About the Advice Line
The Maternity and Babies Advice Line (MaBAL) offers services to providers who are caring for expectant mothers and new parents, or guardians/caregivers of newborn babies in rural and remote communities in BC, including First Nations communities.
Virtual doctors who work on the MaBAL team provide advice on urgent and non-urgent maternal and newborn topics. Topics can include pregnancy, birth and newborn care, including breast-feeding. The doctors can also arrange for referrals to virtual pediatricians, if needed.
The advice line service is available to health care providers in rural and remote communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone or Zoom video conferencing.
MaBAL is administered by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC and is run in partnership with the First Nations Health Authority, the Ministry of Health and other partners. The service is founded on the principles and practices of cultural safety and humility.
How to Access the Advice Line
If you want to access the advice line, contact your local healthcare provider. Your provider could be your doctor, nurse, community health worker or midwife. Your provider will set up an appointment with the advice line doctor and attend the appointment with you. This approach helps the MaBAL doctors provide the most appropriate care in coordination with the support available in your community.
For Healthcare Providers
To access the service, go to the MaBAL (Maternity and Babies Advice Line) page on Rural Coordination Centre of BC and follow the instructions in “How to access MaBAL".
Providers who have signed up for a Zoom account can add MaBAL as a contact and call whenever assistance is needed.
Podcast
Listen to the Maternity and Babies Advice line podcast. (SoundCloud)
