2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Brandy Buggins holds her newborn, Chloe, in her home in Hay River. Brandy’s midwife, Heather Heinrichs, has come to her home to check in on Chloe. “Heather is awesome,” says Brandy. “She makes me feel so secure.”
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Heather Heinrichs examines baby Chloe, currently the youngest baby in Hay River. Heather, a midwife, follows babies up for six weeks after their birth. Chloe is in great health. Hay River, NWT, Canada. December 2019.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs examines baby Chloe, currently the youngest baby in Hay River. Chloe’s mother Brandy Buggins looks on. Heather, a midwife, follows babies up for six weeks after their birth. Chloe is in great health.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.


Heather Heinrichs examines baby Chloe, currently the youngest baby in Hay River. Chloe’s mother Brandy Buggins looks on. Heather, a midwife, follows babies up for six weeks after their birth. Chloe is in great health.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs talks to Natasha Cleary during a regular examination in her midwifery clinic. Heather helped to open midwifery services in Hay River in the Northwest Territories about five years ago. Before she arrived, all pregnant women had to travel to Yellowknife to give birth.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs, a midwife, examines Natasha Cleary. Natasha is 32 weeks pregnant and has come to see Heather throughout her pregnancy. Natasha says she loves the midwifery service – and that “Heather knows so much, and you can talk to her about anything.”
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Midwife Heather Heinrichs listens to a fetal heart monitor as part of a regular antenatal visit with her client, Natasha Cleary. Natasha says she loves the midwifery services in her community, as she receives professional care, gets to know her midwife and feels she can talk to her about anything.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs, a midwife, talks to her client, Natasha Cleary about breastmilk pumping. Over the course of an hour-long appointment, Heather can conduct all regular antenatal checks, and spend ample time with her clients answering any questions they might have. Before midwifery services opened in Hay River five years ago, pregnant women typically had shorter 30-minute appointments with a public health nurse or nurse practitioner, supported by rotating locum physicians covering shifts in this northern Canadian community.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs, a midwife, prepares to take Natasha Cleary’s blood pressure, as part of a regular pregnancy antenatal check-up.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Little Chloe Buggins has a full head of hair at just three weeks old. Heather Heinrichs, the midwife who followed Chloe’s mom Brandy throughout her pregnancy, feels Chloe’s skull as part of a baby check-up. Chloe is in great health.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Baby Chloe Buggins looks towards her mom, Brandy, as Heather Heinrichs examines her. Heather is Brandy’s midwife and will follow Chloe until she is six weeks old. Heather will continue to have appointments with Brandy, if she’d like them, for a year after giving birth.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs, a midwife, draws blood from Natasha Cleary as part of a regular pregnancy exam. The exam includes standard practices such as measuring the size of the foetus and listening to its heartbeat, together with plenty of time for discussion between Heather and her clients.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Chloe Buggins looks towards her mom, Brandy, as Heather Heinrichs tests her head and neck strength. Heather is Brandy’s midwife and will follow Chloe until she is six weeks old. Heather will continue to have appointments with Brandy, if she’d like them, for a year after giving birth.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

A full moon hovers over the Hay River Regional Health Centre at about 8 in the morning. The Centre has two full-time midwives, a midwifery clinic and a birthing room. Heather Heinrichs and her colleague serve a community of about 3500 people. Midwifery services has been available here for five years.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs, a midwife, draws blood from Natasha Cleary as part of a regular pregnancy exam. The exam includes standard practices such as measuring the size of the foetus and listening to its heartbeat, together with plenty of time for discussion between Heather and her clients.
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs identifies as a Métis midwife. After finishing a four-year university degree in midwifery, she says her own cultural background drove her passion for understanding the needs of indigenous women across Canada before, during and after birth. “I’ve learned how to treat birth as a ceremony, to cherish it as sacred. While indigenous communities across Canada have their own traditions, a lot of the fundamental beliefs are similar. When we can tap into that, people really blossom. It’s amazing how healing culture can be.”
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs identifies as a Métis midwife. After finishing a four-year university degree in midwifery, she says her own cultural background drove her passion for understanding the needs of indigenous women across Canada before, during and after birth. “I’ve learned how to treat birth as a ceremony, to cherish it as sacred. While indigenous communities across Canada have their own traditions, a lot of the fundamental beliefs are similar. When we can tap into that, people really blossom. It’s amazing how healing culture can be.”
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Heather Heinrichs identifies as a Métis midwife. After finishing a four-year university degree in midwifery, she says her own cultural background drove her passion for understanding the needs of indigenous women across Canada before, during and after birth. “I’ve learned how to treat birth as a ceremony, to cherish it as sacred. While indigenous communities across Canada have their own traditions, a lot of the fundamental beliefs are similar. When we can tap into that, people really blossom. It’s amazing how healing culture can be.”
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2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

The town of Hay River, in Canada's Northwest Territory. The town lies on the southern bank of Great Slave Lake, in a subarctic region known for its dry warm summers and very cold winters. The town has a population of about 3500. It's a rail hub (the most northern point of the connected North American rail system). About half of the people living here are indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) and many indigenous languages are spoken here.
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This photo was taken during a photo essay about nurses and midwives but does not contain information on the event and therefore has not been attributed keywords contained in the caption. 

2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Lorie Steinwand, the Supervisor of Public Health in Hay River and a Registered Nurse, grew up in the subarctic region in a small hamlet of about 500 people. She identifies as Métis, and her family led a traditional life on the land hunting, trapping and fishing. Her grandmother helped to deliver many babies in their community over the years, and Lorie cites her as an inspiration for her nursing career. Lorie has worked her entire twenty year career in and around Hay River, where she knows and serves her community.
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