About Us
Meet our Midwives!!
Our midwives work in teams to provide 24 hour access to an on call midwife for every client. With decades of combined experience, we offer personalized, supportive, and respectful care. We will help you and your family to welcome your precious baby with confidence and knowledge. Our helping hands and sage advice are always just a phone call away!
June Friesen RM, IBCLC
When my 3 children were growing, I was a La Leche League Leader. I learned about breastfeeding and to appreciate women’s ability to change their lives.
In the 1980’s I spent 3 years in Zaire, Africa with my family where I viewed first hand the impact culture has on birth. During the 1990’s I apprenticed in a midwifery practice, certified as a lactation consultant and practiced as a primary care midwife in Saskatchewan. I have been active in provincial and national midwifery associations.
I’ve been registered to practice midwifery in BC since 2000. My motivation has been to make the midwifery model of care available to women wherever they choose to give birth. I am pleased to be involved in this growing profession, providing care to women and providing an opportunity for midwifery students and midwives from other countries to experience midwifery practice in BC.
Grace Brinkman RM
My interest in midwifery began in 1984 at the home birth of my nephew. It was at this birth that I truly understood the incredible support midwives could give to birthing women. In the following years, I gave birth to my three children and educated myself in the Art of midwifery. I practiced as a La Leche Leader running meeting for several years while nursing and raising my own children.
In 1990 I began my Midwifery career in the Kootenay Mountains of BC; there I started with a small home birth practice, which grew over the next nine years. I was instrumental in ensuring courses were offered in our rural setting related to midwifery, I traveled to Vancouver for workshops and brought in educators to my community to teach the local group of midwives.
In 1995-96 I undertook a clinical internship in a birth center in Texas. I am actively involved in the MABC, and have been on Midwifery Advisory Committee while living in the Kootenay. Currently I’m the Acting Head of the Division of Midwifery at Burnaby hospital, and an active member of the Midwifery Departments Executive Committee, and Credentialing committee at BCWomens Hospital. During the past few years I have enjoyed supervising many student, conditional and intern midwives and continue to be activly involved in growing midwivery in BC. The most rewarding supervision I have been privileged to be involved in was in traveling to Uganda with student midwives from UBC, working together with them in Kampala and Masaka’s reginal hospitals.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to witness and be part of the birth of the diverse families in my practice; they have all enriched my life beyond knowing. I have a strong commitment to women and their families as the women themselves define their family. I believe that education de-mystifies and helps integrate all the unique aspects of childbearing.
It is with this in mind that I look forward to sharing my midwifery knowledge and experience with the birthing families in my practice.
Corina Pautler RM
I attended a midwifery assisted home birth at age twelve, and since then I have always wanted to be a midwife. I graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 2001 with a BAH in Women’s Studies and Health Studies. Following this education I began the Midwifery Education Programme at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. I trained in various locations throughout Ontario and was pleased to work with a diverse clientele including Mennonites and newcomers to Canada. I was pleased to complete my studies and clinical practicum in 2007 receiving a BHSc specialized in Midwifery.
I began my career as a midwife in Canada’s arctic community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut located on the Hudson Bay. Working with the predominantly Inuit population was very interesting and rewarding. My trust in natural childbirth was strengthened further in this remote site. It was beautiful to see pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding as such an integrated and accepted part of the Inuit culture. Spending the fall and winter in the Arctic gave me insight into the challenging social and environmental conditions faced by Inuit peoples of Canada.
I became a proud aunt to my sister’s son and enjoyed helping her during the incredible transition from pregnancy to becoming a new parent. In my spare time I enjoy time with friends and family, music, traveling and photography. I am happy I have relocated from Toronto to Vancouver to begin the next chapter in my career. I am very excited to meet and establish relationships with clients of Commercial Drive Midwives.
Lindsay Tabah RM
A Montreal-native, I left "la belle ville" and began my educational journeys at the University of Toronto where I studied English Literature. After graduating, I worked with street-involved youth and with pregnant teenagers as a doula and counsellor. Soon after that, I decided I wanted to be a midwife. So, I joined the Midwifery Education Program at McMaster University in Ontario in 2005 where I studied midwifery in both urban and rural contexts, in Canada and also in South Africa.
I have also worked as a midwife in Uganda, where I ran a program called the Teso Safe Motherhood Project, and held a weekly radio show about safe pregnancy, breastfeeding and family planning. During my midwifery training I have had the honour of conducting over 100 deliveries (in greatly varying circumstances), both at home and in the hospital.
I am thrilled to be joining Commercial Drive Midwives and look forward to meeting you and your family.
Amelia Doran RM
Amelia is joining the Commercial Drive Midwives as a locum for the month of July.
I grew up on a small farm in rural Nova Scotia where human and animal birth was perceived as natural, celebratory and empowering.
While studying in Montréal at Concordia University, I attended births at hospitals and birthing centers as a doula and worked in a maternity care center for refugee women, many of whom had received little or no care throughout their pregnancy. After Montréal, I lived in the Yukon Territory and Alaska for several years working with families affected by alcohol and as a youth counsellor. In an effort to help remote women reclaim birth that was being increasingly transferred to major centers, I was able to partner with midwives and assist at a number of home an hospital births where families were present, active and supportive. My experiences in the North, where I was able to see firsthand how a community really is needed to raise a child allowed to me realize that I wanted to be part of this community, taking on the role of a midwife.
My formal training was completed through the University of British Columbia where I was challenged with different clinical practicums in the East Kootenays, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver and north shore Vancouver Island where I developed a focus in Interprofessional health care.
I look forward to working with Commercial Drive Midwives again and feel very privileged to be a part of your midwifery care team.
Joining the Commercial Drive Midwives in September. We welcome:
Li Yan RM
As a midwife and a mother of 2 children, I believe pregnancy and birth are normal and healthy events in a woman’s life. I love the philosophy of midwifery care: continuity of care and informed choice. I consider it as a great privilege to be a part of this magic journey and to help women achieve what is best for them and their family.
I graduated from China Medical University with a Medical Doctor degree and worked as an obstetrician in Northeast China for 8 years. Therefore I had lots of experiences with high-risk, complicated pregnancy and birth. I moved to Canada in 2005. My passion for women’s health and birth led me to go through the International Midwifery Pre-registration Program at Ryerson University and change my focus to provide midwifery care to low-risk, normal pregnant women and babies. I’ve been practicing midwifery in Downtown Toronto since 2008. As an immigrant myself, I am able to provide intimate and personalized care to women with different background, including new immigrants, low income families and women who speak little English.
I am extremely happy to live and work in Vancouver with my husband and 2 children, who were born in the caring hands of midwives in China and in Canada. I speak English and Mandarin. I look forward to sharing my unique experience with you and walking with you in the paths of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.