Winter 2015 - Ontario Midwives

M IDWIFE
ontario
Winter 2015
Pictured: client Jennifer Song and her
daughter Emilie at a prenatal appointment
with midwife Sepideh Hashemitari.
IN THIS ISSUE
Advocating change to eye prophylaxis................4
Provincial wage gap consultations.......................6
Spotlight on rural midwifery................................7
Midwives partner with PCMCH..........................8
The secret lives of midwives................................ 10
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Welcome new practices and members
Midwifery is growing!
Two new midwifery practice groups were approved this year – Midwives of Middlesex & Area and Norfolk Roots
Midwives.
A total of 78 new midwives joined the profession between October 1, 2014 and November 19, 2015. This means the
profession has grown by nearly 10% in the past year.
Farhana Alam, New Life Midwives
Kim Alderdice, Midwifery Care of Peel and Halton Hills
Catherine Alstrup, Community Care Midwives
Sarah Anderson, Access Midwives
Melanie Beauchamp-Grandmaitre, East Ottawa Midwives
Alison Bekendam, Community Midwives of Hamilton
Ashley Bennett, Madawaska Valley Midwives
Lara Bernstein, Burlington and Area Midwives
Nicole Boudreault, Midwives of Sudbury
Jesse Brown, Community Care Midwives
Caty Bush, Community Midwives of Hamilton
Amy Callahan, Midwifery Services of Lambton-Kent
Liz Cates, Midwifery Care-North Don River Valley
Megan Cook, Niagara Midwives
Amanda Cordocedo, Midwives Collective of Toronto
Jessica Core, Midwives Grey Bruce
Leah Crawford, Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto
Debra Crumb, Community Midwives of Halton
Katie Darling, East Mississauga Midwives
Vanessa Dixon, The Midwives’ Clinic of East York-Don Mills
Jenna Falk, Midwives of Headwater Hills
Harriet Ann Ferrant, Ottawa Valley Midwives
Anne-Christine Foisy, Neepeeshowan Midwives
Jacqueline Gaudette, Talbot Creek Midwives
Emily Gaudreau, The Hamilton Midwives
Christine Geiger, Midwifery Care of Peel & Halton Hills (Brampton)
Karen George, Family Midwifery Care
Hava Glick, Community Midwives of Toronto
Helen Guenther, Ottawa South Midwives
Shannon Halvorsen, Community Midwives of Thunder Bay
Ayeshah Haque, Midwives of Chatham-Kent
Tiffany Holdsworth-Taylor, Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft
Sarah Hook, Community Midwives of Hamilton
Bounmy Inthavong, Blue Heron Midwives
Sanaz Kama, Diversity Midwives
Fatemeh Keivan-Far, Midwives of East Erie
Jewell Kirkopoulos, Access Midwives
Karolina Kullerstrand, Midwifery Care of Peel and Halton Hills
Andrea Lindenbach, Midwives of Algoma
Catherine Lombardo, Midwifery Group of Ottawa
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Association of Ontario Midwives
Kathy Macerollo, Riverdale Community Midwives
Arlaine MacLennan, Access Midwives
Kate Mansbridge, Kensington Midwives
Tylee Maracle, Midwifery Collective of Ottawa
Brigid Matheson, Genesis Midwives
Keren Menashe, Midwife Alliance
Lisa Middleton, Midwifery Collective of Ottawa
Emma Miles, Gentle Beginnings Midwifery
Rebecca Moore, Midwives Grey Bruce
Kathryn Nelder, Womancare Midwives
Amy Nelson, Barrie Midwives
Pamela O’Farrell, Community Midwives of Brantford
Ashley Park, East Mississauga Midwives
Kelsey Peppler, Midwives of Sudbury
Mimi Pothaar, Midwives Nottawasaga
Claire Ramlogan-Salanga, Guelph Midwives
Emily Roth, Countryside Midwifery Services (Palmerston)
Megan Seargeant, Maternity Care Midwives Thunder Bay
Maggie Seegmiller, St. Jacobs Midwives
Amanda Sgrignoli, Midwives Collective of Toronto
Angela Silcock, Midwifery Care-North Don River Valley
Alexia Singh, Uxbridge Stouffville Midwives
Kinshasa Steele, Huron Community Midwifery Services
Karlee Stevens, Access Midwives
Leslie Stevens, Niagara Midwives
Rebecca Thompson, Thames Valley Midwives
Kimberley Tigani, Community Midwives of Kingston
Amanda Tomkins, Midwives of Windsor
Anna Trippel, Uxbridge Stouffville Midwives
Angela Umoh, The Hamilton Midwives
