Kildonan Medical Centre (KMC) has just welcomed a new program for expectant mothers and their babies.
The Community Birth Program offers women the option of receiving prenatal care and delivery close to home in a unique program staffed by a midwife and family physician who specialize in low-risk obstetrics.
This program, launched March 4, 2019, is a new collaborative initiative between the Department of Family Medicine in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and the Midwifery Program of the WRHA.
“There are similarities in the way midwives and family doctors view maternity care as a natural physiological process,” said Dr. Sarah Kredentser, Medical Director of the Family Medicine Obstetrics Network, who helped launch the program. “We both offer a family-centred, respectful and inclusive approach to maternity care.”
Creating a collaborative program offers patients the best of both professions, including the option for pre-natal and post-partum visits in the mother’s home.
“It can be hard for some patients to come in if transportation or child-care is an issue,” said Kredentser. “This is one more way the program offers care that is truly community-based.”
As KMC is a teaching site for the Max Rady College of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine, Kredentser expects the new program will support and enhance interdisciplinary learning for its residents. “KMC gives our residents an opportunity to participate in the clinics, to see how midwives work, and how midwives and family doctors can work together,” said Kredentser, who is also a preceptor in the department “That offers a unique experience in women’s health care.”
Kredentser says the program is now accepting patients, who can attend without a referral. To reach the program, call 204-632-3203 or fax 204-694-5697.