P.E.I. midwives so popular that a 2nd location in Summerside is being planned

Ryan McKellop · CBC News

· Posted: May 06, 2025 10:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

After the archetypal twelvemonth of midwife services being disposable for Prince Edward Island families, plans are successful the works to grow to a 2nd determination successful Summerside, to much easy service radical from occidental parts of the province.

Islanders spent years asking the state to allow midwives, who usher prospective parents earlier and during pregnancy, are with them passim labour and birth, and bash check-ups aft the kid is born. Just implicit a twelvemonth ago, P.E.I. became the past Canadian state oregon territory to modulate the wellness specialty. 

The sole session that's been located successful Charlottetown for the past 12 months has 5 registered midwives, 1 of them being Mae Jewell.

"I deliberation it's monumental change," she said. "It's been needed for a agelong time, to person this enactment for folks. People look truthful excited to person the enactment to present wherever they privation to deliver, and we're having a batch of involvement successful location birth."

Only registered midwives tin preside implicit location births, which tin beryllium arranged if the commencement is expected to beryllium an uncomplicated 1 that volition not necessitate the afloat array of infirmary services.

Jewell said the P.E.I. midwife service allows radical to take however they privation to springiness birth.

"Everyone's different, and everyone has antithetic ideas of how they privation their commencement to go."

Jill Nafziger is simply a registered midwife arsenic good arsenic president of the P.E.I. Midwives Association. She said it's bully that Islanders yet person entree to this benignant of care.

"People person ever wanted choices; there's been a propulsion for a agelong clip for midwifery attraction here," she said.

"P.E.I. is the past state to legislate midwifery, truthful it's been an enactment successful different places and present it's disposable present for families arsenic well."

Full complement successful Charlottetown

The past twelvemonth has been bully for the Charlottetown clinic, said Melissa Roberts, the midwifery services pb astatine Health P.E.I.

"It's been exciting. It's been truthful rewarding conscionable to person that reach-out to radical who are funny successful what we do." 

And Islanders person proven they are interested, she said. When the session archetypal started, it had lone 2 midwives. After feeling the unit of not being capable to support up with demand, they've hired 3 more.

"As excited arsenic we were to instrumentality connected families, we besides felt that unit of not keeping up with the magnitude of radical who were truly funny successful our care," Roberts said. 

Within the archetypal 2 days of opening, Roberts said they had much than 100 radical interaction them, funny successful their services.

"We're present a afloat complement of midwives present successful Charlottetown, so... we're doing a amended occupation of keeping up with the magnitude of radical who are funny successful our services. So it's been a large year."

'We bash anticipation to expand'

Because it's a provincial program, anyone connected P.E.I. has entree to midwifery services, not conscionable Charlottetown residents.

But the involvement has been concentrated astir the Charlottetown area, said Nafziger.

That's why plans for an further determination successful Summerside are successful the works — "just to thrust that connection that anyone from the state tin truly scope retired for the attraction that we provide...

"Down the roadworthy we bash anticipation to grow and prosecute much midwives to screen much of the Island truthful that much families tin person services."