Krista Weatherston, Maternity Care Midwives Thunder Bay
Leah White, Community Midwives of Kingston
Lisa Wiley, Thames Valley Midwives
Justine Wilson, Stratford Midwives
Jenna Wilson, Burlington and Area Midwives
Christina Winger, Community Midwives of Halton
Corine Witteveen, Cambridge Midwives
Laura Wood, Midwifery Care of Peel and Halton Hills
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
The working (and secret)
lives of midwives
by Lisa M. Weston, President
This issue of Ontario Midwife reveals
both the working and the secret lives
of midwives. For example, we talked
to two solo midwives about the
collaborative dynamics necessary to
support rural midwifery care (see
page 7). We got to delve into the
impact midwives are making at a
provincial level in our story on the
Provincial Council for Maternal
and Child Health (page 8). And we
especially enjoyed being able to
take a peek into their lives when
they’re not on call (hint: it involves
astronomy, art and axe throwing.
Yes, you read that correctly—check
out page 10 for more).
Ontario Midwife is published
three times a year by the
Association of Ontario Midwives
and is available online at
OntarioMidwives.ca or you may
request a printed copy.
But I’ll be honest—pulling together
a newsletter on the working lives
of midwives while also fighting
for the appropriate valuation of
that work has sometimes been
challenging. As we go to press,
our leadership is in the thick of
working with government on a
variety of matters that impact
how midwives work and how they
get compensated for it. Making
the right decisions for and on
behalf of midwives—a profession
deeply committed to pay equity—
demands the greatest of judgment
calls. Even for our most skilled
leaders and advocates, this work
can be tremendously challenging.
In a way, though, that’s the
reality of life in the midwifery
sector. Midwives must make
quick decisions while thinking
on our feet, consulting with other
experts in the moment. Using
a combination of education,
experience, input from trusted
colleagues and, sometimes, gut
instinct, all result in a series of
decisions that support the best
outcomes. It’s what midwives
do every day and what your
professional association is always
trying to do too.
Sincerely,
Lisa
Executive Director: Kelly
Stadelbauer
Midwife Advisor: Jasmin Tecson
Editor: Juana Berinstein, Director
of Policy and Communications
Managing Editor: Sabina Hikel
Contributors: Tahlee Afzal
Jill-Marie Burke, Amber LepageMonette.
Design and layout: Laurie Barnett
We welcome your feedback. Please
contact [email protected]
Follow @OntarioMidwives for
daily news and updates.
AOM staff
announcement
Join us in welcoming Cheryllee Bourgeois as the new Director, Clinical and
Professional Development at the AOM. Cheryllee has extensive experience as a
registered midwife, an educator, and a leader in the midwifery community. She
is a founding member of Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and currently
serves as the president of the board of directors at the Toronto Birth Centre.
Cheryllee is also an instructor and Aboriginal coordinator at the Ryerson
midwifery program, and is completing a Masters of Education at York University
in the Urban Aboriginal Education Cohort.
Association of Ontario Midwives
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Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Bit.ly/Amalie-dealing-with-eye-drops by Lars Ploughmann is licensed under CC
BY 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
Advocating change to eye prophylaxis
Belleville midwife Liza van de
Hoef didn’t have a history of
public advocacy or activism.
But she felt so strongly that the
Ontario government should end
the mandatory administration of
erythromycin ointment into eyes
of all newborns that she launched
a grassroots campaign that has
garnered the support of midwives
and other health-care providers,
midwifery clients, doula groups
and politicians.
