NACPM Honors Mary Lawlor

A Letter from Mary Lawlor

Dearest friends and colleagues,

After 20 years with NACPM, including as a founder of the organization in 2000, ten years as president of the board, and ten years as executive director, I recently submitted my resignation to the Board and will be leaving my executive director position at NACPM early this year.

As you can imagine, I have a strong mix of emotions with this change. It has been the privilege of my life to have had this chance to work with the leaders of NACPM over these years - and with all of you - to help build an organization of ambitious, courageous vision, commitment, and accomplishment in service to our profession and to childbearing people in our country. I am most grateful to all of you and proud of all we have accomplished together since the founding of NACPM. I hold dear all the relationships we have built with each other, within NACPM and with colleagues and leaders of allied organizations, consumers and advocates, policy makers, funders, and more. I am excited to see all that is still to come.

While it is time for me to leave my position at NACPM, I am not leaving midwifery advocacy. I will continue to contribute to the field in these next years and look forward to sharing new ventures and to overlapping paths with you. The Board and I are working together to plan for and ensure a smooth transition for the organization, and I am tremendously excited about NACPM’s present leadership, including the new Board members and officers.

As recently shared, NACPM will soon announce the date for our Virtual Annual Membership Meeting to take place early this year. At the annual meeting, we will take some time to take stock and celebrate all we have accomplished together over these past 22 years.

I am sending love to all of you along with deep and sincere wishes for a truly transformational New Year in 2022!

Mary Lawlor, CPM, LM, MA

Executive Director, NACPM

From the NACPM Board of Directors

With profound gratitude and adoration, NACPM honors Mary Lawlor’s twenty plus years of service. Under Mary’s tutelage and visionary leadership, NACPM, a small but mighty organization, has grown over the years to advance the CPM credential both nationally and globally. Mary has been the compass of NACPM’s values, vision, purpose and commitments to be a powerful, collective voice for Certified Professional Midwives. Because of Mary’s diligence, NACPM has become integral to the development of state and federal policy to strengthen and support the inclusion of CPMs in the perinatal health system.

We ask you to join us in sharing your appreciation and memories to celebrate Mary and her work through this virtual appreciation board.

Mary’s history at NACPM is marked by trailblazing accomplishments. Mary secured association membership for NACPM to join the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) as one of the primary midwifery organizations of the US; was one of the core leaders of United States Midwifery Education, Regulation and Association (US MERA), the historic convening that began consensus-building around midwifery in the US; raised over 2.7 million dollars to support NACPM’s work; challenged NACPM to begin engaging with core principles of justice and equity; mentored many NACPM board members, chapter leaders and staff; and, has worked to build strong collaborative relationships with partner organizations.

Mary Lawlor’s years of service have paved the way for generations of CPMs. Her legacy has birthed the central value of CPMs in serving as trusted primary birth care providers across the US. Above all else, Mary is kind, generous, thoughtful, loving and brings a sense of joy and possibility to all she does, while always centering the importance of meaningful relationships and human connection. We are because of what she has given.

Kiki Jordan, CPM, LM

NACPM Board President

Bidding a Most Fond Farewell

News from the NACPM Board of Directors

We are excited to bring you news about NACPM’s Board of Directors!

The Board of NACPM is currently composed of nine directors with five elected positions and two person of color positions and two public member positions appointed by the Board. Officers of the Board are elected annually each Fall by the Board from among the directors. With the recent resignation of one of the directors who was serving as the Treasurer, the Board will soon appoint a new director to fill out the remaining year of the term, as provided for in NACPM’s bylaws, and the Board will elect a new Treasurer.

Today we bid farewell to our directors who are stepping away. We look forward to introducing you to our new board members tomorrow!

NACPM Board of Directors

Officers

President: Kiki Jordan, CPM, LM (appointed member)

Vice President: Keisha Goode, PhD (public member)

Secretary: Erin Ryan, CPM, LM, MPH

Treasurer: soon to be chosen

At Large

Meredith Bowden, CPM

Jacquelyn Ingram, CPM, LM, IBCLC

Mimi Niles, CNM, MPH, PhD (public member)

Aza Nedhari, CPM, LM, MS (appointed)

Tigist Ejeta, MSN, CPM, LM

Tanya Khemet Taiwo CPM-Ret., MPH, PhD - It is with the deepest gratitude - as well as poignant sadness - that we announce that Tanya Khemet Taiwo is leaving the NACPM Board of Directors, having fulfilled her three allowed terms – nine years - as a director. As NACPM’s longest-serving Black woman on the Board, Tanya’s contributions to NACPM have been historic, and we could not have been more fortunate than to have had her commitment and leadership over this past decade. Along with her national leadership, Tanya contributes to the perinatal health community as an exemplary community health innovator, epidemiologist, researcher, and midwifery educator.

