Posted on January 20, 2015
Jamie Colby of Grand Forks and her newborn daughter
having a virtual check up with her midwife in Nelson
Moms Go Virtual for Healthy Babies
For the first time in B.C., expectant mothers can participate in virtual visits with their maternity care provider directly from their local family doctor's office, thanks to new tele-maternity (video conferencing) technology developed as a part of a Shared Care/Kootenay Boundary Division of Family Practice pilot project.
Women in rural areas have unique challenges to accessing care pre and post pregnancy. Geography, weather, and costs of travel can all create significant barriers to receiving timely maternity care.
These women can spend several hours travelling in order to access maternity care in the delivery centres of Trail and Nelson. This is especially challenging in the latter part of their pregnancy when visits need to be more frequent and weather makes it difficult to travel. The end result: women tend to see their maternity care provider later in pregnancy and less often. Read more