The campaign reached a major
milestone on November 30 when
MPP Todd Smith (Prince EdwardHastings) presented van de Hoef ’s
petition with over 1400 signatures
in the Legislative Assembly of
Both the AOM and the CPS
are calling on the government
to change the outdated eye
prophylaxis law. More details about
the scholarly research can be found
in their position statements.
To read the CanadianPaediatric
Society statement on eye
prophylaxis visit bit.ly/CPSstatement
The AOM statement can be read at
bit.ly/AOMeyeprophylaxis
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Association of Ontario Midwives
Ontario. The petition also had the
support of NDP Health and LongTerm Care critic France Gélinas
and Sophie Kiwala, Liberal MPP
for Kingston and the Islands. Prior
to the presentation of the petition,
van de Hoef, midwifery researcher
Liz Darling, PhD and midwifery
consumer Laura Hardy spoke at a
press conference at Queen’s Park.
Van de Hoef is optimistic that the
groundswell of support for the
campaign will lead to a change in
law. While Ontario’s Health Care
Consent Act recognizes parents as
the most appropriate substitute
decision-makers for their child,
the prevention and treatment
of communicable diseases in
newborns’ eyes are exempted
from this Act. Research evidence
has shown that erythromycin
is limited in its effectiveness
against chlamydia or gonorrhea,
the two most common causes
of neonatal eye infections that
could cause blindness. Despite
this, the Ontario Health Protection
and Promotion Act requires
midwives and physicians to
administer erythromycin ointment
within one hour after a baby is
born. If parents refuse to have
the ointment administered, the
Children’s Aid Society may
be called and the baby could
be removed until ointment is
administered.
Both the Association of Ontario
Midwives (AOM) and the
Canadian Paediatric Society
(CPS) have issued similar position
statements against this outdated
public health policy, which is
no longer supported by clinical
research evidence.
“CPS believes that physicians caring
for newborns should advocate for
the rescinding of these mandatory
neonatal ocular prophylaxis laws,”
says Dr. Dorothy Moore, one of
the principal authors of the CPS
position statement. “It would
be more effective to screen all
pregnant women for gonorrhea and
chlamydia infection and treat and
follow-up those found to be infected.”
In addition to screening all
pregnant women, with treatment
for those affected, neonatal eye
prophylaxis could be offered to
parents following an informed
choice discussion. Parents could
choose or decline the intervention
based on their personal risk
factors and the evidence for the
intervention.
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
“It would be more
effective to screen
all pregnant women
for gonorrhea and
chlamydia infection
and treat and followup those found to be
infected.”
Dr. Dorothy Moore
For van de Hoef and her
colleagues, the law creates a
major challenge to client-centred
care. They know the ointment is
ineffective, but they can’t break the
law or risk being fined thousands
of dollars for not administering it.
“I’m committed to family-centred
care and informed choice,” says
van de Hoef, “so I have to tell
families about the evidence, then
I say ‘but you don’t get a choice
on this.’ It’s frustrating to say ‘the
evidence says this doesn’t work,
but we’re going to do it because it’s
the law.’”.
The work van de Hoef has
undertaken, however, may just
change that law. Health Minister
Eric Hoskins recently referred the
issue of mandatory eye prophylaxis
of the newborn to the Provincial
Infectious Disease Advisory Council
(PIDAC) to consider the evidence
and make recommendations to
the Ministry of Health and LongTerm Care. Midwives applaud this
important step.
At the Queen’s Park media conference: (bottom row, left to right) midwifery researcher Liz
Darling, Belleville midwife Liza van de Hoef, midwifery client Laura Hardy; (back row, left
to right) NDP Health and Long-Term Care critic France Gélinas, Conservative MPP Todd
Smith (Prince Edward-Hastings) and Sophie Kiwala, Liberal MPP (Kingston and the Islands.)
BACKGROUND
•
•
•
•
Mandatory ocular prophylaxis laws were introduced in the 1800s
before routine antenatal public health screening for STIs and the
discovery of antibiotics.
The original formulation used silver nitrate eye drops, a very
effective but highly irritating solution.
