SARASWATHI VEDAM | QUINN METCALFE | COURTNEY BROTEN
MICHELLE TURNER | ESTHER ANEKE | OUR STUDENTS
Saraswathi Vedam | RM, CNM, MSN, Sci. D
I am an Indian woman who grew up between India and the United States. My midwifery education began in my mother's home, a mecca for the pregnant and nursing mothers in the growing Indian community at Penn State University. During the summers I visited India to meet my large extended family, of whom five were obstetric providers. By the time I was a teenager, they took me along when they cared for families, sometimes in the Bombay slums, in rural settings, in tertiary care hospitals, emergency rooms, and maternity homes. I was immersed in pregnancy as normalcy, and exposed to women working with women.
In 1985, I received a Master of Science in Nursing and Midwifery from Yale University, and in 2019 a Doctoral degree from the School of Medicine at the University of Sydney. Over the last 35 years, I have been privileged to witness the transformative power of birth while serving women in my own midwifery practices in the San Francisco Bay area, Indianapolis, Connecticut, and Vancouver. I have also enjoyed teaching midwifery and medical students across the US and Canada.
Before moving to Vancouver in 2007 to be Director of the Division of Midwifery at UBC, I was on faculty at Yale, and my clinic, Birth & Beyond, a full-scope private midwifery practice, prepared Yale midwifery and medical students for practice in community settings. I am currently Professor of Midwifery and Principal of the Birth Place Lab at UBC, where my research examines equity and access to high quality, inclusive, and respectful care during pregnancy and childbirth. I have learned much from families who are engaged in the participatory action research projects at my lab. Most important to my growth as midwife, though, has been my own journey as a parent. I am the mother of four remarkable young women.
The enduring thread along the path to my consciousness as a midwife, and as an academic, is my commitment to serve families across birth settings and across cultures. My goal is to support self-realization through pregnancy and birth, and a peaceful transition for a growing family. Whether or not the birth is completed without intervention, exemplary midwifery means walking with families as they negotiate the health care system, remaining mindful of their own cultural context, and advocating for the preservation of the essentials of undisturbed birth. The quality of our mutual regard and confidence means everything, as together we explore the research and options for care, react to expected and unexpected events, or embrace the spirituality inherent in birth, and in abiding friendships.
Quinn Metcalfe | RM, MA (maternity leave)
I have lived in Vancouver most of my life, and I love providing care to women and families in the community with Birth & Beyond. My journey in midwifery began right here at UBC, with my degree in Anthropology, where I learned about the many fascinating practices, beliefs and customs of different cultures surrounding pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing.
My interest in other cultures led me to a love of travel. I have lived in Sweden, France and Peru and traveled extensively through Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Travel and my studies reinforced for me the central role that support and community can play in growing healthy families- support that is not always easy to find in the context of our own culture’s value for independence. My belief in the importance of community support led me further along my path to midwifery, where I feel passionately about the role of a midwife in supporting women and their families.
Another stop along that path was a Masters degree in International Studies from SFU, specializing in Complex Emergencies. I wrote my thesis about the vital role of women’s empowerment in reducing maternal mortality in Uganda and other developing nations. I am happy to have the opportunity to facilitate the empowerment of women and families here at home by engaging in a partnership in decision making and promoting informed choice in every aspect of care.
I have had the great fortune of working and learning with many great midwives in many settings. I did part of my training here with Birth & Beyond, which I have always felt was my midwifery home. Since then I had the challenging and rewarding opportunity to travel to Uganda and work with women and midwives there, seeing for myself what the consequences may be for poor and disempowered women giving birth there. I spent a year in the rural setting of Squamish where I worked with the amazing midwives and families of the Sea-to-Sky corridor.
I am happy to be here in my midwifery home and community, and enjoy meeting all the new families and new additions to the families I know.
Courtney Broten | RM, MHPE, McAc
Pregnancy, birth, and mothering have always fascinated me. My earliest experiences on my family’s farm profoundly shaped my views of birth, bonding and breastfeeding. I grew up on a hobby farm watching with tremendous awe and respect while the animals delivered their babies. My closet was the choice birth site for many of our cats. I would often stay up until the early morning hours to quietly watch the calves deliver. I further honed my watchful expectancy skills with goats and sheep on a ranch in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There I learned the importance of undisturbed birth for mother and newborn bonding, and for the successful establishment of breastfeeding. By sitting with a variety of animals while they laboured I have observed the interconnectedness of life and the profoundly transformative experience birth can be for any creature.
