Not enough midwives to meet demand in Regina

With a waiting list approaching 100 and only three midwives currently working for the Regina-Qu'Appelle Health Region, expectant mothers are looking elsewhere for midwife services.

The region has enough funding for five midwives but has not been able to fill all the positions. The three who are working are busy with 65 clients.

"I think it is a very serious situation," Jaclyn Ross, who found a midwife in another health region when she had her child, said. "There simply aren't enough midwives to support the demand."

Ross was on a waiting list for a midwife in Regina, but never heard back.

"It was devastating. It was really stressful," Ross said. "I wanted to give birth at home and it wasn't an option."

She ended up going to Fort Qu'Appelle to find a midwife.

As a doula, Ross is very connected to the maternal care community. She is also working on masters thesis examining access to midwifery care in rural and remote communities.

An official for the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region said they share the concerns about the shortage of midwives and have been trying to recruit new people.

"We're always concerned when we are not able to manage or not able to meet the demand that's out there," Sheila Anderson, executive director for primary care in the region, said.

"We feel really confident in our recruitment process and we're just going to continue to actively recruit," she added.

Two midwives left their positions in Regina last spring to work in other provinces. The region was able to find a replacement for one, right away. Currently the region has two vacancies.

About 97 women are on the region's waiting list for a midwife.

Anderson said that Saskatchewan midwives are hired by health regions as staff. In some provinces midwives are able to provide service as staff or through a fee-for-service model or through a private practice.

Saskatchewan does not have an education program for midwives. Interested students can get bursary money to study elsewhere, so long as they return to work in the province after they finish school.