Tanya, who comes from a family tradition of midwives, joined the NACPM Board of Directors in the fall of 2012, following the 2012 CPM Symposium, because of her commitment to bringing the midwifery model of care to the medically underserved and those most at risk for poor birth outcomes. Tanya has an impressive record of leadership and service with NACPM, as Board Secretary from 2012 to 2016, as Co-President from 2016 to 2019, and as President from 2019 through October 2021.

The 2012 CPM Symposium was a watershed event for the NACPM leadership team that set the organization on a journey. It began with a statement of Strategic Intention to Address Racism and Racial Disparities in U.S. Maternity Care, an acknowledgement of systemic racism as a root cause of tragic racial disparities in birth outcomes, and a recognition of the imperative for Black leadership within the organization and midwifery. The Symposium led to a set of commitments developed with NACPM members to address racism and oppression in birth and midwifery in all its forms. Following the approval of a bylaws change by NACPM’s members to secure two permanent board-appointed positions dedicated to people of color, Tanya graciously accepted the first appointment. She has held the space for Black leadership at NACPM for the past nine years, at first as the only Black member of the Board of Directors, all the while supporting the gradual building of trust within the community and capacity within the organization that has led to a majority BIPOC leadership team. NACPM and the CPM community owe Tanya a debt of gratitude for her courage and leadership that cannot be repaid. We thank you and we love you, Tanya!

To hear directly from Tanya about her story and journey with NACPM, listen to this podcast from Shirley McAlpine’s She’s Got Drive with Tanya and Keisha Goode.

Megan Koontz, MSM, LM, CPM - Megan, originally from New Zealand and now of Alaska and a midwifery educator who is passionate about all things midwifery, left the NACPM Board this October after serving a three-year term. Megan holds a Bachelor of Midwifery and a Masters in Midwifery from New Zealand, has worked in homes, birth centers and hospitals, and attended births in New Zealand, England, Alaska, Utah, and California. She serves as Core Academic Faculty and Academic Dean at the Midwives College of Utah. We are most grateful to Megan for serving so ably as NACPM’s Treasurer, including for her innovative initiatives for engaging board members in understanding and holding accountability for the finances of the organization – not a simple task. Megan, we thank you for your service and we wish you all the best!

Jennifer Ross, CPM- Jennifer recently resigned from the NACPM Board after serving two years of her term, including as Co-Treasurer for the past six months. Jennifer continued to serve on the Board, even after relocating this past year from New Hampshire to the Philippines. In addition to her love of midwifery, Jennifer brought to NACPM her previous experience of working overseas for many years as an engineer, manager, and business developer, along with her commitment to autonomy and sustainability for community midwives. She is strongly dedicated to supporting the advancement and expansion of a diverse and representative midwife workforce and to increasing access to high-quality care in homes and freestanding birth centers. Thank you for serving, Jennifer – we wish you all the best!

Wendy Gordon, DM, CPM, to Address the Congressional LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee

Wendy Gordon, DM, CPM, to Address the Congressional LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Tomorrow

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Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 23rd, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) will hold a hearing of its Appropriations Subcommittee on the U.S. perinatal care system and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs to improve outcomes for all birthing people and their babies.

NACPM is most pleased to let you know that Wendy Gordon, DM, MPH, CPM, LM, and Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University, will be one of four witnesses addressing the committee. Dr. Gordon has been invited to speak to the importance of community providers in addressing the maternal health crisis in the United States and the role that Congress can play in increasing access to these critical providers, including CPMs.

The hearing will be from 10AM to 12:30PM ET and will be livestreamed here. The recording will be available after the hearing for anyone not able to listen to the live event.

The panel of witnesses will address the committee to provide overviews of different aspects of the U.S. perinatal health system:

Stacey D. Stewart, President and CEO, March of Dimes

Wendy Gordon, DM, MPH, CPM, LM, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Midwifery, Bastyr University

Carol Sakala, PhD, Director for Maternal Health, National Partnership for Women & Families

Lisa A. Asare, MPH, Assistant Commissioner, Division of Family Health Services, New Jersey Department of Health

This is an appropriations oversight hearing, so the goals for the hearing are to:

Identify the reasons why the US lags other wealthy countries in maternal health outcomes

Examine the disparities in maternal health outcomes by race and other factors

Identify opportunities for LHHS programs to improve maternal health in the US.

We hope you will join NACPM is listening to this hearing and the opportunities for improving outcomes for all birthing people in the U.S., especially those now suffering the worst outcomes.

NACPM is proud to endorse the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021

The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act includes 12 bills to end maternal mortality and close racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes

NACPM is proud to endorse the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021,a historic legislative package whose introduction was announced today by Representatives Lauren Underwood (IL-14) and Alma Adams (NC-12), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus. Please join NACPM in celebrating the introduction of this important legislation with the Black Maternal Health Caucus at a virtual introduction ceremony this evening at 6:00 pm ET by joining via this public livestream link.

The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 will build on existing maternal health legislation, such as policies to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage, with 12 bills to comprehensively address every dimension of America’s maternal health crisis. The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act makes investments in social determinants of health, community-based organizations, the growth and diversification of the perinatal workforce, improvements in data collection, and support for birthing people and their babies exposed to climate change-related risks. In addition to direct efforts to improve Black maternal health outcomes, the Momnibus focuses on high-risk populations, including Native Americans, veterans, incarcerated people, and other birthing people of color.

“Rarely do we see legislation where the authors have clearly listened to the community, activists and researchers,” said Tanya Khemet Taiwo, CPM-ret, MPH, PHD, president of NACPM. “This bill goes beyond simplistic solutions that ignore the true origins of maternal mortality and the unconscionable burden borne by Black families and addresses the social determinants of health. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood and the members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus for the first time in history are addressing the system of care that has failed many BIPOC birthing people with a comprehensive approach that includes physicians, midwives, nurses, doulas, social workers, childcare providers, transportation workers, public health workers and others, and challenges us all to surround the pregnant and postpartum family with the respectful quality care they deserve and need.”

“NACPM is deeply grateful to Congresswomen Lauren Underwood and Alma Adams, Senator Cory Booker, and members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus for their comprehensive approach to stemming the unconscionable pregnancy-related death rate in the U.S. among Black, Native American and other birthing people of color, and for seeking the solutions described by this legislation directly from communities most affected. We look forward to collaborating with these offices to ensure the passage of these critical reforms,” said Mary Lawlor, CPM, executive director of NACPM.

“As maternal mortality rates continue to drop around the world, they are rising in the U.S., leaving behind devastated families and children who will grow up never knowing their moms. This crisis demands urgent attention and serious action to save the lives of Black mothers and all women of color and birthing people across the county,” said Congresswoman Underwood, co-chair and co-founder of the Black Maternal Health Caucus. “I’m leading the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act with Representative Alma Adams, Senator Cory Booker, and other Members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus because no mother should go through pregnancy, labor and delivery, or the postpartum period without the respectful care and comprehensive support they need and deserve. Together, we can – and must – take the bold actions that will be required to save our moms, end disparities, and achieve true maternal health justice.”

“As I’ve said since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disproportionate rate of mortality and morbidity among Black women is a crisis within a crisis,” said Congresswoman Adams. “Tens of thousands of pregnant people have contracted COVID-19, the vast majority being Black and Brown mothers. As the pandemic rages on, access to quality maternal care has decreased as the barriers to receiving care have increased. That’s why, in the 117th Congress, I’m reintroducing the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act and the Kira Johnson Act. I’ll continue to work with Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, and my Caucus co-Chair Representative Lauren Underwood to ensure all everyone has access to high quality maternity care, no matter where they live, how much they earn, or the color of their skin. The Momnibus provides a comprehensive set of policy solutions and a roadmap for addressing maternal health disparities. Black mamas can’t afford to wait.”

“As the rest of the world works to improve maternal health outcomes, skyrocketing maternal mortality rates here in the United States are precipitating a public health crisis — one that puts mothers of color especially at risk,” said Senator Booker. “We simply cannot continue to accept this alarming status quo. This is why I am proud introduce the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act with Representatives Underwood and Adams that will save moms’ lives and improve health outcomes for all birthing people.”

The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act is composed of 12 individual bills. The legislation will: Make critical investments in social determinants of health that influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, and nutrition.

• Provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to improve maternal health outcomes and promote equity.

• Comprehensively study the unique maternal health risks facing pregnant veterans and support VA maternity care coordination.

• Grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to ensure every birthing person in America receives maternity care and support from people they can trust

• Improve data collection processes and quality measures to better understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in the United States and inform solutions to address it.

• Invest in programs to expand access to treatments and support for maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

• Improve maternal health care and support for incarcerated people.

• Invest in digital tools like telehealth to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas.

• Promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality maternity care and continuity of health insurance coverage from pregnancy through labor and delivery and up to 1 year postpartum.

• Strengthen programs to improve maternal health during COVID-19 and future public health emergencies.

• Invest in community-based initiatives to reduce levels of and exposure to climate change-related risks for birthing people and babies.

• Promote maternal vaccinations to protect the health and safety of childbearing people and their babies.

Join NACPM this evening to celebrate and launch this critical historic legislation!

Webinar: Maternal stress and timing of delivery: Preliminary cortisol data from Puerto Rico and the mitigating role of midwifery care

Maternal stress and timing of delivery: Preliminary cortisol data from Puerto Rico and the mitigating role of midwifery care

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Maternal stress is associated with nearly half of preterm births globally, however, existing research has yet to determine the best way to measure and sufficiently understand this relationship to be able to devise effective interventions to reduce preterm birth. To gather data for this research, maternal hair cortisol samples were collected across the childbearing year in addition to other maternal stress measures. Horan and Cheyney describe and discuss the possible implications of this data, the role of midwifery care in mitigating maternal stress, and directions for future research. This data was collected as part of a larger, collaborative research project with midwives, doulas, maternity care staff, and physicians in Puerto Rico. Midwifery students also served as research assistants on during this phase of the project. This research is an important piece of the puzzle in demonstrating how midwifery may serve as a model for mitigating maternal stress and reducing preterm birth.  

Holly Horan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alabama and a birth and postpartum doula. Holly’s research focuses on maternal stress and birth outcomes in Puerto Rico and scaling up maternity care services in Alabama. Holly is a remote member of the research team for the Community Doula Program, a Medicaid-funded program providing doula services to priority populations in three counties in Oregon. She also serves on the Region II Perinatal Advisory Council in Alabama.

Melissa Cheyney PhD, LDM is Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) and a community midwife. She co-directs Uplift—a research and reproductive equity laboratory at OSU, where she serves as the Primary Investigator on more than 20 maternal and infant health-related research projects, including the Community Doula Project. She is the author of an ethnography entitled Born at Home (2010, Wadsworth Press), co-editor with Robbie Davis-Floyd of Birth in Eight Cultures (2019, Waveland Press), and author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed articles that examine the cultural beliefs and clinical outcomes associated with midwife-attended birth at home and in birth centers in the United States. In 2019, Dr. Cheyney served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Birth Settings in America Study and in 2020 was named Eminent Professor by OSUs Honors College. She also received Oregon State University’s prestigious Scholarship Impact Award for her work in the International Reproductive Health Laboratory and with the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Statistics Project. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care and the mother of a daughter born at home on International Day of the Midwife in 2009.

NACPM Fifth Virtual Annual Membership Meeting 2018

Tuesday, January 8, 2019, 4-6 pm, ET

Our Leadership Team will be sharing higlights and what we have learned over the past year during our Fifth Virtual Annual Meeting. We will include a report and discussion on the 2018 CPM Symposium, the Bigger Table Fund Scholarship Awards as well as our organizational commitments and programs.

COVID-19 and the Imperative to Elevate Equity

If it wasn’t already abundantly clear ,the COVID-19 pandemic is shining a spotlight on the impact structural inequities have on social determinants of health and the disproportionate impact on the health and lives of people of color, especially black and indigenous people. Since economic stability is one of the five social determinants of health, it should be no surprise that the economic shutdown and the mandate for social distancing is drastically impacting our nation’s most vulnerable. While many find ways to balance the privilege and frustration of sheltering in place, many more have no way to stay at home. Some have no home and too many others must negotiate the untenable choice between unemployment or working in jobs that daily expose them to the virus. Disproportionately, this decision has been forced upon marginalized communities, including many of the people we serve.

