I’ve done it once before when moving from Toronto to Ottawa so I wasn’t too worried about rebuilding my health care team in Port Alberni.

When I was first considering the job, I googled how many naturopaths and acupuncturists there were in the city. After finding quite a few holistic practitioners, I knew we’d be ok health-wise out here.

I started researching doulas and midwives before even landing on the island. There seem to be 3 doulas in Port Alberni and I started at the top of Google organic rankings. The first two were already booked up in August (when my due date is) so I landed on the third. From there I contacted the 2 midwives in town and 1 called me back so she was hired.

I had an appointment with my midwife the first week I landed and she recommended a nurse practitioner as my primary care provider who was accepting patients in the same building as her vs. trying to call all the doctors in town and trying to find out who was accepting new patients.

The photographer I connected with for our pregnancy photoshoot also lives in Port Alberni. I saw her posting about a local acupuncturist so I booked an initial session with her that went lovely. After that appointment, I posted on IG story that I was still looking for a chiropractor, dentist and massage therapist.

The same photographer gave me recommendations for the first 2 and I found a practice in PA that has several massage therapists you can book with. While I’m only doing prenatal massages right now I can try a few out until I find one I love.

I’m a big fan of asking for what you need and using word of mouth and recommendations to see which provider will be the best for you.

My naturopath will still see me remotely so the next providers I’ll need to search out will be a therapist and possibly a functional medicine provider (but for now I don’t need either imminently).