A North Vancouver midwife is breathing a sigh of relief after her stolen car – containing needed medical supplies for attending home births – was found undamaged.
“I’m very pleased about it,” said local midwife Vera Berard. “I got my equipment. It was in the trunk just like I packed it.”
Last week, Berard appealed for the return of her 2000 Toyota Corolla after the car and medical kits she keeps in it were stolen from a staff parking lot at Lions Gate Hospital while she attended two back-to-back births.
Berard, one of seven midwives who have hospital privileges at Lions Gate, said when she came out of the building at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, she found her car was gone.
Also gone was her equipment packed in the trunk, including instruments to help deliver babies, equipment to help get babies breathing, and to check on blood pressure and oxygen levels, as well as items to help labouring women.
Five days later, police officers were called to the 1600 block of Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver – not far from the hospital – where Berard’s car was found parked and undamaged. There was no indication the ignition had been punched out and no indication anyone had gone through the car, said Cpl. Richard De Jong of the North Vancouver RCMP. He said police found no fingerprints but noted a possible glove mark inside the car, which has since been returned to its owner.
Berard said she’s thrilled to get her belongings back and will be more careful to use an anti-theft device on her car in future. Some of the replacement supplies that had been donated to her will now go into a kit for a student midwife to carry, she said.
Police said they will be reviewing footage of any surveillance videos in the area where the car was found.
