This audio documentary investigates the current position of the midwifery practice in Nova Scotia

Program Title: Birthing an Ancient Practice: A Place for Midwifery in Nova Scotia
Description: The focus of the piece opens with a historical evaluation of midwifery’s integration into the provincial health system and how regulation influenced the practice. The narrative explores the practice of midwifery and the specific model of care and approach to labour and birth shaped by working midwives in the province. We hear from individuals involved in the process behind introducing midwifery as a regulated health profession, and on the other end of the spectrum, voices from consumers of midwifery that present a wide range of feedback on the current format of care in Nova Scotia.

Midwifery is a customary practice that pre-dates hospitals and medical schools and health administrations, yet each Canadian province measures midwifery care in various scales of value and some provincial health departments fail to recognize it at all. Nova Scotia has achieved regulation but the model is still growing to establish a format that works for both consumers and the health department. Women’s access to choice is at the forefront of this audio piece, this snapshot of time, capturing the experiences of midwifery in Nova Scotia and objectives for the future of the practice.

This project is supported by CKDU 88.1FM in Halifax and funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada

Host(s): Gianna Lauren
Featured Speakers/Guests: The Midwifery Coalition of Nova Scotia (public interest group), South Shore Community Midwives, Reproductive Care Program of Nova Scotia, and consumers of midwifery.

Credits: CKDU, CRFC, Midwifery Coaltition of Nova Scotia, Krista Davis, Tanya Scholten, David Scholten, Reproductive Care Program of Nova Scotia, NCRA, and the community midwives in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

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