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Maternity services available in Sparwood, Elkford
A team of health-care professionals is bringing excellent maternity care to expectant mothers living in the rural Elk Valley.
Dr. Virginia Robinson, Interior Health primary care nurse Jo-Ann Decker, and public health nurses (PHNs) Kelly Thies and Donna Barclay work together to meet the needs of Sparwood and Elkford families before and after babies are born.
The rural primary care team uses a collaborative, co-ordinated approach to provide holistic, comprehensive care tailored to individual needs of families.
Dr. Robinson is a primary care physician specializing in maternity care services who provides care for expectant mothers at the Sparwood Primary Health Care Centre every Tuesday afternoon and at the Elkford Primary Health Care Centre every Tuesday morning.
The only requirement for pregnant women to access Dr. Robinson’s services is to be a resident of Sparwood or Elkford. Patients can self-refer or have their family physician make a referral.
Dr. Robinson provides care from the start of the pregnancy and then mothers return to their own family physician within a year. Prenatal visits are usually monthly until 28 weeks, then twice a month until 36 weeks and weekly until delivery. She provides ultrasounds, specialist referrals, birth plans and pregnancy measurements. Births typically occur at the Elk Valley Hospital in Fernie and Dr. Robinson makes every effort to attend and deliver all her patients’ babies.
Jo-Ann is a primary care nurse with Interior Health and assists Dr. Robinson with expectant mothers’ health assessments and pregnancy measurements during clinic appointments. She performs non-stress tests, provides tobacco and alcohol cessation support when needed, refers patients to education and community resources, and answers questions.
Kelly is the Sparwood PHN and Donna is the Elkford PHN. They provide IH public health nursing services and work closely with Dr. Robinson and Jo-Ann to complete the circle of care for new families.
Their services include prenatal counselling, referrals to prenatal classes and pregnancy outreach programs, individual prenatal and postpartum visits, breastfeeding support, breast pump rental, tobacco cessation, postpartum depression screening, infant care, growth and development education, community and service referral and immunization.
Dr. Robinson is currently accepting expectant mothers as patients in both Sparwood and Elkford.
To make an appointment, patients may call Sparwood Health Centre, 250-425-4501 or Elkford Health Centre, 250-865-2215.
Interior Health
