Midwives in ‘very high demand’ says Wiikwemkoong citizen and registered midwife – Anishinabek News
February 21, 2020
THUNDER BAY— The role of a midwife during pregnancy and birth and with newborns was highlighted by Indigenous midwife Lisa Bishop during her Feb. 6 Indigenous Midwifery presentation at the Matawa Health Co-op Health Forum.
“We have the knowledge of how to take care of women during pregnancy and for birth and taking care of newborns,” says Bishop, a Wiikwemkoong citizen and Indigenous registered midwife with Dilico Anishinabek Family Care in Thunder Bay. “There’s a big movement across the country with lots of support in Ontario for increasing the number of Indigenous midwives who are working.”
Bishop began working at Dilico, which provides services for Indigenous children and families in the City of Thunder Bay and District of Thunder Bay from Fort William to Michipicoten and north to Long Lake #58, in 2017.
“I really enjoy being able to do things for families that aren’t being done in the health care system in any other way; so really looking at what the mom’s needs are for setting herself up for a healthy pregnancy and what her needs are beyond clinical things for having a healthy baby and going home with her baby,” Bishop says. “Because I work in the family health team, I am able to do immunizations with babies whereas other registered midwives are not currently doing that right now. So I have some increased capacity in practice right now.”
