Hi there.
I'm a practising midwife. I'll be working full time again this summer delivering babies in the Sudbury area. I'm a former faculty member and a graduate. I'd like to speak on the impact this has had both on the women and the students who benefit from midwifery education and midwifery services in the north.
In 1993, when the decision to have a site in the north for midwifery education was made, it had a huge impact not only on the availability to the learners who wished to become midwives but also on the women of the north. The location of the program in Sudbury meant that a midwifery practice started in Sudbury. We've now delivered over 7,000 babies through our midwifery practice. That practice was founded by the midwifery faculty at the university. It also provided a firm foundation for midwifery to spread across the north.
I know this has already been addressed with your previous speaker, so I don't want to go over it or belabour it too much. I've provided Monsieur Serré with a graphic. The practices in Attawapiskat, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, New Liskeard, Temiskaming and Hearst are populated by northern graduates. Having a site in the north is tremendously important for the retention of these graduates.
I can speak to that personally. My mother left the north for education. She stayed in southern Ontario. I returned to the north. I've worked in Attawapiskat; I've worked in Sudbury. I've committed my professional practice to the north, which is a consistent theme among students who are educated in the north.
The year 2020 was the international year of the midwife. Perhaps it was foreshadowing that Laurentian University did nothing to celebrate the international year of the midwife and our program. That's my personal bias.
My point is that midwives matter. Midwives matter in women's health care. We're recognized for our ability to work well in low-resource settings. As was said by one of your previous witnesses, we have no hesitancy in attending people in their homes. I can speak to my own midwifery practice. During COVID, our out-of-hospital birth rate has been 50%. People have been afraid to enter hospitals. Midwives service that portion of the pregnant population. Nobody else does. Nobody else will attend people in their homes. The impact of having a known care provider provide you with 24-hour care and to have access to them by phone or pager is immeasurable.
In addition, I just wanted to speak to the fact that several of my former clients are now midwives. They became my students, which was amazing. They were empowered by their birth experience to elevate their education, to realize their potential and to contribute to the well-being of the people in their communities.
I think it's a particular strength of midwifery and of our northern program that we have a specific mandate to incorporate francophone, indigenous and northern students into our learning population, because these are the people who are experts in their own communities and they return to their own communities to provide those services.
That's all I wanted to say. Thank you.