Vera looks forward to reviewing completed intake forms and responding to prospective clients regarding enrolment in her practice’s May 2026 capacity and beyond.
Vera’s partial part-time consultant practice is closed in March and April 2026 for both prenatal and postpartum clients, as she will be away visiting family in South Africa.
In April 2026, Vera will resume responding to emails and will begin enrolling:
Afterbirth (postpartum) clients with due dates from June 2026 onward
Early-pregnancy prenatal clients with a last menstrual period (LMP) of April 10, 2026 or later, with expected due dates from January 2027, onward
Remote consultation visits (telephone or video) will be scheduled in late April and early May 2026.
Most in-person office visits take place at:
Shipyards Health
88 Lonsdale Avenue
Wednesdays, 2:00–8:00 pm
Occasional ad-hoc in-person office visits may also be scheduled at:
Quayside Village
510 Chesterfield Avenue (office or Dome room)
Vera’s 7-day availability (9:00 am–11:00 pm) will resume from May 13, 2026 onward.
Vera has found that her availability and capacity are well-suited to time-limited MSP-funded phases of midwifery care:
Prenatal care during the first trimester and/or second trimester, typically provided over an 8–9 week and/or 16-week period, before transfer to ongoing prenatal, labour, and birth care with another provider.
Afterbirth (postpartum) care, beginning with a third-trimester pre-birth consultation focused on postpartum recovery, infant feeding, and early parenting, followed by a 6-week MSP-funded postpartum care period after discharge home from hospital.
Care within Vera’s partial part-time practice is provided through a combination of:
Remote visits (telephone or video conference)
In-person home visits
In-person office visits
I am happy to report that since January 2022 and January 2025 my partial practice has provided approximately 280 families, averaging 93 families per year with: 1st, 2nd trimester and occasional 3rd trimester prenatal care; prebirth prenatal postpartum recovery and infant feeding preparation consultation visits, phases of afterbirth midwifery postpartum care that began in a client’s home in the first day or two, after they were discharged from hospital with their baby/babies and ended with a closure visit at my office in Shipyards Health, 88 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver around 6-7 weeks postpartum.
In these past 3 years, I have also journeyed with families, who have sadly experienced pregnancy loss. A few returned to my prenatal care with another pregnancy, went onto have a doctor provide their birth care and then also came back to my after birth postpartum service, where I had an opportunity to meet their rainbow baby and journey with them through their first six weeks postpartum.
It took me awhile to fully settle into a part-time partial practice, as I grieved the loss of providing labor and birth services. August 15, 2021 was the last labor and birth that I brought garden flowers into the labor room and attended a birth of a client having her second baby. Her first had been a fast labor. Before meeting at hospital, we played cards. Such a lovely memory that I cherish, along with many others.
In 2021, besides putting 24hr/7d birth services on hold. I also had to let go of Quayside Village office on Chesterfield, where I provided my full-service, full-scope community practice for 20 years with other midwives, an office person and the support of Quayside Village cohousing community. It was a big change getting into a rhythm of undertaking all the clinical and administrative work of my partial practice on my own and from different sites, remotely from my home office, or in person either in a client’s home, or in the office that I now rent in Lower Lonsdale. I had to get used to lot more driving in congested roads.
In the beginning, I was unaware that 2021 would be the last year that I had a full scope practice providing labor and birth services. I only knew I had to responsibly take a break from 24hr/7d coverage. Since BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) allows registrants a 3 year break from full scope work. I took the opportunity to reduce stress in my life, while continuing providing the book ends of my established practice: prenatal, postpartum, early infant feeding, development and parenting services. At the same time, I was uncertain that establishing a partial part-time practice was the way to go, if there was a need, or if the services that I am able to continue to offer would be supported by my colleagues.
Forming a partnership with each client in care enabled me to keep and catch all the balls that I had in the air. Including navigating the increased traffic and difficulty parking on the North Shore. I have appreciated my clients’ understanding and their kind words.
Today, I am confident there is a need for the services that I can provide and that my services are valued. I have a part-time practice that is well integrated into the healthcare system, supported by my colleagues and is financially viable. Besides being good for my overall health, no longer having to undertake 24hr/7d labor and birth coverage has enabled me to develop an improved work-life balance and to affirm that I love what I currently do!
Consequently, this year I officially embraced retiring from 24hr/7d labor and birth services in June 2025. I now confidently provide an alternate midwifery consultant practice that focuses on early prenatal and afterbirth postpartum recovery, early infant feeding, development and parenting that offers other professional and personal opportunities.
I value and am grateful for:
I am excited to carry on living in the moment to the best of my ability and with Grace!
What’s a midwife to do when 24 hour/ 7 day labor and birth work is no longer feasible?
Look forward to connecting with as many postpartum families after the birth of their babies and/or to newly pregnant folk, as my part-time capacity allows!
Currently, I am booking pregnant folk, whose babies are due in January, 2024 onwards into my postpartum practice.
I have capacity at this time for folk, who have just discovered that they are pregnant, who had their last period in
September- October-November, 2023 and who are due in June- July -August 2024 onwards.
