The Giimaamoobiwad Conference: Inspiring community-led birthwork and sharing stories about pathways to midwifery
Date: September 25, 2024
Anishinaabe midwife and Elder Elaine Ross has been providing birthing care in Treaty #3 territory for the past couple years. Seeing the potential for a resurgence in the territory and repeatedly hearing how important Indigenous midwifery and birthwork is, Elaine led the way for the Giimaamoobiwad (“Gathering”) Conference to be birthed. The three-day conference took place Sep. 10-12, 2024, bringing together representatives from Southern Treaty #3 communities and partners to promote Indigenous midwifery and inspire community-led birthwork.
Spotlight on Hawthorne Midwives: Tips to mobilize and leverage political support in your region
Date: July 24, 2024
“We just couldn’t afford to hear NO anymore,” says Lynn Hendricks, RM and practice partner of Hawthorne Midwives, on the impetus to develop an advocacy strategy and media campaign to bring attention to their need for increased midwifery staffing and caseload funding. In response to repeated barriers, including denied requests for additional billable courses of care (BCCs) and diminished funding for hiring new registrant midwives, Hawthorne Midwives took a stand, tabling proposals with their transfer payment agency (TPA), local council, and Minister of Health for urgent expansion to meet community demand.
Midwives should be key collaborators in integrated health systems
Date: June 18, 2024
By Angela Freeman, RM, MSc Arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the end of April, I had just completed an intensive fellowship as an embedded researcher within an Ontario Health Team (OHT). Steeped for ten months within the regional level of Ontario’s health-care reforms, I was ecstatic to b…
Ontario midwives gather at OMC 2024, Head Midwives Forum and the Midwifery Sustainability Roundtable to vision futures of midwifery
Date: June 5, 2024
“We cannot leave one midwife behind” – Carol Couchie, IM, NCIM leader, and Indigenous Midwifery Policy Analyst at the AOM Over 200 midwives gathered from across the province last week for the Head Midwives Forum, OMC 2024 and the Midwifery Sustainability Roundtable to discuss, collaborate…
2024 Pride Month: A declaration of collective identity and resilience
Date: June 5, 2024
Pride Month is a time to recognize and honour the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, celebrating its diversity and advocating for equitable access to health care for all people. Through the month of June, several Pride events and activities are scheduled across the province. This time also calls for acknowledgm…
Valuing the work of midwife preceptors
Date: May 15, 2024
Registered midwife preceptors play a pivotal role in the clinical education of student midwives and are essential for growing the profession. Despite dramatic increases in cost of living, for almost 30 years the midwife preceptor stipend remained stagnant at only $500 per month and did not reflect …
Honouring midwives and upholding human rights this IDM
Date: May 1, 2024
May 5 marks the International Day of the Midwife. In recognition of this day, the AOM would like to honour and acknowledge all midwives who uphold the rights and dignity of birthing people and newborns, especially those midwives living and working in crisis situations in areas such as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Palestine, Yemen and Haiti.
Honouring Dr. Sylvia Maracle at the Ontario Midwifery Conference, May 28, 2024
Date: April 30, 2024
The AOM is honoured to celebrate the extraordinary contributions of Dr. Sylvia Maracle (Skonaganleh:ra), Wolf Clan, from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, whose pivotal role in the advancement of Indigenous midwifery in Ontario will be recognized at the Ontario Midwifery Conference (OMC) on May 28, 2024…
AOM Indigenous Midwifery team attends inaugural First Nations Community Wellness Conference 2024
Date: April 3, 2024
The AOM Indigenous Midwifery (IM) delegation had the honour of attending the inaugural First Nations Community Wellness Conference (FNCWC) in Toronto from March 19-21, 2024. The event, organized by the Chiefs of Ontario, served as a forum for over 750 participants with the united goal of improving community wellness among Ontario First Nations. The conference was a collaboration across sectors, including Ontario First Nations Leadership, First Nations community workers and government representatives from across Ontario.
AOM advocates for prescribing to scope of practice
Date: March 19, 2024
The AOM has joined a coalition of Ontario health professions, including nurse practitioners, pharmacists, naturopaths, chiropodists and optometrists, advocating for providers to prescribe to their scope of practice. The coalition aims to identify principles and a framework for prescribing authority…