Do you have an opinion about the best way to care for people during pregnancy and birth? Does it concern you that one in three US births are by cesarean section? Are you horrified at the knowledge that the US is the only country in the entire world with a rising maternal death rate, and that those statistics are driven by a black maternal death rate quadruple that of white women? Do you have an opinion? Of course you do, you’re a midwife!
It is beautiful to watch the extreme generosity of midwives in Texas and Louisiana toward each other and most especially toward birthing families. No one is asking, “What kind of midwife are you?” Midwives, regardless of credential, are working together to provide care to displaced families.
The state of Texas has temporarily lifted licensure requirements for those who are licensed in other states to come to help with disaster relief. Learn more here.
The MANA Division of Research (DOR) is coming to MANA CAM 2017 with ground-breaking offerings. Don’t miss out on your chance to connect with DOR members and advance research in midwifery care!
I am Treesa Mclean, a Licensed Midwife and the Director of Public Affairs. My mother Donna Martin was a single parent, to my sister Mary and I who she raised alone. She worked, went to community college and eventually won a place in the Teacher Corp program, going to the University of the Pacific and graduating with honors. She did this working 15 hours a week, doing community volunteering, and taking care of Mary and me. She passed away in May.
My MANA roots were established sitting at the feet of Linda McHale, long-time MANA board member, hearing her stories of early MANA days and learning the importance of standing up for midwives and for our profession. Some of my most difficult lessons came from realizing that midwifery in itself is a political act when all I wanted to do was help people have babies. Twenty years later, I am honored to serve as the president of MANA.
Today, I think about what systemic change is needed so that we can get back to focusing our energy on helping people have babies.
Recent media coverage on risks of waterbirth has reinforced the need to ensure robust research on the safety of hydrotherapy in labor and birth, and the importance of appropriate infection protocols. We are saddened to learn of the two infants who contracted Legionnaires’ disease in Arizona after birth in the water. According to media coverage, both infants recovered after receiving antibiotic treatment.
The Midwives Alliance would like to express our sincerest congratulations to Drs. Bovbjerg, Cheyney, and Everson, who have been awarded the 2017 Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health Best Research Article Award for their published paper, “Maternal and Newborn Outcomes Following Waterbirth: The Midwives Alliance of North America Statistics Project, 2004 to 2009 Cohort.”
On Wednesday, May 24th 2017, the authors were honored for their work during the awards ceremony at the American College of Nurse-Midwives annual meeting in Chicago, IL.
I am deeply saddened, as is the MANA community of midwives, by the loss of Dorothea Lang, CNM, MPH, FACNM, past President of the ACNM. She was a courageous and inspiring midwife pioneer, an outspoken advocate for ‘a midwife for every mother,’ an inspiring nurse-midwife educator and mentor to hundreds of students and young midwives, and a visionary leader in the quest for alternate paths for professional midwifery education.
