About Us
Meet Our Staff
Heather Wood, Registered Midwife
It has been very exciting to be a founding partner of Access Midwifery (with Lorna McRae) and to be a part of its growth and change over the last five years. Our mission continues to be to serve all women, with a focus on serving women and families whose lives are made more challenging by factors such as poverty, violence, substance use and dislocation.
I graduated from the Midwifery Program at McMaster University in 2001. As a full-time midwife in Hamilton and Victoria, it has been an honor to serve a diversity of women and families. Being with women as they birth with strength and dignity makes this work tremendously rewarding.
I am originally from Saskatchewan, where I was an apprentice midwife for several years, as well as a doula, prenatal class instructor, community activist, writer and editor.
Lorna J. McRae, Registered Midwife
I have been working with Heather since we studied together at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, to become registered midwives in the late 1990s.
We have both been working with women and families for many years and we founded Access Midwifery and Family Care together. I used to be a social worker involved in community development and anti-violence work. I teach part time in Midwifery at UBC.
I love my work. It is amazing to see such strength of women and families everyday! Midwifery is practical work and clinical excellence put together.
Heather Nelson, Registered Midwife
It is an ongoing privilege to be working with women and their families at Access Midwifery and Family Care, here in my hometown of Victoria. It is a pleasure to work with such skilled and committed colleagues on a daily basis.
I am a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Midwifery Education Program. I have learned from and worked with midwives and other maternity care providers in the Lower Mainland, on Salt Spring Island, in Uganda, and here in Victoria.
Our son Rowan was born in 2009 and our daughter Hazel was born in 2011, at home, into the caring and capable hands of our midwife. I look forward to returning to midwifery practice on completion of my maternity leave.
(On Leave, August 2011 - September 2012)
Misty Wasyluk, Registered Midwife
I am pleased to be joining Access Midwifery and Family Care and working with such a dynamic group.
I have primarily lived in central and northwestern Canada. I relocated to Ontario in 2001 to obtain my Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery Degree from Laurentian University in Sudbury. I practiced in southern Ontario for a number of years and then moved to the Fraser Valley to practice midwifery for two years. It was here that my son Sequoia was born. My family has since relocated to Victoria where we look forward to settling down in the community.
Practicing as a full-time midwife and becoming a mother myself have been two of my most rewarding life experiences. I love the work that I do. My appreciation for the strength that women and their families have as they birth with integrity, and the growth that follows, continually inspires me.
Chloe Dayman, Registered Midwife
I am excited to be working with Access Midwifery. I have been a registered midwife for four years. I received a Bachelor of Midwifery from UBC in 2007. For the last three years I have been practicing in downtown Vancouver serving a diverse population of women and their families. I am pleased to be returning to Victoria and looking forward serving women in my home community.
Midwifery comes to me as a natural extension of my core values related to empowerment, family, the strength of women, and a love of babies and children. My hope is to provide you with complete, compassionate and empowering maternity care.
(Locum from August 2011 to September 2012)
Hope Schreiber
Family
Nurse Practitioner
It is so exciting for me to work with the Access Midwifery & Family Care team. I've been working with women and families for almost 20 years. As a registered nurse I worked in labour and delivery.
Since 2003 I've been certified as a nurse
practitioner (NP) for both family and women's health care. My NP experiences have given me opportunities to work with many different clients in drug/alcohol treatment, sexual health, HIV and perinatal mental health.
To find out more about my practice or to contact me, please visit my information page here on the Access Midwifery & Family Care website.
Lynn Guengerich
Pediatric
Nurse Practitioner
My name is Lynn Guengerich and I am a pediatric nurse practitioner.
I am very excited to work at Access Midwifery & Family Care; I hope I can add value to the good work and care already available.
I have been a nurse for 25 years and a nurse practitioner for the last 16, all of that time spent working with children and their families. I believe there is nothing more important than our children and my purpose is to partner with parents and other caregivers to raise healthy children. (My dog's name is Maggie).
MaryLou McRae
Office Administrator
My name is MaryLou McRae, and I’ve been the Office Administrator at Access Midwifery & Family Care since 2006. I love being part of such a vibrant and welcoming environment for women, men and children.
My background is in office administration. I have worked on training, education and special projects for different kinds of companies, including outdoor wilderness and employment counseling. I have also worked as a human resources assistant and legislative editor.
I have lived in B.C. since 1987 and on Vancouver Island since 1996. My partner and I have two children, Joseph and Liam
Students
Cindy Fehr
Family Nurse Practitioner Student
(Jan 2012 - March 2012)
I am in my final year of the Master of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner degree at the University of Northern British Columbia. I am excited and honoured at the opportunity to work alongside the practitioners and staff of Access Midwifery & Family Care group and meeting the diversity of patients and families they support.
My nursing background has focused on adults experiencing a variety of acute and chronic health conditions across community, hospital and care facility settings. I am also an undergraduate nursing instructor with Vancouver Island University with a focus on gerontology, rehabilitation and palliative care.
I live in Nanaimo with two teenage daughters, my husband, dog and cat. Spare time is spent cheering on my children in their sporting activities and spending time outdoors.
Sarah Atkinson
Midwifery Student
(Sept 2011 - April 2012)
I am in the fourth year of the University of British Columbia's midwifery program. I am thrilled to be spending my graduating year working with and learning from the midwives and families at Access Midwifery, in my hometown of Victoria.
Working with women during pregnancy and birth has been a passion of mine for many years – I decided I wanted to be a midwife when I was 16 years old, and have been working towards that goal ever since. Prior to entering UBC's midwifery program, I worked as a doula and breastfeeding educator and was lucky to support a diversity of families in these roles, both in Montreal and here in Victoria. My academic background is in biology and psychology.
Over the past two years I have had midwifery placements in Vancouver and Duncan, as well as overseas in Uganda. Working in partnership with women as they navigate the choices, joys and challenges of becoming mothers has been an incredible honorr and privilege. I continue to find so much to love about this work.