We're a baby boomtown
Capital health 'out of space' as city nears 1,200 more births
Jodie Sinnema
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday, December 10, 2006
EDMONTON - The tsunami has arrived.
Babies are flooding into Edmonton as doctors predicted, carried in on waves of economic prosperity and the advent of young couples.
Babies born to baby boomers -- echo children -- are now having babies of their own.
"I knew it was going to happen. I just didn't know it was going to be this bad," said Dr. John Van Aerde, regional director for newborn services at Capital Health, who keeps a close eye on neonatal intensive care programs in the city. "People didn't believe me when I said this six years ago."
Believe it now. From April to October, 9,090 babies were born in Capital Health hospitals, 800 more than during the same period last year. If the fertility rate continues, the number of babies born here could top last year's crop by 1,200 or more.
That's more than double the year-to-year increase Capital Health has seen in at least a decade.
"We're running out of space," Van Aerde said.
While more intensive-care beds for babies are being created at the Royal Alexandra, Grey Nuns and Misericordia hospitals, many won't be ready for two to three years.
More nurses have also been hired to care for the bounty of babies, but some are still going through complex training needed before they can work by the bedsides.
"We're certainly planning as fast as we can, but watch out, guys," Van Aerde said. "I want to alert the people who will inherit all these children: What happens with these kids five years from now? Kindergarten."
Jenise Bidulock, planning director for Edmonton Public Schools, is not concerned. "We're well-positioned to absorb any future population growth," she said.
Even though the district may close some schools in Edmonton's core at the end of this school year, Bidulock said the district has 13 new schools planned over the next three years -- though not yet funded -- for suburban areas, where young families tend to live.
"Even if we were to double our population in the city centres, we would still have way more room than we need to accommodate those students," since some of those schools are very empty, Bidulock said.
"We had a mini-boom this year (of 800 more students), mainly due to in-migration, not a baby boom, but that was not predicted."
It can't always be predicted. Audrey Hwang, 31, had not planned her pregnancy, nor that her baby son was born 14 weeks premature.
"All of it was a surprise," Hwang said with a laugh. Aiden Chee is seven months old, healthy and about to celebrate his big sister's fourth birthday on Monday.
Hwang has two close friends who have also had babies recently, but "I didn't know there was a baby boom," she said.
Dr. Jonathan Tankel certainly knows it. Sometimes when he is on call, he delivers 15 or 16 babies over a 24-hour period. At least one or two are born by caesarean section, making them more high-risk than regular births.
Tankel receives ample help from resident doctors, nurses working overtime and others.
"You're running from room to room," said Tankel, who has worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital since 1997.
"You may have hours without a break or eating or drinking. It's a juggling act. The atmosphere is more stressful."
Not only does he have more pregnant patients than in years past, he also cares for a lot more women with high-risk pregnancies. Their babies may have abnormalities or need cardiac surgery, so are sent to Edmonton for the expert care available here. The moms may have high blood pressure or go into early labour.
"I still enjoy it and have no regrets, but I don't think I'd be able to keep up with this fast pace the rest of my career," he said, noting that mothers and babies have never been in danger due to the baby boom, though he is concerned about worker burnout.
More family physicians are choosing not to deliver babies, leaving the work to a smaller crew.
"We've got to work harder to stay in control," Tankel said. "Your ability to recover takes longer. I would certainly hope the system expands to handle this. It caught me fairly unaware. Maybe I'm just naive."
Alberta is not the only place where the echo generation is having children in droves. Van Aerde said his colleague in Newfoundland is experiencing a similar phenomenon. But the labour pains are more extreme here since the province is attracting many young people hoping for better lives because of the oil boom. Prosperous times help people feel confident and ready to start a new family.
Sherrill Brown, an instructor in early childhood education at Grant MacEwan College, said parents become aware of the baby boom when they try to find child care. In Edmonton, some day cares have two-year waiting lists. Spots are particularly difficult to find for newborns, since operators can't find one staff worker for every three babies, which is the mandated adult-child ratio.
"We're already tight of space," said Brown, who also chairs the Alberta Childcare Network. She calls for planning and government funding to help ease the stress.
As more babies squirm and wiggle into the world, she said, "This will continue to be an issue over the next little while."
[email protected]
© The Edmonton Journal 2006
Prev
Linear Mode
