Mothers, doctors fear consequences of Gander obstetrical closure – CBC

Letter warns of ‘devastating consequences’ if service permanently shuttered

Dec 15, 2022

Chelsey Earle can’t remember much. Through blinding pain she remembers telling her partner, Tyler Wicks, to slow down in case they hit a moose. She remembers the ER doctor telling her he hadn’t birthed a baby in a long time. She remembers the ambulance ride to a different hospital, where her son was eventually born.

Grayson Wicks was born in late August after a chaotic labour that Earle says highlights the struggle some families have faced in the wake of an obstetrical closure in Gander. She is joining a growing chorus of voices — including staff at the hospital — who are advocating for the unit to reopen, despite a recommendation to close it for good.

“After being in so much pain and just not having any kind of medication or anything, and the worry of if something were to happen with me or him … so much was going through my mind,” Earle said from her home in Badger’s Quay, in New-Wes-Valley on Newfoundland’s northeast coast.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/gander-obstetrics-closure-concerns-1.6685446