​There is no challenge too great for midwives and business partners Lori Miller and Sara Povey.

They operate Blossom Birth Program (Blossom) in Richmond – a small but mighty midwifery practice providing pregnancy, birth and intensive postpartum care for roughly 12 families per month, between just the two of them.

And if that's not challenging enough, COVID-19 made things even more demanding for the pair, when in-person access to health care for women with newborns was severely impacted. Sara and Lori volunteered what little extra time they had in their already busy schedules to help women in search of postpartum care.  

​ “Those first days and weeks for a newborn can have a significant impact on them throughout their lives," says Lori (pictured left). “So when the pandemic created a shortage of family physicians, we decided to help deliver postpartum care to families in need."​​​ 

They provided in-person care for every mother and baby referred to them, as well as 24/7 phone access which, as Sarah explains, helped alleviate the strain placed on emergency departments.

“We provided care and peace of mind for women, who could reach out to us at any time of the day or night with questions or concerns about their baby," says Sara (pictured above). “This helped families avoid making a lengthy and stressful trip to the hospital with their newborn."

Over the last two and a half years, Blossom has delivered postpartum care to more than 250 families in addition to their regular clients, and they continue to provide care to those women who have not yet been able to see a family physician.

“It has been an incredible amount of extra time and work for us, but we feel good knowing we helped fill a critical resource gap," says Lori. “The healthcare system is still struggling, and we hope to continue offering support for families in need of this crucial assistance."

They have also spent a lot of time trying to locate family doctors and nurse practitioners, as their goal is to always ensure their patients have access to primary care once they leave Blossom.

Both Lori and Sara acknowledge the stress that comes with their heavy workload, and they are grateful to have people around them, as well as each other, to rely on.

“We can definitely feel overwhelmed at times, because the client always comes first," says Lori. “But we're really great with supporting each other, and our families are also very supportive and understanding, so that makes things a little easier."

Recognizing the current situation is not sustainable, Sara has reached out to the Physician Quality Improvement (PQI) team at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), for guidance on how to potentially streamline and enhance their operations moving forward.

“We're hoping they might be able to help us conduct an evaluation of the work we've done, and then perhaps recommend some opportunities for collaboration moving forward," says Sara.

They're also keen to share their experiences over the last two and a half years with the broader medical community.