Adopted as a public health policy, the practice greatly reduced
the incidence of blindness caused by certain infectious diseases
transmitted to the baby at birth.
Today, we use an antibacterial ointment called erythromycin,
which is limited in its effectiveness against either chlamydia
or gonorrhea–the two most common causes of ophthalmia
neonatorum.
LEGISLATION
•
•
•
•
Ontario’s Health Care Consent Act protects the decision-making
authority of patients.
In the case of minors, parents and legal guardians are
recognized as the most appropriate substitute decisionmakers
for their children’s care.
Mandatory eye prophylaxis is enshrined in Ontario’s Health
Protection and Promotion Act.
It is also exempt from the Health Care Consent Act, which
means parents CANNOT refuse this practice for their babies.
CONSEQUENCES
•
•
•
•
Lack of a clear legal process for opting out of neonatal eye
prophylaxis affects both midwifery clients and midwives.
Parents who refuse treatment are subject to investigation by
public health and child protection agencies.
Health-care providers who refuse to administer the treatment
are subject to hefty fines.
Mandatory eye prophylaxis undermines the authority of parents
to make decisions in the best interests of their children.
Association of Ontario Midwives
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Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
The “caring dilemma” is one midwives struggle with day-to-day: balancing
caring for clients, newborns and their own families while trying to
address the pay gap.
Midwives share personal experiences at
provincial wage gap consultations
Rebecca Hautala, a registered
midwife and a mother of three
young children, thought twice
before attending the government’s
wage gap strategy consultation in
Thunder Bay. That week, she had
a hectic on-call schedule and had
already missed several dinners
and bedtimes with her children.
Attending the town hall in the
evening would mean missing more
time with her kids. This “caring
dilemma” is one midwives struggle
with day-to-day: balancing caring
for clients, newborns and their
own families while trying to
address the pay gap.
As part of Premier Wynne’s directive
to the Ministry of Labour, the
government’s Gender Wage Gap
Steering Committee launched
public consultations in Ontario on
October 26, 2015. The committee
has scheduled town hall meetings
across the province to hear firsthand the impact the gender wage gap
has on individuals and communities.
Once the consultations are complete
in February 2016 the committee
will make recommendations to the
government on ways to close the gap.
The gender wage gap in Ontario is
31.5%. This means that the average
woman earns approximately 68
cents to every dollar that a man
earns. According to a pay equity
expert Paul Durber, midwives
only get paid 52% of what their
work is worth, experiencing a
significant gender penalty on their
pay (see the full Durber Report
at ontariomidwives.ca/support/
equity/resources).
Generations of midwives have
been providing care despite the
gap; newer midwives spoke at the
consultations about the impact
of having to pay off student
loans, and late-career midwives
have articulated concerns about
retirement. Midwives have also
discussed feeling undervalued
working in a female-dominated
profession that focuses on women’s
health-care needs.
Ultimately, midwives across the
province have reported feeling
that the wage gap consultations
have been useful. “I went in feeling
the meeting was likely futile, but
came away feeling empowered and
heard,” Hautala says. Midwives
have spoken to the impact of the
gap at consultations in Cornwall,
Ottawa, Toronto and Scarborough.
In Burlington, a record-breaking 21
midwives were in attendance.
As midwives and consumers
continue to participate in
consultations across the province
they will be watching the panel’s
progress to ensure that the
recommendations are translated
into concreate action by Ontario’s
government.
The committee has invited
individuals and organizations to
further participate by sending in
submissions in response to the
Consultation Reports by January
15, 2016. The Wage Gap Strategy
Consultations will be held till
February 2016. For further details
and a full schedule visit
labour.gov.on.ca/english/about/
gwg/consultation.php
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Association of Ontario Midwives
From left to right: Maureen Silverman, RM; Carolyn Scott, RM; Amanda Sorbara,
RM; lawyers Jen Quito and Mary Cornish; Amy Belair, midwifery student.
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Spotlight on
rural midwifery
Necessity is the mother of
invention ... and just one of the
dynamics that drives collaborative,
forward-thinking models of
practice in rural settings.
