September 15, 2004
Contact: Dave Stephen
Phone 604-864-4611
Fax: 604-859-6653
E-mail: dave.stephen@ucfv.ca

Mums-to-be needed by UCFV nursing students

If you're a pregnant woman who will be having her baby in a Fraser Valley hospital between now and May, you're in high demand by University College of the Fraser Valley nursing students. 

Volunteer mums and their partners are urgently needed to help educate a nursing student while receiving extra support during their pregnancy and labour. 

Mothers-to-be who will be having their babies in the Fraser Valley are once again invited to help a UCFV nursing student learn about pregnancy and childbirth from the patient's perspective. Women having their babies at Surrey Memorial, Langley Memorial, Ridge-Meadows, MSA, or Chilliwack hospitals are eligible for this program. 

More than 150 students have had the opportunity to shadow a pregnant woman through doctor visits, prenatal classes, labour and delivery, and the postnatal period through the Mums-to-be program over the past decade. 

"It's been a wonderful opportunity for our students. It gives them a chance to experience the pregnancy and birth process up close from the perspective of the mother and her family," said UCFV nursing professor Karen Davidson. 

The students complete this component of the program before they study the theory of maternity nursing and before they take clinical training in maternity wards. 

Women who are due between September and April and who will be having their babies at Fraser Valley hospitals are eligible to participate in the Mums-to-be program. If you agree to participate, the student nurse will meet you (and your partner if applicable) for a "get to know you chat," come with you on one visit to the doctor, come with you to one prenatal class, give you and your partner support during all of your labour and delivery, and visit you afterwards. 

For more information, or to volunteer, call UCFV's Health Sciences Centre at 604-795-2817, or 604-504-7441, local 2817.

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