Graduating midwives can’t get jobs

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This article was published 27/06/2019 (2678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Midwives rallied outside the Morden constituency office of Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen Thursday, calling for more positions to be funded to meet the demand for midwifery in the province.

Ten of the 12 midwives in Manitoba who’ve just graduated from their training are starting to leave the province because they can’t find jobs, Midwives Association of Manitoba president Sarah Davis said after the noon-hour rally.

“One of the grads accepted a job and is moving to Saskatchewan,” said Davis. Meanwhile, in Manitoba, “Fifty per cent of people who applied for midwifery services are turned away,” she said. There are close to 40 practising midwives in Manitoba but nearly 200 are needed to meet demand as some health regions have no midwives, the association has said.

In a prepared statement, Friesen said he spoke to the delegation outside his office and reminded them that he met with the Canadian Association of Midwives and the Midwives Association of Manitoba weeks ago.

“Our government is a strong supporter of the important work undertaken by midwives every day and I look forward to further discussions on how we can improve midwifery in Manitoba,” the statement from Friesen said.

It’s too late for newly graduated midwife Heike Twelkemeyer.

“I’m going to work in Saskatchewan,” Twelkemeyer said Thursday by phone from Morden. “I would prefer to work in southern Manitoba,” said the 49-year-old who will start her midwifery job in Fort Qu’Appelle in August.

“Family-wise, it’s difficult,” said Twelkemeyer. “I have my kids who are grown up and they all live in the Winkler-Morden area.”

It’s difficult financially, she said. She will have to repay a return-for-service student loan from the province that was conditional on her working in Manitoba.

“I will have to pay that back.” But after spending the last four years learning to be a midwife, with training stints in Thompson, Saskatoon and Brandon, Twelkemeyer is excited to start work, even if it’s far from her home and loved ones.

“It’ll be fantastic but lonely.”

Two of this year’s grads have found work in Thompson, the association said in May. The 12 midwifery grads are the second class to graduate in Manitoba after the troubled University College of the North program that began in 2006 was discontinued in 2016. The provincial government agreed to a partnership with Hamilton, Ont.,-based McMaster University to allow students in the program to complete their studies at U of M, but provided no long-term solution for a future program. Davis said Thursday they’re still waiting to hear if the program will go ahead in September.

Meanwhile, no new midwifery jobs are expected to be announced during the provincial government’s blackout heading to the Sept. 10 election, said Davis. She fears Twelkemeyer’s departure doesn’t bode well for the future of midwifery in Manitoba.

“This is the future of your midwifery service, and it’s leaving,” Davis said. “My concern is we cannot expand services as they want to if we don’t have the resources and the most valuable resource is being wasted.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca