It was an historic moment at MRU on Thursday as the university held graduation ceremonies for the first time for students in the province’s only midwifery degree program.

The eight students crossed the stage with degrees in hand and will now embark on a career helping to care for women during pregnancy.

“It’s such an honour to be part of this class and everyone in it is absolutely amazing so I’m just thrilled to be a part of this group,” said graduate Elizabeth Finn.

“Really happy that a huge achievement is behind me and ready to go forward into something new,” said new midwife, Melanna Mamo. “It’s pretty incredible to be part of that for sure.”

Midwives offer mothers and mothers-to-be the flexibility of receiving care in homes, health centres and hospitals and there are currently about 70 registered midwives across the province.

“There’s significant demand for a seat in this program. We have eight graduates that crossed this stage today in this first class. Midwifery is only going to grow in this province, the enrolment will grow over time,” said Chad London, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Community Studies.

London says the new grads will also be able to act as supervisors for students in future years and right now the demand for midwives exceeds supply.

“Midwifery care and midwifery service is in significant demand in Alberta. There are 55,000 births a year, four percent of those are cared for by midwives and if you look at B.C. and Ontario, for example, that number’s 15 percent approximately, so we have room for growth in Alberta,” he said.

London says there are a few key reasons why mothers and mothers-to-be are turning to midwives for care.

“They really appreciate the care that they receive from midwives, the continuity of care. Midwives are with them pre-natal, labour, delivery and post-natal and that continuity and the choice of place of birth, whether hospital and increasingly at home or birth centre, I think mothers appreciate that,” said London.

Midwifery became regulated as a profession in the 1990s and midwifery care in Alberta became publically funded in 2009.

There are now seven midwifery programs in Canada.

For more information on the Bachelor of Midwifery program at MRU, click HERE.