MSH ALONGSIDE MIDWIFERY UNIT
Dr. Helena Jaczek, then Minister of Health and Long-Term Care (right) visited MSH to announce the Ontario government’s support of the AMU. Pictured here with Cheryl Osborne, Director, Childbirth and Children’s Services (left) and Carol Cameron, Executive Director, AMU.
Canada’s first-ever in-hospital midwifery unit opens at MSH BY VAWN HIMMELSBACH
ALONGSIDE COMES TO LIFE I
t’s been years in the making, but the Alongside Midwifery Unit (AMU) at MSH — the first of its kind in Canada — will be ready to open its doors to patients soon. Midwives have been an integral part of the childbirth care team at MSH since 1994, when midwifery was first legislated as a health profession in Ontario. Midwives work collaboratively with the obstetrics team to provide women with a choice in their childbirth experience. Now, with an AMU that is, like its name suggests, alongside the obstetrical unit, midwives will staff, run and govern their own unit. All 22
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Markham Stouffville Hospital Foundation
midwives who currently practice at MSH are moving across the hall, which will not only provide more birthing options for women, but will also cut costs and aid with the recruitment and retention of midwives. “We want women to be involved in their care and we want their families to feel welcome,” says Carol Cameron, Executive Director of the AMU and a registered midwife, who has been with MSH since the start of its midwifery practice. Women already have the choice to give birth at home, at a birth centre or in a hospital. But the idea behind the AMU is to provide another alternative.
At a birth centre, women cannot choose an epidural for pain relief or oxytocin for an induction. At the AMU, however, midwives are authorized to monitor epidurals and manage oxytocin. “Midwives are experts at normal birth,” says Carol. “The vast majority of women expect a normal birth, but some experience birth interventions. Studies in Canada and internationally found that women who receive midwifery care are less likely to need interventions.” The midwifery model of care embraces best practices while facilitating normal births for low-risk, healthy women. The option of a home birth will continue to be offered to all