The state of the maternity ward schedule at the Bulkley Valley District Hospital in Smithers is adding stress for pregnant women and their families.
Earlier this month, Jen Mio led a small protest outside Stikine NDP MLA Nathan Cullen’s office, advocating for better health care.
At the time, she was 38 weeks pregnant and nervous about going into labour with the uncertainty of whether or not the maternity ward at the Bulkley Valley District Hospital would be open following service disruptions at the beginning of September.
Northern Health said they have been experiencing challenges with the availability of maternity nursing staff, particularly over the summer months.
The hospital’s maternity ward serves a significant region, including expectant mothers from Houston and area.
On Sept. 15, Mio had a healthy baby girl but not how she had ever envisioned.
“My only part of the birth plan was to let this run its course naturally, and I was robbed of any choice of that along the way,” she said.
She said she was given the choice on Sept 14 to have an induction, not because she medically needed to but because there would be no hospital staff to care for her the following week.
Otherwise, she was told, if she went into labour naturally, and the maternity ward was closed, she would either be transported to a neighbouring hospital or have the baby in the emergency department.
That wasn’t a risk she wanted to take. She said it wasn’t fair she was ever put in the position to have to make that decision.
“My body was progressing naturally,” she said. “And ultimately, I felt like my choice was taken from me, but the stress and worry, and the thought of if something ever happened to her, and it could have been avoided because I chose induction, I would never live with myself.”
Mio also thought it was unfair her doctor had to make that recommendation, given the staff shortages at the hospital.
As it turned out, Mio may have been able to have her baby naturally. Northern Health said in an email to The Interior News that services were reduced between Sept. 15 and 20 during which BVDH continued to support some labour and delivery patients thanks to collaboration between the nursing team, a midwife and physicians providing obstetrical care.
During that time, patients with higher-risk pregnancies would have been referred to other facilities or higher levels of care.
Since Sept. 21, the ward has been fully operational, the email stated.
For Mio, and her baby, the story had a happy ending with both of them now in good health. She said while she received amazing care from the nurses when she was there, she did feel rushed out of the hospital.
Mio was in the hospital for less than a day but said she witnessed nurses being burnt out and a doctor taking a nurses’ shift so his patient would not be shipped out to another hospital. She also saw a midwife taking over a night shift.
“Our community has been amazing, in that midwives have stepped up, in that doctors have taken nursing shifts, in that the Pregnancy Outreach Center is an incredible support,” she said.
’And it has really reminded me of how important it is to be there for one another and show up and I feel really, really thankful and proud, though, medically, I didn’t feel supported. I felt support in completely other ways where strangers are in tears on the sidewalk being like, I’m so glad you had her. I’m so glad she’s safe. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Mio said she isn’t done fighting for women’s medical rights and will keep advocating for change at the hospital.
“People need to continue to email and write letters to our MLA and ask questions,” Mio added.
“And I wish that the hospital staff could more publicly speak without fear of losing their jobs or being fined. Because they have things to say, and they have not been heard from management and their boards and change hasn’t been happening for them.
“I can only imagine the strain, frustration and exhaustion of being in that kind of really unhealthy cycle of exerting everything, you’ve got to do your best job and not feeling that support.”
In an email statement to The Interior News, Northern Health said every effort has been and continues to be made to avoid disruptions of maternity department services, including working closely with prenatal and obstetric care providers to plan scheduled deliveries around staffing availability.
“All team members at BVDH (physicians, nursing, midwifery and administration) are doing everything possible to maintain maternity services through a team-based approach,” the statement read.
READ MORE: Maternity care questioned
@MariscaDekkema
marisca.bakker@interior-news.com
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