Province promises jobs for graduating midwives

More students are eligible to graduate this year from Laurentian University's midwifery program than ever before.

Four years ago the province increased the number of students allowed in the program to 30.

But the school says the program has a high attrition rate — with many students leaving to have babies themselves — and so not as many midwives are graduating.

Shelley-Ann Clarke-Dolby, a midwife in Sudbury and a teacher in the program, said more midwives are needed in the community.

"The more I think families are hearing about midwifery [and] … demand is increasing," Clarke-Dolby said. "So they are really looking for the family centered, women-centered care that we’re offering."

Waiting lists common

Dolby-Clarke said — in its quest to clear the backlog of patients looking for midwives in the province — Ontario will fund midwife positions for those who graduate. That means students will have a job after school, even though they may have to travel to the areas that are most in need.

The Association of Ontario Midwives estimates that only 40 per cent of interested patients are successful in finding a midwife.

At the Sudbury Community Midwifery Practice, there can be a waiting list of up to 30 clients at any given time.

"Certainly we are having to turn women away," Dolby-Clarke said. "It seems this last year we've had a bit of an increase in what our wait list has been. So, unfortunately, we have been having to turn away more women than we have in the past."

This year 21 midwives will complete their programs at Laurentian University, making this the largest graduating class of midwives since the program got its start.