I am grateful for over 1000 + babies and families that my full-service practice was privileged to participate in their journeys from 1998 until 2021. While I miss attending birth, I am delighted that midwifery experience and the other skills that midwives have outside of labor and birth are now recognised within our healthcare system and utilized as part of a hospital and health region’s team-based perinatal services approach. Consequently, I am excited to confidently launch my part-time consultant practice, which offers two MSP covered midwifery primary care services: Initial Early Pregnancy Care and After Birth Postpartum and Newborn Care.
Folk can either self-refer during their pregnancy or be referred by other providers.
My postpartum services include: lactation, infant feeding and development, c-section recovery, contraception and early parenting support.
I am grateful to Dr Jolene Kennet ND, who has provided me an opportunity to grow my new venture out of her lovely office clinic space in Shipyards Health lower Lonsdale.
You will find me there undertaking sceheduled initial early prenatal and postpartum in-person office appointments two Wednesdays a month between 2-8 pm. As my capacity grows, so my Wednesday shifts will grow to three or four a month.
It’s been just over a year since Midwifery Care North Shore has ONLY been offering partial midwifery services in the form of early pregnancy care and postpartum services. While it has been a change, it has also been a natural progression.
Vera Beard RM has embraced the many joys of providing services to folk just pregnant and to those, who have birthed and are now on an early parenting journey for the first time or more, with either one or two babies. Since November, 2021 her partial midwifery services capacity has been steadily building. During this time Vera has provided services to over 50 postpartum folk and their families. Half of her clientele started out in her early pregnancy care, were referred to Lionsgate Maternity Clinic for ongoing care and returned to her postpartum practice after the birth of their babies. The rest were referred to her by Obstetricians on the North Shore and in Vancouver during their pregnancies. A few were referred by Lionsgate Hospital Perinatal Services Coordinator and pediatrician after the birth of their babies when Vera had capacity. Many of Vera’s early pregnancy clients connected with her after being helped to conceive via Reproductive Medicine. Vera has appreciated and enjoyed feeling the support and respect of her colleagues for the services that she provides. (more…)
MIDWIFERY CARE NORTH SHORE 24hour-7day services are temporarily on-hold to potential clients that are looking for labor and birth services the end of 2021 onwards.
We are waiting for VCH LGH to post midwifery hospital privileges and for midwives interested in working in an individual and group care model to be able to join Vera Berard RM’s team. Vera Berard RM is away in September and October, 2021. On her return in November 2021, she is welcoming women and their babies, who are due to be born in November, 2021 onward and is offering midwifery postpartum services to folk that live on the North Shore and who, are interested in receiving midwifery care after the birth of their baby. Vera gives priority to folk residing within the City of North Vancouver. MCNS full postpartum services are offered to women, who have a doctor that only provides prenatal, labor and birth services, or who have a midwife/doctor that practices out of the area where a client lives. (more…)
Despite COVID challenges MCNS current 2020-2021 team of two, Vera Berard and Erika Mitchell have been delighted to be with laboring folk, attending their births and welcoming their babies.
Life continues, folk get pregnant and babies get born… between February 2020 and March 2021, Midwifery Care North Shore has provided care to approximately 58 families.
Our gratitude extends to the doulas, our midwifery colleagues, student midwives, our nursing and physician colleagues that assist us meet our individual clients’ needs: – 66% of babies were born via a spontaneous vaginal birth – 51% occurred in hospital and 15% at home. Our team expanded to include LGH specialist obstetrical, paediatric and anesthetic services for approximately 34% of our clientele. 12% of babies were born via an assisted vaginal birth and 22 % via a C/Section, of these 2.5% were elective and 19.5% were in labor. (more…)
We are happy to reiterate that Vera and team continue to welcome clients into a partnership of care, despite now needing to live with COVID pandemic processes, as a part of daily life. We are currently welcoming clients looking for midwifery services that are due from December 2020 onwards.
Please look at our update below this one, to find information about MCNS COVID processes. Remember as BC moves into Phase 3 of our COVID pandemic that we need to all remain mindful of how we are feeling; isolating when we feel unwell, continuing with sanitizing our hands, physically distancing and wearing our masks when we are in crowded spaces inside or outside.
We are delighted to have Erika Mitchell RM join MCNS team to work-share with Vera Berard RM. She will be joining MCNS team in September 2020.
From the fall onwards, Liz Bodner RM will be working more on the Sunshine Coast and providing occasional locum services on the North Shore.
We are also thrilled to share some other practice news since our last update. In the fall last year, during BC’s annual breastfeeding week celebration (1-7 October, 2020), when Vera was in South Africa. North Vancouver City’s Mayor, Linda Buchanan, presented Bean-around-the-World-Cafe-on-5th-Street and Quayside Village Co-housing, a North Vancouver City Baby Feeding Welcome Sign in rainbow colours, to display on the outside of the building. This signage is recognition of the Café, Quayside Village and MCNS inclusive support of new families and their breastfeeding babies. (more…)
Winter and spring certainly have brought much change and uncertainty for all of us. Our world on the North Shore and elsewhere is different.
We are happy to say that Vera and team continue to welcome clients into a partnership of care, despite now needing to live with COVID pandemic processes as a part of daily life.
Charlotte Dahle is moving to Alberta. She is appreciated for the services that she recently provided and is wished well, as she continues her life’s adventures.
Besides years of midwifery experience, Liz brings a current and fresh view to MCNS clients, as she is returning to work from being on maternity leave with her firstborn son.
We aim to provide warm and respectful care that responds to each person’s individual needs.
