Demand for midwives can't be met, just months after service 1st offered on P.E.I.

Add midwives to the growing list of health-care providers who are in short supply on Prince Edward Island. 

Since the end of January, 156 parents-to-be have reached out for midwifery services, but the province has been able to provide care for only 56, according to Health P.E.I. There are 49 people currently on the wait list.

"When we look at all health-care professions, there's just not enough of us. And it's the same for midwifery," said Melissa Roberts, the midwifery services lead at Health P.E.I.

Midwifery was regulated in P.E.I. in October 2022, with the first regulated midwife arriving in August 2023, the second in December 2023, and another midwife scheduled to start work in July of this year.

Midwives help patients from preconception through to postpartum, as well as offering lactation support if breastfeeding proves troublesome. 

The first baby born on P.E.I. with the help of a regulated midwife was due on Sunday.

Roberts said the province hopes to eventually have four midwives in Charlottetown and four in Summerside. But the competition to land them will be fierce.

At any given time, there are up to 100 vacant midwifery positions posted across the country.

"We really hoped to [have] more midwives at this point, but recruitment has been very hard all across Canada," Roberts said. "There's quite a shortage of midwives in comparison to the job postings and the amount of families who are reaching out for midwifery care."

Midwives need to have a bachelor of health science with a specialist in midwifery. Roberts said no schools in the Maritimes offer the program, and the closest English-speaking programs are in Ontario.

As is the case with nursing, not everyone who enters the profession stays. Roberts said about 50 per cent of midwifery students drop out of their programs and 50 per cent of qualified midwives leave the profession within their first five years. 

"It's because of the call schedule and the demand. So we're really looking to build something that's sustainable here because we don't want to lose our midwives... We want this to be a very healthy space for them to land."

Roberts said requests for services are not handled on a first-come-first basis. It often depends on the due date, and priority is usually given to patients in vulnerable situations.

"We have had lots of people reach out who are non-drivers [and] there are categories like teenage pregnancies; midwifery can be really helpful because we can do home prenatal care for those families," she said.