**Apologies for cross-posting***

For Immediate Release
Midwives Part of the Nova Scotia Health System?
Monday, May 9, 2005- Leading experts in the field of midwifery are
calling on the Nova Scotia government to make midwives a central part of
health services across the province.
"Our focus is to improve maternity and newborn care services for women
and their families. An integral part of improving these services is for
women to have access to publicly funded services of midwives," says Dr.
Christine Saulnier, Senior Research Officer and Coordinator, Midwifery
and Women's Reproductive Health, with the Atlantic Centre of Excellence
for Women's Health.
Dr. Saulnier was one of four panelists who gave an overview of the
current status of midwifery in Nova Scotia and the long-range goals of
those seeking change. The public panel, "The Final Push: Making Midwives
Part of the Nova Scotia Health System," was part of worldwide
celebrations for International Day of the Midwife.
At present, midwives in Nova Scotia have no formal or legal standing and
are able to work only in a private, fee-for-service manner. Most of the
births they attend are at home but some do occur in hospital where
midwives must take a supportive, rather than care management, role.
Over the past 15 years, two governments have failed to move forward on
recommendations to integrate midwife services in the province. Last
June, the government convened The Working Group on Primary,
Collaborative Maternity Care to explore, once more, how that can be
accomplished. The mandate of this group ends in June 2005.
"Women choose midwives because they want to be able to make fully
informed choices and to be the primary decision-maker around their own
care," says Kerstin Martin, Vice-President of the Canadian Association
of Midwives. "These choices include where to give birth, whether that is
in a hospital, in a birthing center or at home. Research also indicates
that women under midwives' care are happier with their childbearing
experiences and more successful with breastfeeding."
Currently midwives are legislated and regulated in Quebec, Ontario,
Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, and the North West Territories-and
publicly funded in each of these areas expect Alberta. There are 450
practicing midwives in Canada. The standard of education is a four-year
university degree available in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
"We are hopeful that Nova Scotia will join the mainstream and accept
midwives as part of Nova Scotia's health care system - and covered by
MSI," says Octavia James, Co-Chair of the Midwifery Coalition of Nova
Scotia, and a consumer of midwifery.
"Research indicates that midwives' care is as safe as physician's care,
and requires far few medical interventions," she notes.
This means lower rates of cesarean sections, less vacuum and forceps
deliveries, and fewer episiotomies (surgically enlarging the vagina at
birth). Subsequently, health care costs are reduced.
Midwives and their supporters throughout Nova Scotia remain cautiously
optimistic that the government will announce plans to introduce
midwifery legislation this coming year, says Dr. Saulnier.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
donalee Moulton
Quantum Communications
(902) 443-9600
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BACKGROUNDER


WHAT ARE MIDWIVES?
. Midwives are autonomous, primary health care professionals,
experts in normal pregnancy, labor, birth and care of the newborn.
Midwives care for healthy women throughout pregnancy, conduct deliveries
on their own and continue follow-up of the mother and baby for six weeks
after birth.
. Midwives have the knowledge to detect abnormal conditions, to
collaborate with physicians and other health professionals and to
execute emergency measures in the absence of medical help.
. Midwives are an essential component of most maternity services
and the senior attendant at 70% of the world's births. Canada was the
only developed nation to exclude midwives from its health care system
but has experienced a midwifery renaissance in the last decade.
. In Ontario, for instance, there are now 266 midwives delivering
9000 babies each year.

WHY DO WOMEN WANT MIDWIVES?
. Women most often choose midwives for their expertise in
supporting normal birth. Midwives regard childbirth as a natural
physical function of a woman's body, something women do well when
adequately supported.
. Women also choose midwives to receive continuity of care so that
women get to know the midwife who will help them deliver their baby and
who will provide on-going home visits for postnatal and breastfeeding
support.
. Women who choose midwives, then, want to give birth with little
or no medical intervention, in the environment where they feel most
comfortable, attended by familiar and trusted care givers to create a
birth experience that is joyful, empowering and safe.
WHY INTEGRATE MIDWIVES INTO NOVA SCOTIA'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM?
. Midwives' care is safe, and offers the added benefit of reducing
the number of medical interventions. For instance, in Ontario, midwives
have the same outcomes as family physicians but a 30% lower rate of
cesarean section, 50% less vacuum and forceps deliveries, and perform
50% fewer episiotomies (a surgical enlargement of the vagina at birth).
. New Ontario mothers have twice the rate of early discharge and
65% fewer re-admissions to hospital with midwives.
. The Ontario Minister of Health recently stated that a midwives'
course of care is, on average, $800 cheaper per hospital birth and $1800
cheaper per home birth, due in part to lower rates of intervention and
higher rates of early discharge from hospital.
. A study in British Columbia comparing a similar low-risk
population of women giving birth in hospital, found that midwives have a
cesarean section rate of 12% while GP's had a rate of 18%. Among those
women planning to give birth at home, the rate of cesarean section was a
low 6.5%.


Mona Dupré-Ollinik, BSW, BA
Coordonatrice de liaison/Outreach Coordinator
Canadian Women's Health Network/Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes
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Winnipeg (MB) R3C 0M3

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