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!

 

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.

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.

Jennifer Duggan RM

I began my path to midwifery in 1998, when I became a labour and postpartum doula in Vancouver. I worked independently, as well as with the Ministry for Children and Families for 6yrs, concentrating my efforts on marginalized women and teens. I have often been active in women’s issues and have always felt that it is my duty to support and educate women as they travel along their journey through life. Adding that to my love for babies and children (I spent 7yrs as a nanny), I quickly realized that my true calling was midwifery. After much independent study I left Vancouver for the USA, where I attended Maternidad La Luz, a MEAC accredited, direct entry midwifery school and birth centre, serving the border towns of El Paso, TX and Juarez, MX. Not only did I gain a good grounding in midwifery itself, but also learned to speak Spanish and attained strong emergency skills. I registered as a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) in the States before returning to my roots in Ontario, to complete the year long International Midwifery Pre-registration Program (IMPP) at Ryerson University in order to become registered in Canada.

My IMPP clerkship was with a busy, downtown practice in Toronto. Upon graduation, I decided to gain more rural experience and traveled to Nunavik, in Northern Quebec, where I spent about 6mnths on and off in a remote nursing station, serving an almost totally Inuit population. I’ve also practiced in various locations in Ontario for a total of about 21mnths, (Sault Ste. Marie, Kitchener, and Peterborough) and worked with the Canadian Red Cross in Haiti, for 6wks earlier this year. My original goal when I left BC was to return to serve the women of the Downtown Eastside and urban Vancouver. I’ve lived all over the US and Canada and am really looking forward to getting back to Vancouver to work alongside the rest of the Commercial Drive Midwives, as well as serve you to the best of my ability. I truly thank you for involving me in your care and anticipate meeting with you upon my arrival!

Sandra Weissinger RM

My interest in midwifery began during my pregnancy. I realized how important it was for me to become informed so I spent nine months learning about pregnancy, birth and parenting. My son, Joe, was born in the home of his Great-Grandmother in Bogotá, Colombia. I knew then that I was destined to become a midwife, but at that time I had no idea of the path that I would take to realize this goal.

After receiving degrees in Biology and Botany from UBC and while working as a researcher at North Carolina State University, I finally realized that midwifery was my true calling. I trained and certified as both a DONA doula and a Lamaze childbirth educator. I loved every minute that I worked with my clients during this transformative period in their lives. When the time was right, I returned home to Vancouver to pursue my midwifery education at UBC.

I was born in England and have lived in four different countries and in three Canadian provinces. I first moved to Vancouver in 1980 and, after living in the US for ten years, I am happy to be home, working agian in Vancouver. Additionally, I am thrilled once again to be able to hike in the BC mountains and enjoy the BC beaches.

June Friesen RM, IBCLC, 

June has moved to Saskatoon to practice midwifery and to be with her family, we all miss her a great deal!

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.