ARIELLE GODBOUT Enlarge Image

(From left) Joan Dawkins, executive director of the Women’s Health Clinic, and Lori Lamont, vice-president and chief nursing officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, stand in front of the Birth Centre.

The opening of the province’s first birthing centre in St. Vital could increase an already high demand for midwifery services, according to a key player in the centre’s development.

The Birth Centre — a hub for the region’s midwifery program —was first announced in January 2010 as a third alternative to home and hospital births. It is scheduled to open this summer.

The Women’s Health Clinic will operate the centre through an agreement with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Joan Dawkins, executive director of the Women’s Health Clinic, said the opening of the centre may lead to more women requesting midwifery services.

"My guess is the visibility of the Birth Centre may create some additional requests from people who might not have known much about midwifery before, but I don’t think it’s possible at this stage to guess how big that (increase demand) will be," Dawkins said.

Lori Lamont, vice-president and chief nursing officer with the WRHA, agreed the centre could have an impact on demand for services.

"We suspect there is a group of women out there who really aren’t interested in the option of home birth and have equated midwifery with home birth," Lamont said. "Having this intermediate option may make the option of midwifery something that additional women (want.)"

Maggie Cox, chairperson of the Manitoba Association for Childbirth and Family Education, said anything that increases the number of birth options available to women should be applauded. However, she is concerned that the opening of the centre could exacerbate an already existing problem.

"Unfortunately we’re still looking to have more midwives in Manitoba to make that option more reasonable," she said.

Dawkins acknowledged there is already a high demand for the 20 midwives operating within Winnipeg.

"The demand for midwifery has been very steady and the current complement of midwives in the system are not able to accept every client who asks for midwifery services," she said.

Dawkins said the Birth Centre is in discussions with Manitoba Health about creating a permanent team for the facility — including the hiring of new midwives.

Lamont said the number of new midwife positions created could take into account any increased demand, explaining the centre will not likely open at full-capacity.

Heidi Graham, spokesperson for the WRHA, added even after the centre is operating at full-capacity, the health authority will annually re-evaluate the need for more midwives.

Cox said she hopes the Birth Centre will normalize out-of-hospital births, adding she still believes there is stigma attached to the option.

"People still look at me like I’m crazy when I say I had a home birth," said Cox, who said she feels the intertwining of the hospitals and births perpetuates the belief that birth is not a natural process.

"My hope with the Birth Centre is we can bring back the idea that birth is safe and birth is normal."

arielle.godbout@canstarnews.com