Human childbirth is a biological, phsychological and spiritual process. My childhood experiences with animal birth as well as my attendance at hundreds of birthing women’s labours has lead me to believe that when babies are born in an undisturbed environment they are immediately and mutually bonded for life with their family. I think that a normal birth is achievable when women feel physically, emotionally, and culturally safe, which can occur at home or in hospital when they have a well established relationship of mutual regard with their care provider. My expertise in various techniques to promote comfort and progress of labour, including certification in acupuncture, provides me with the opportunity to assist women to achieve an unmedicated birth. My belief is that women want to actively participate in their own health care and my role is to provide evidence-based resources and guidance for them to make informed decisions.
Since completing my degree in Midwifery at Laurentian University in 2006, I have cared for a diverse group of women through their pregnancies and births in both rural and urban settings in British Columbia. I helped to found Birth & Beyond the Midwifery Faculty Practice at UBC along with a group of experienced and kindhearted midwives. Since 2010, I have served as Course Lead and Clinical Instructor with the Division of Midwifery at UBC. I have taught many dynamic and inspiring midwifery students, in addition to being a clinical preceptor to nursing, midwifery and medical students. I pursued a Master's degree in Health Professional Education to develop my passion for education and research. I also have strong ties to the Kootenays, where I spend much of my time learning about maternity care in rural communities of BC. In all of these roles, I have been privileged to serve women in the creation of their families and beyond and have seen time and again how a peaceful, satisfying pregnancy, labour and birth has the potential to create a life-long foundation of loving, healthy families and communities.
Michelle Turner | RM, MA, MFA (study leave)
I’m so glad to be working with the team at Birth & Beyond Midwives. Along with my practice partners, I have a strong commitment to evidence based research, informed decision making and relationship-based care.
My journey to midwifery in some ways started with me attending the birth of my half brother at home into the hands of midwives when I was in my early 20s. In other ways it started before then, myself having had the opportunity to live in remote communities in Australia and having an anthropologist for a father, which opened me to different community configurations, understandings of health and ways of being in the world. As an adult, my background in community work and maternal child health research took me to working in Jamaica with midwives, where I started to think of midwifery as a perfect career for me: working with growing communities, applying research and supporting pregnant people through significant transitions. It was the right decision!
Alongside my midwifery degree, I have a degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph and also a strong background in Theatre and Creative Writing. I’ve had the opportunity to learn from midwives and families in Ottawa, rural southwestern Ontario, Jamaica, Attawapiskat and Vancouver, at home and in birth centres, from small rural hospitals to large tertiary centres. I have advanced skills in French and dabble in Spanish and Arabic. In my spare time I enjoy bicycling, yoga, writing, film, theatre and exploring the outdoors. I look forward to working with you!
Esther Aneke | RN, RM, MSN
Esther Aneke is the pioneer of Midwifery Services in Richmond and surrounding areas. She continues to provide memorable care to the childbearing families in these areas. I obtained my midwifery and Registered nurse diplomas in Nigeria in 1973, and was in service there prior to immigrating to Canada.
After practicing and teaching nursing for several years, I decided to go through the rigorous process of registration as an internationally educated midwife. Following registration with the College of midwives, I began serving families at Lion’s Gate, BC Children and Women’s, St. Paul’s and Richmond hospitals. I facilitated the expansion of midwifery services at Richmond hospital by supporting fellow Registered midwives who set up midwifery practices in South Delta and Lulu Island. At the same time, I continued my roles in health professional education as Instructor in Douglas College Nursing Program and Clinical Faculty for UBC Midwifery.
In 2016, I retired from my role as a nurse educator, but I continue to provide the childbearing families, now with special interest and emphasis on providing BIPOC families, with memorable birth experiences. It has been a great honor to know the wonderful families I have worked with since 2002. I look forward to supporting many more families in the Vancouver area through practice at Pacific Midwifery, and with the Birth & Beyond midwives.[SV1]
Our Students
As clinical faculty and a teaching practice, we believe in the importance of educating health care practitioners. Students are at the forefront of the latest research in our discipline as well as offer new insight and extra support for families and midwives alike.
Extensive clinical practice is an important component of the midwifery students' curriculum. The students complete a sequence of courses and clinical placements that develops their knowledge and skills in the areas of prenatal, labour and birth, and postpartum and newborn care. Midwifery students are required to work in a relationship with the family using evidenced-based approaches as well as informed choice and decision-making as a foundation for mutual trust and respect.
You may choose to participate in teaching our students and can invite them to participate in your care. If you have any questions about how students will be involved in your care, please discuss this with your midwives.