Please join me in the support of Ontario Midwives and the campaign for Birth Centres in Ontario!
It's no secret, I have lots of love and admiration for midwives (especially my beloved Stratford Midwives!) You can read more on my personal experience here and here. Supporting this campaign is a no brainer for me, but in case you are unfamiliar with midwives and what birth centres are all about....
PLEASE read this
PLEASE read this
"So far more than 6000 people across the province have taken action by sending an e-postcard in support of birth centres to their MPP. We need to continue to keep the pressure on so please encourage your friends and family to send an e-postcard today."
http://www.ontariomidwives.ca/
http://www.ontariomidwives.ca/
Lobby Day is September 15th, please contact your MPP and candidates in your riding to stress the importance of this voting issue! More details here
Why are Birth Centres Important?
“Birth centres can give midwives the opportunity to work to their full scope of practice, give low-risk mothers better access to maternal and newborn care, and enhance health care by making services more readily available and closer to home.”
- Tom Closson, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association
Midwifery-led birth centres are an innovative solution to improve care and cut costs.
Midwifery-led birth centres support normal birth
The healthiest birth for the majority of women is a normal birth. However, in Ontario today, nearly one in three women delivers her newborn by c-section. This is at an all-time high – almost double the rate of 15% recommended by the World Health Organization. The increased rate of c-sections has been indexed to poorer outcomes. Data from the U.S.indicates that providing more c-sections has not resulted in any improvements in perinatal mortality rates.
The healthiest birth for the majority of women is a normal birth. However, in Ontario today, nearly one in three women delivers her newborn by c-section. This is at an all-time high – almost double the rate of 15% recommended by the World Health Organization. The increased rate of c-sections has been indexed to poorer outcomes. Data from the U.S.indicates that providing more c-sections has not resulted in any improvements in perinatal mortality rates.
The rate of c-sections for women in midwifery care is half the provincial average. Midwives are skilled at supporting normal, physiological birth and use these skills to try to ensure the most normal birth possible for all women in their care. Midwifery clients are diverse in age, cultural background and ethnicity, socio-economic status and health status. Midwifery-led birth centres will optimize care for normal birth for all women in midwifery care.
Safe, community-based care
Safe, normal birth is increased and unnecessary interventions, such as c-sections, are reduced in birth centres, when compared to hospital. The safety of birth centres has been well established. Community-based care in birth centres enables women and newborns to reduce their exposure to hospital-based infections and to outbreaks of the flu. Birth centres provide a place to labour and birth that are set apart from institutions that care for people with infectious diseases. Birth centres can help to make midwifery more accessible and help women and their families realize their goal of a normal and healthy childbirth.
Safe, normal birth is increased and unnecessary interventions, such as c-sections, are reduced in birth centres, when compared to hospital. The safety of birth centres has been well established. Community-based care in birth centres enables women and newborns to reduce their exposure to hospital-based infections and to outbreaks of the flu. Birth centres provide a place to labour and birth that are set apart from institutions that care for people with infectious diseases. Birth centres can help to make midwifery more accessible and help women and their families realize their goal of a normal and healthy childbirth.
Midwives deliver cost-effective care
C-sections are costing the Ontario health care system over $100 million every year. Midwifery-led birth centres can help decrease these costs by reducing interventions and supporting normal birth. The birth centre model has been proven to work in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries. Closer to home, in Quebec, there is a well-established system of midwifery-led birth centres and Manitoba is opening a birth centre in the summer of 2011.
C-sections are costing the Ontario health care system over $100 million every year. Midwifery-led birth centres can help decrease these costs by reducing interventions and supporting normal birth. The birth centre model has been proven to work in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries. Closer to home, in Quebec, there is a well-established system of midwifery-led birth centres and Manitoba is opening a birth centre in the summer of 2011.
Birth by the numbers
Cost of a physician-attended vaginal birth in hospital: $2,486
Cost of a hospital birth with forceps or vacuum: $3,484
Cost of a hospital birth by c-section: $4,863
Overall provincial c-section rate: 28.4%
Midwifery c-section rate: 15%
World Health Organization (WHO) recommended c-section rate: 15%
Number of c-sections in Ontario
Total cost to the health care system: $108,221,020
Saving to the health care system by achieving WHO
recommended c-section rate: $50,863,879
Figures and financial information located at CI HI Patient Cost Indicator. http://www.cihi.ca/CI HI-ext-portal/internet/en/
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