More expectant mothers can safely deliver their babies closer to home, thanks to a new obstetrics and gynecology program recently launched at Squamish General Hospital.
“We are offering a full obstetrical service, and this is a great place to have babies,” the new obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Kim MacDonald, said in an interview at Squamish General Hospital on Friday afternoon.
MacDonald also works out of BC Women’s and Lions Gate hospitals.
“I offer all the same skills as I would if I am at BC Women’s, but you can stay in your own community,” he said.
Squamish’s growing population and unique demographic, among other factors, inspired the program, MacDonald said.
“We are one of the fastest growing communities in the province, but also if you look at the majority of women of reproductive age, about 50 per cent of our women are between 15 and 44, which is defined as reproductive age and that is off the charts compared to most other communities in the province.”
In the past month, Squamish General Hospital saw the most births ever, according to a hospital staff manager who wouldn’t divulge the exact number.
Prior to MacDonald’s arrival in January, an average of 500 births occurred in the Sea to Sky Corridor per year, with 260 birthed by midwives and doctors, according to the Squamish Hospital Foundation. With the addition of MacDonald, 140 more births can be accommodated, said Tamsyn Jenkins of the foundation.
“We have had a very robust maternity program here to start with, primarily delivered by our general practitioners and midwives,” said Laurie Leith, operations director with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). “We really wanted to bring in an obstetrician-gynecologist and that way we can do more complex deliveries at the site, and we can enhance the skills and ability of the existing staff that provide the care, and we will have that link with the city through academic and research.”
About 15 per cent of births a year will likely still have to take place at a city hospital, according to MacDonald.
Births that can now be accommodated at the local hospital include vaginal births after a cesarean section, MacDonald said.
“We figure about 40 or 50 [of those] births that would formerly happen in the city would be able to happen here,” MacDonald said.
The gynecological program is also new.
A $20,000 grant from the Royal Bank of Canada helped the Squamish Hospital Foundation purchase $100,000 in surgical equipment and instruments for gynecological surgeries.
VCH funds the operating costs of doing surgery and any augmentation costs of staffing to support the new program, according to Leith.
Before MacDonald, almost all gynecological patients were treated in Vancouver.
“Now the consults can either be done here or in Whistler,” MacDonald said. “We are doing 95 per cent of the [operations] here in Squamish…. Most of my patients love that they don’t have to drive down to the city.”