When you’re providing care in
a small community with a level
1 hospital and no obstetrical or
pediatric staff, good working
relationships, flexibility and a cando attitude are a necessity.
“You have to establish good
relationships,” says midwife
Melanie Guerin who practices
in her hometown of Hearst,
population of just over 5,000. In
addition to having her clinic
located in the same building as
the family health centre, Guerin
has an excellent relationship with
Dr. Richard Claveau, one of the
local family physicians who was
her support person when she
established her practice and now
covers her clients when she’s offcall or away.
“I leave my clients in his hands,” she
says. “He knows the way I work.”
For her part, Guerin has been
brought into the on-call schedule
at the hospital. “By working this
closely together, our clients and
patients are supported and able to
stay in the community. Because of
our team model, clients don’t have
to leave Hearst to get the care they
need,” Guerin says.
Midwife Judy Rogers (far left) and RN Karen Beck-Sanderson
admire baby Grace, being held by mom An Le.
Delivering the best care possible and
keeping care close to home is also at
the heart of Judy Rogers’ model.
Rogers opened her new Parry
Sound practice in 2013, and she
too is on the hospital rota on-call
schedule and covers for physicians.
It’s one of the main reasons why
she received instruction and
training in performing vacuumassisted deliveries.
“If a midwife was the person oncall for the week and a woman had
abnormal fetal heart tones and
could have had a vacuum delivery
with a doctor, it wasn’t appropriate
to have a C-section just because a
midwife was on-call,” she says.
Rogers also hopes to be able to
order oxytocin for augmentation of
labour through medical directives.
The next step for Guerin is
to be a surgical assist to the
family physician who performs
C-sections in their community.
In addition to being a practicing
midwife, Rogers also serves as
an associate professor at Ryerson
University and has extensively
researched maternity care in rural
and remote communities.
“I’ve always felt midwives
could make a contribution to
sustainability in maternity care in
rural communities,” she says. As her
and Guerin’s work shows, she’s right.
The AOM report Rural and
Remote Maternity Care in Ontario
(bit.ly/AOMrural-remote) provides
analysis of the challenges facing
rural maternity care providers
as well as recommendations to
ensure care that is accessible,
culturally appropriate and close
to home.
Earlier this month, a newly released joint paper marked a major
moment for rural medicine in Canada. A collaboration between the
College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Society of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists of Canada, the Canadian Association of General
Surgeons and the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, the
statement recommends family doctors with enhanced surgical skill
provide services such as C-section and the development of networks
of surgical and maternity care that include obstetricians, general
surgeons and family doctors able to perform surgery. The paper can
be viewed at bit.ly/srpc-jointpaper
Association of Ontario Midwives
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Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
“I think this opportunity is somewhat unique because we are
focusing on the care of healthy pregnant women, which is
central to the work midwives do.”
Liz Darling, RM
Midwives partner with the PCMCH to support
maternal newborn care strategy
Midwives have embraced the
opportunity to share their
expertise with the Provincial
Council for Maternal and Child
Health (PCMCH) as it advances
the maternal-newborn agenda in
Ontario, in close collaboration
with patients, families and healthcare professionals.
The PCMCH is an arms-length
advisory body for government
with the mission of improving the
delivery of maternal child health-
Midwives Remi Ejiwunmi (pictured) and
Liz Darling are on the leadership team
of the PCMCH’s Low Risk Maternal
Newborn Strategy Expert Panel.
care services by building provincial
consensus regarding standards of
care, and leading practices and
priorities for system improvement.
A number of midwives have been
appointed to the PCMCH. Vicki
Van Wagner is the first midwife to
be a member of the Council itself.
From 2009 to 2015, she was a
member of the Maternal Newborn
Advisory Committee (M-NAC),
and recently, midwives Beth
Murray-Davis and Carla Sorbara
became members of M-NAC. Five
midwives are participating in
the Low Risk Maternal Newborn
Strategy Expert Panel; Liz Darling
and Remi Ejiwunmi are on the
leadership team and Judy Rogers,
Carla Sorbara and Sara Wolfe are
panel members. Finally, Tracy
Pearce-Kelly and Carla Sorbara
are on the Low Risk Birth Quality
Based Procedure Expert Panel.
