Jan Mowbray – Ward 3 Councillor

My name is Connie Fetterly and I am a registered midwife and a 2004 graduate of the midwifery program at MUMC. Currently I am working with Access Midwives in Stoney Creek, Ontario with the goal of opening a midwifery clinic in Milton in the fall of 2010.

To date the women of Milton are obligated to leave their community in order to have a midwife provide care during the course of their pregnancy and the birth process if in hospital. With this community being the fastest growing community in Canada and no midwifery services in place but a desire for it has led me to come to the decision that Milton has a lot to offer.

I am very committed to starting a midwifery practice in Milton and becoming part of this dynamic and growing community. I will submit a proposal to the government for funding this February 2010. In submitting a proposal to the government I will need to include many letters of support from the community stakeholders and members.

I have started an online petition Milton Needs Midwives. I need as much support as I can muster to ensure the government sees a clear strong demand for local midwifery services. I do anticipate that hospital privileges is going to be a bit of a challenge but I am working through that and will still run a clinic once funded without hospital privileges with the expectation of obtaining them soon thereafter.

I am also looking for letters of support. Some points of interest to include in a short letter 1-4 paragraph letter of support could include:

* midwifery is a provincially funded healthcare program therefore Milton women deserve the option of choosing midwifery care in their own community
* currently women of Milton must leave their community to get midwifery care and for hospital births some women have had to travel outside their community to be delivered
* midwifery offers another choice in health care providers throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the 6 week postpartum period
* midwives offer choice of birth place home/hospital which allows women to stay in their own community for care
* midwifery offers access to care 24/7 until the baby is 6 weeks old
* midwives do home visits after birth with ongoing breastfeeding support
* some have written about their midwifery experience
* some have written about being on a waiting list and not getting care

The letters should be addressed to:
Ms. Mary Wilson Trider
VP Information & Systems
Halton Healthcare Services Corporation

All letters can be emailed to me at miltonmidwives@hotmail.com or mailed to my home address which is currently,
1285 Ontario St unit 1004
Burlington, Ontario L7S 1X9

Thank you all for your support in bringing midwifery to Milton.