The Bridge Club was conceived in the mid '90s and born in Seattle in 1997 out of a need for mutual understanding, respect and unity among all midwives at a time when misreading, misinterpreting, misjudging, and ultimately mistrusting the actions of both the ACNM and MANA was growing in midwife circles. 

The Bridge Club is a membership group of midwives and students who hold a variety of credentials-including CMs, CNMs, CPMs-who practice in diversified settings, whose philosophies vary, but who nevertheless, embrace the concept of building bridges, midwife-to-midwife. 

The Bridge Club typically convenes a caucus meeting at both the MANA and ACNM annual conferences. The membership is fluid, since most midwives do not attend both the MANA and the ACNM conferences yearly. However, the membership list is approaching 200 members.

The Bridge Club has an e-mail discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bridgeclub/. If you would like to join the list, go to this page and follow the directions to join.

From the March 2008 MANA News

“The Bridge Club’s Mission is to build bridges between midwives who have taken diverse paths to midwifery, and to advocate for unity among all midwives.”
The Bridge Club yahoo groups e-list is as active, engaging, and thought provoking as I have ever seen it. The cyber-waves are humming with conversations and debates on topics such as:

• A vision of a combined CNM/CPM education program
• Responses to ACNM’s Issue Brief on “Midwifery Certification in United States” (January 2008)
• Responses to the new ACOG press release on Homebirth (Feb 2008)
• Internships for CNM transitioning to homebirth
• Treating hypothyroidism
• Debates about the International Definition of Midwife
• The Big Push for Midwives, the new initiative to get CPMs licensed in all 50 states
• To lighten things up—a new midwifery credential has been proposed called “Midwife Dagnabit” whose initials would be “M.D.”

As always, the focus of many of the conversations is how to build bridges between midwives and increase understanding and unity.

Our next meeting will be at the ACNM Conference in Boston in late May 2008. Please join us. If you care to join the Bridge Club contact the BC e-list Moderator at <bridgeclub@yahoogroups.com>.

Contact person:
Geradine Simkins, DEM, CNM, MSN
275 Cemetery Rd, Maple City, MI 49664
231/ 228-5857
email

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