AOM President Lisa M. Weston
says she’s pleased that the
PCMCH has invited midwives to
collaborate with other maternity
care experts to shape the future of
maternal-newborn care in Ontario.
“Eighty per cent of births in
Ontario can be considered
normal and, as experts in lowrisk birth, midwives will be able
to provincially champion the
practices they use with individual
clients every day,” says Weston.
Remi Ejiwunmi says that by
proactively recruiting midwife
participants, the PCMCH has
acknowledged the importance
of having a midwife voice and is
consciously engaging midwives as
equal partners at the table.
“They recognize that we have
a significant role to play in
everything to do with maternal
and newborn care,” says Ejiwunmi.
Ejiwunmi and Darling (who
job-share one position) sit on
the Low Risk Maternal Newborn
Strategy Expert Panel’s leadership
“They (PCMCH) recognize that we (midwives)
have a significant role to play in everything to
do with maternal and newborn care.”
Remi Ejiwunmi, RM
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Association of Ontario Midwives
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Midwife Liz Darling (right) says the time is right for
midwives to be involved in the work of the PCMCH.
team with an obstetrician, a
family physician and a registered
nurse. It makes sense that this
interdisciplinary group is tasked
with identifying barriers to better
collaboration within the healthcare system.
“Our aim is to flip the system
on its head to create a patient
or client-centred strategy for
low-risk maternal newborn care,
rather than a provider-driven one,
because there’s good evidence
that this approach is best practice.
This will make it possible for us
to highlight to the Ministry (of
Health and Long-Term Care) the
necessary changes to the system
that need to happen in order to
create the solution and enablers
to making those changes a reality,”
says Ejiwunmi.
Liz Darling says that in the past
much of the PCMCH’s work was
related to high risk pregnancies,
which midwives aren’t involved
with in their day-to-day clinical
work. Now that the PCMCH
is shining a spotlight on low
risk birth, the time is right for
midwives to be involved.
“I think this opportunity is
somewhat unique because we are
focusing on the care of healthy
pregnant women, which is central
to the work midwives do. This is
an issue where our voices are really
valuable,” says Darling.
Darling is also enthusiastic about
working with her new colleagues
to explore innovative solutions.
“It’s an opportunity for maternal
care in general and for women
and families in this province to
potentially envision something
that’s different than what we’re
already doing and that goes even
further to meet the needs of
women and families - to make
care as satisfying as possible for
them, while at the same time
making sure that we’re providing
good quality care and maybe using
our health-care resources more
efficiently,” says Darling.
Low Risk Maternal Newborn
Strategy Expert Panel member
Judy Rogers says her values and
goals are aligned with those of the
panel, which has chosen the vision
statement “The Best Possible
Beginnings for Lifelong Health.”
The panel, says Rogers, has a
strong commitment to woman
and family-centred care that is
culturally respectful and as close
to home as possible.
“There’s a real desire to hear from
clients because there aren’t many
organizations in Ontario that
represent the people receiving the
care,” says Rogers.
Judy Rogers and the other
midwives who have partnered
with the PCMCH look forward
to collaborating with patients,
families and other health-care
professionals in the months ahead
to support the PCMCH’s vision of
the best possible beginnings for
lifelong health.
Association of Ontario Midwives
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Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Secret lives of (off-call) midwives
Remi Ejiwunmi
Midwifery Care of Peel and Halton Hills
AXE THROWER
Every Monday night, for the last two years (when
I haven’t been at a birth) you’ll find me throwing a
hatchet at a target and hanging out with a great group of
people. I first learned about axe throwing in December
2013 when I attended a private axe throwing event
with friends. The Backyard Axe Throwing League has
multiple locations and runs both axe throwing leagues
(like darts, but with axes) and private events. After our
three-hour session (with lessons and mini tournament)
my friends and I were hooked. Several of us joined the
league and have been attending since. It’s a great stress
reliever and a lot of fun!
