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Andrea Brett, RM
After the birth of my son, Sebastian, in 1992, I became
inspired to pursue a midwifery career. Prior to my midwifery
education I served on the board of the Midwifery Task Force,
a consumer based group working to legalize midwifery. In
1996, I began a three-year direct entry midwifery program
at the Seattle Midwifery School, which I completed in 1999.
My training included clinical internships in San Francisco,
St. Lucia and Vancouver, in both home and hospital settings.
I opened my midwifery practice at The Midwifery Group clinic
in January of 2000 and have since become a clinical instructor
for the UBC midwifery program. In June 2004 I gave birth
to my daughter and second child, Avery.
I have thoroughly enjoyed caring for our many diverse clients
and their families in a community-based practice. When I
think back over my years of providing midwifery care I am
continually delighted by how unique each woman, each family,
each labour, each birth, and each precious newborn baby
is. I feel that my role as a midwife is to provide education,
information and guidance. One of the things I cherish most
about midwifery is the satisfaction of establishing a relationship
with my clients based on trust and seeing the woman and
her partner as the primary decision makers in their care.
I look forward to assisting you and your partner through
the incredible journey toward parenthood.
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Julia Allen, RM
As a teenager, I began to realize there was
something different about me when I noticed that while my
friends were interested in the birth control chapters of
our health textbooks, I was more interested in the chapters
about pregnancy and childbirth. Over time, the call of midwifery
got stronger and by my twenties, I had developed a habit
of reading midwifery textbooks. I was passionate about examples
of women taking charge of their own health, and loved the
ways I saw midwives empowering women to find and listen
to their own internal authority. The trouble was, I didn't
think midwives existed anymore, particularly not in the
quiet prairie city of Winnipeg that was my home. Midwifery
seemed simultaneously foreign and ancient, and it didn't
even occur to me that a midwife was something that I could
be.
Eventually, I was asked to think about my
calling versus my career, and in that moment all my years
of reading finally made sense. I knew instantly that I was
going to be a midwife. Sure enough, I soon met a woman who
was studying to be a midwife, and she introduced me to the
vibrant world of midwifery in Manitoba in the late 1990s.
I was midway through a degree to become a family therapist
at the time, so I did the only obvious thing and dropped
out of school and became a doula.
I attended my first birth in 1999. It was
long, hard, wild, and wonderful, and I was hooked! I went
back to school and earned an Honours Degree in Women's Studies
at the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my thesis on women's
experiences of obstetrical care, winning the Gold Medal
in my program. I worked actively as a doula and Birthing
From Within childbirth educator through the cooperative
I founded with three other doulas, called Birth Roots Doula
Collective. I also worked as a sexual health educator and
birth control counsellor at two community health clinics
in Winnipeg.
After spending four years immersed in the
emotional, political, and sociological aspects of women's
health, I decided it was time to take the final leap into
the clinical realm, so I moved to Vancouver to formally
study midwifery at UBC. In the course of my studies, I attended
hundreds of births in Vancouver, New Westminster, Salt Spring
Island, San Luis Potosi (Mexico), and in my hometown of
Winnipeg. I earned my Bachelor of Midwifery degree from
UBC in 2006, and was thrilled to start off my career by
catching a classmate's first baby a few weeks after classes
ended.
My practice as a midwife is centered on the
same beliefs that brought me to this work in the beginning:
that the woman and her family are central participants in
the care and decision-making; that pregnancy and childbirth
are some of the female body's normal and healthy expressions;
and that midwifery care should be available to all women
regardless of sexual orientation, age, race, class, or ability.
I feel honoured to practice this ancient art of birthing
babies, mothers and families.
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Courtney Broten, RM
I came to midwifery gently. My first experiences with
birth started with the animals on my farm in Eastern Ontario.
In watching them give birth, I developed a deep sense of
respect for the natural processes of labour and birth, and
the innate ability of any creature to do so with power and
dignity. It was on a ranch in the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains that I was first able to practice my skill as
a midwife... on goats and sheep. In 2002 I moved to Northern
Ontario to complete a degree in Midwifery at Laurentian
University. In 2003 I completed an internship at the Northern
New Mexico Women's Health and Birth Center in Taos, New
Mexico. It was my experiences at this birth center that
have inspired my political passion for midwifery. I worked
alongside midwives, nurses, and obstetricians, who excelled
at collaboration and innovation in how they delivered their
services. Out-of-hospital birth with midwives was the most
popular option in the community.
When I returned to Canada, I completed an Interdisciplinary
Training Programme specific to northern, rural, and remote
communities. I then went to Winnipeg to train under the
Chief of Obstetrics for Women's Hospital - a major referral
hospital for Manitoba, Western Ontario, and Nunavut. I co-facilitated
postpartum adjustment support groups, and conducted focus
groups on the support for group prenatal care. In 2005,
I presented at the Canadian Association of Midwives annual
conference in Halifax. My presentation focused on using
group prenatal care to deliver holistic midwifery services
to aboriginal and rural communities.
In 2006, I settled on the West Coast and have been working
with midwives and families in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver.
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Sarah Swartz, RM
My path to midwifery began many years ago
when I was invited to attend a midwifery appointment of
a friend. We heard the baby's heartbeat right away and though
she took it in stride, I was moved to tears! I am very privileged
to have a career where I am able to bear witness to many
of those moments in other people's lives, as well as help
women become further empowered through care and knowledge.
Prior to becoming a midwife, I completed my
first degree with specialization in life sciences and was
later involved in research at the Hospital for Sick Children
in Toronto, working with moms and new babies and studying
aspects of pregnancy and early infant development. I obtained
my midwifery degree from UBC, where my training took me
to both rural and urban communities around British Columbia,
as well as in international settings.
Originally from Ontario, I grew up in the
big city of Toronto, as well as in the country just south
of Ottawa. Midwifery and the beautiful landscape brought
me to BC. Though I am a country girl at heart, I am happy
and excited to be a part of the wonderful and unique city
of Vancouver. I enjoy exploring and playing outside any
chance that I am given!
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Candace Plohman, RM
As a child growing up in rural Manitoba, I always possessed
a strong interest in pregnancy and birth (mostly as it related
to cats!). As I got older, I first believed that my intention
was to pursue medicine and enter into the field of obstetrics.
While attending the University of Winnipeg where I completed
a 4-year Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology and French
Studies, I began volunteering as a support person in the
Womens Day Surgery ward at the Health Sciences Centre
in Winnipeg. This is where I was first exposed to my interest
in and the importance of support and non-judgmental care
for women in a health care setting. My passion for woman
and choice-centered care then continued to grow when I became
an unplanned pregnancy and birth control counselor at the
Winnipeg Womens Health Clinic. This is also where
I met a midwife for the first time, and decided to indefinitely
change my career goals!
I completed the UBC Midwifery program in 2007 and have
since practiced as a midwife in Campbell River and Vancouver.
During my studies at UBC I was fortunate to have worked
with midwives, obstetricians and nurses in communities in
Kamloops, Victoria and Vancouver, in addition to a 2-month
term in rural Zambia, in southern Africa, where I lived
and worked with local midwives.
I am excited and honoured to be working with your families
in the Vancouver area!
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