Indigenous birth support workers at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital are calling for greater resources, space and compensation to better serve families. The workers are doulas who offer prenatal, perinatal, delivery and postpartum support to mothers and families, and even help them deal with loss. Indigenous birth support worker Keica Martell said the work they perform helps bridge the gap between Western and traditional medicine and helps patients feel supported and secure. However, even after seven years at the hospital and serving more than 1,100 families annually, the workers don’t have a dedicated space beyond a small desk and a closet. Martell spoke at the Legislative Building Tuesday with her colleague Summer Brass, who said the workers haven’t received a pay increase since 2019. ‘Costing us to come to work’ “With the cost of everything rising, it’s just hard for many of us workers to work the full 12-hour shifts and be able to live daily,” Brass told reporters. “Most of us have children. Most of us have children in sports or other things.” Brass has been working as a birth support worker since 2023. She said they are also required to pay for parking. “It is basically costing us to come to work,” Martell said, adding that they buy supplies needed for their job on their own time and dime. “… Because we care so much and because we need to have these things that we are not given to provide our best service and to provide the best care to our patients,” Martell said. Brass also shared that the lack of a dedicated space creates some privacy concerns and has resulted in many of their items and materials being taken and used without permission by other hospital staff. “You can tell what a system values by what it makes money for,” said independent MLA Betty Nippi-Albright, who invited the workers to the Legislature. “After seven years, the Indigenous birth support workers still don’t have a space; that’s seven years. When we talk about reconciliation, we talk about Indigenous programming being very important and valued and they have to work on the side of their desks—it really speaks to what the government sees as valuable.” Minister says capacity plays a role Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the work the service provides is incredible but argued the lack of a dedicated space stems from the fact that the program began after the hospital had already been launched. “Our folks at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, like with any acute care facility, you’re always managing pressures around capacity and ensuring that as much space as possible can be focused on patient care,” he told reporters Tuesday. The minister also said the Saskatchewan Health Authority has a meeting scheduled with the workers on Thursday and that he looks forward to hearing the outcome of it. Regarding the pay for the Indigenous birth support workers, Cockrill said that would be a matter negotiated between the province and their provider union, SEIU-West.