Beth Murray-Davis
Community Midwives of Hamilton
SPORTS FAN & ASPIRING BAKER
Here is what weekends off call in October looked like: first up, a glass of
wine! But half -ay through my first glass, reality sets in; I’m too sleepy!
So off to bed I go. I wake and go for a run with my running club, pager
free! I have big plans to bake all day but realize it will take more time and
effort than I can afford so
instead I just watch a Great
British Bake Off marathon
while texting with fellow
midwives who are fans of
the show. Then I prepare
for my big responsibility of
being a Jays fan. Games to
watch, tweets to write, stats
to catch up on. All the while
checking in with my family
and planning to babysit my
lovely 16-month-old nephew
the next day. Life is good!
Sandra Gervais
Ottawa South Midwives
EXECUTIVE MBA
STUDENT, MARTIAL ARTS
PRACTITIONER & STAR
GAZER
Since September 2015, I’ve been
enrolled in the executive MBA
program at Ottawa University. Thanks
to this demanding program, I have
little time for anything else other than
studying and working as a midwife
part-time. Prior to returning to
student life, I regularly trained in
martial arts and gazed at the stars as
part of the Ottawa Centre of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada. Can’t
wait to get back to star gazing soon!
Stargazing (bit.ly/1IQucqV) by davejdoe
is licensed under CC BY 2.0
(creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
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Association of Ontario Midwives
Ontario Midwife Winter 2015
Jasmin Tecson
Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives
ARTIST
I make Art Trading Cards (ATCs). They started in
Switzerland as a way for artists to try out new techniques,
mediums, or styles. The only consistent thing is that the
cards must be the size of a baseball card. Most are made to
be given away or traded. Artists will get together to make
cards, with time at the end to show off their creations
and exchange them. Sometimes distance exchanges are
organized by artists through the mail. That way there’s
the fun of receiving a package, as well as discovering what
other artists came up with.
I heard about ATCs a few years ago when I dropped into a
workshop at a local artists’ workspace. I’ve since continued
to make them on my own, but my favourite is making them
alongside others so we can swap them after.
Natalie Wright
Orillia Midwives
TRIATHLETE & PHILANTHROPIST
Outside of my midwifery life, I compete in the 5 Peaks
trial running series. Our team, Still Thrive(ing) is the
defending champions for two years in a row now. I
also compete in the Subaru Triathlon Series, Sprint
Duathlon events, and came first in my age group
this year. I also enjoy paddle boarding, mountain
biking, snowshoe running and cross-country skiing.
I am a volunteer medic at Hardwood Ski and Bike
for mountain biking and cross-country skiing. I
recently qualified to compete for Canada at the World
Duathlon Championships in Spain, June 2016. I do
these events because not only do I enjoy the adrenaline
rush from competing, but it helps me keep balance in my
day-to-day life. Midwifery is all about caring for someone
else. While training for these events is hard work, it is
dedicated time for me. I run because it is MY time. A
morning run helps me start the day fresh. An evening
bike ride helps me process the day. A tough race helps
me process unsettled thoughts and relieves any stressors
that I have been carrying around with me. I’ve recently
decided to combine my love of sport and am using the
World championships as an opportunity to fundraise for
Wakunga (www.wakunga.ca - my NGO) and give back to
the women of Kenya as I train my way to Spain.
Why do I love making them? I love the small format. It’s
contained and I can finish a piece in a couple of hours. It
fits in well with the on/off-call cycle: small art for small
windows of creative time. I can express myself creatively
and re-balance, and have the satisfaction of completing
something pleasing too. I’m a really tactile person and
enjoy textures, so I try to represent that with mixed media,
different papers, layers, and collage. Every card has an
element of serendipity to it so most are very different, even
ones like my “Clinical Spanish for Superheroes” series.
Association of Ontario Midwives
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Midwives supporting a shift to low-risk care
May 16-18
Niagara-on-the-lake
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Association of Ontario Midwives
White Oaks Resort and Spa