phone calls from women every year looking for the services of a midwife and it is very disappointing for us to have to tell them that there are no midwives currently practicing in the province.

BORN has been in discussion with the Provincial Health Minister about their concerns about the lack of access to midwifery care on PEI and although the Minister says that he agrees with the all the supporting evidence about the safety and excellent care offered by midwives, his Government is not ready to make a commitment at this time. BORN has since decided to take action on our own and set up a birthing centre co-op. We are ready to take the next step and do the research necessary to start a birthing centre co-operative.

The focus of BORN for the past three years has been on community education to create an awareness of the lack of options for birthing women on PEI and to gain support for change. We have created an education piece that we are presenting to groups and organizations across PEI including PEI Reproductive Care, UPEI School of Nursing, Public Health Nursing, Family Resource Centres, La Leche League and Women's Institutes. We have also created a website which includes a calendar of events, resources for parents and an online petition supporting midwifery and doula care on PEI.

On May 5, 2006, the International Day of the Midwife, BORN brought Kerstin Martin, President of the Canadian Association of Midwives, to Charlottetown to speak about the current status of midwifery in Canada and in particular, the Maritime provinces. That same evening we held a very successful fundraising event featuring music and the sharing of birth related poetry and prose. On November 4, 2006, BORN hosted an evening of storytelling featuring a well known Island folk historian talking about "midwives in the by-gone days."

In order to continue to build momentum toward access to Midwifery services in PEI, BORN is committed to exploring options for realizing this dream. After some preliminary research and discussions with a local co-op organizer, BORN is committed to moving toward the formation of a Birth Centre/Women’s Health Co-operative for PEI.

BORN has sought out Women’s Network PEI to partner on this project. Women’s Network has been instrumental in helping BORN form as an organization; has similar organizational goals; and has the capacity and resources to house this project.

Objectives

• to produce a feasibility assessment, viability study, and a business plan for the Birth Centre/Women’s Health Co-operative
• to create recommendations for proceeding with the co-operative formation based on best practices and market research
• to form a co-op to promote and provide midwifery services in PEI

Press Release:

Group receives funding to study midwifery co-op for Prince Edward Island

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE - October 1, 2007 - BORN (Birth Options Research Network), a volunteer group dedicated to promoting women’s choices in birthing services has partnered with Women’s Network PEI to study the feasibility of starting a midwifery co-op for Prince Edward Island. Funding received from the Co-operatives Development Initiative, through Co-operatives Secretariat will help to produce a feasibility assessment, viability study, and a business plan for a Birth Centre/Women’s Health Co-operative. The project will also create recommendations for proceeding with the co-op formation based on best practices and market research, and form the co-op to begin promoting and providing midwifery services in PEI.

The Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI) is the Government of Canada's program to help people develop co-ops, to research and test innovative ways of using the co-operative model and make the co-op option more readily available to Canadians. “We are very excited that we have this opportunity to look at making midwifery, doula care, and family centered maternity care a part of the choices that families in PEI can access,” noted Robyn Brehaut, a spokesperson for BORN. “We have heard from many community members that these are options that Island women and their families want to have. The research that this project produces will be the first step in making these services a reality.”

Prince Edward Island is one of only two provinces that do not have midwifery service integrated into the health care system either publicly and/or regulated. Women in PEI may use midwifery services but must purchase the service from out of province and have a home birth. There are no options for in-province service because there is no regulation or registry for PEI midwives to operate in PEI.

“At the end of this project, we hope to have a solid business case for integrating alternatives into the maternity and birth services offered in PEI”, says Brehaut, “We are looking forward to meeting soon with our provincial health minister to share our progress and look for his support.”

mailing address:
P.O. Box 233,
Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7K4

phone: (902) 368-5040
fax: (902) 368-5039
e-mail: wnpei@wnpei.org