As CPMs, we are sadly familiar with the uneven impact of health disparities on communities of color but especially on black and indigenous communities. Being black in America means navigating structural racism and we know that the daily experience of racism is in itself is a stress-related health condition with far reaching consequences.The rapid spread of the coronavirus has led to a death toll for African-Americans that is at least two times higher than that of white people. While the coronavirus is novel, health disparities are not a new reality for black Americans. Black Americans are more likely to develop most chronic health conditions than white people, often causing complex and devastating comorbidities with the virus.

*Equity / Equality Image Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2017. Visualizing health equity: One size does not fit all infographic. Retrieved from: www.rwjf.org

Since the inception of public health systems in the US, marginalized communities in the United States have persistently been forced to maneuver fragmented access to services, resources and protections. These communities are at higher risk for illness for a myriad of reasons. Indigenous peoples who struggle with high rates of pre-existing health conditions, making them vulnerable to more serious impact of coronavirus infection, are also facing reduced access to testing, PPE, and respiratory equipment. Xenophobia has led to greater hostility among Asian people seeking healthcare services throughout the US. LGBTQIA2S+ peoples are likely to delay treatment due to deep-seated distrust of the medical community based on a history of discriminatory and abusive practices. These realities, coupled with less in-person access to providers with the increased reliance on telehealth, new restrictions on who can accompany the laboring person, and pandemic-imposed social isolation during the postpartum period, are further exacerbating health inequities. Additionally, decreased access to wrap around services such as childbirth education and lactation support, will likely increase the burden already carried by marginalized communities, including those we serve. As the healthcare system’s weaknesses and limitations are exposed by this pandemic, it is also becoming clear that out-of- hospital / community-based alternatives for perinatal care are vital solutions to addressing the comprehensive needs of childbearing families.

We are learning that in this chaos, the community midwife approach to care becomes even more relevant as people and policy makers are actively searching for ways to invest in services that don’t rely on a strained system that was never created to support the health and well being of communities of color. This moment presents an opportunity for CPMs and other community-based midwives to make evident to the world that we are and always have been essential perinatal care providers. Many CPMs, including those who primarily serve communities of color, have reported an increased interest in our model of care. COVID-19 has forced birthing people and the medical community to “get real” about normalizing pregnancy and birth. Overnight, CPMs have come to be recognized as integral to perinatal care systems, and we are demonstrating the tenacity, coordination and skill to meet the urgent needs of our communities.

While the pandemic presents an opportunity to highlight the value of the profession, increasing our client census to meet increased need is not without risk to CPMs and our families. CPMs find ourselves in the precarious position of stepping forward to fill gaps in care while putting our health, as well as that of our families, on the line, all the while having to cope with uncertainty about adequate compensation, lack of access to PPE and appropriate testing. We are proud that many of us are stepping boldly into our newly-recognized role as frontline, essential community health providers. It is our sincere hope that during this time of rapid change, our expertise in physiologic, community-based birth will serve as a beacon to remind birthing people and the medical community that birth is normal and safe.

In these complex times, NACPM strives to elevate and amplify the community of midwifery leaders and people of color-led organizations working to address inequities in perinatal health care. Additionally, we are committed to continuing to provide comprehensive educational tools and resources for clinical practice, including those specific and relevant to COVID-19, to help keep midwives and our birthing populations safe. As we look beyond this current crisis, let the momentum it creates inspire us toward a deep and lasting cultural shift in making birth care better for all.

Upcoming Webinar: NACPM Presents Student Capstone Projects

NACPM Presents Student Capstone Projects
Thursday, May 28th, 2020 3:00 – 4:30 ET

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Students are the future of the midwifery profession! In alignment with NACPM’s commitment to investing in our workforce, on Thursday, May 28th, we have invited two midwifery students to present their capstone projects to the community. This webinar, the 25th in NACPM’s clinical series, will address issues of clinical relevance for all practicing midwives. Please join us to learn from the next generation of midwives!

**Please note: CEUs are only available at this time for the live presentation. The recorded version of the webinar will be available in the Fall of 2020, and CEUs will be available for the recorded version at that time as well. We will notify the community when the recording is posted later in the year. This webinar qualifies for the Midwifery Bridge Certificate

Evaluation of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in Pregnancy: An Evidence-Based Guideline and Screening Tool for Community Midwives

Olivia Joy Kimble will review the prevalence, risk factors, current standards of care, and impact of pelvic floor dysfunction, specifically stress urinary incontinence, in an otherwise healthy childbearing population. An evidence-based practice guideline and screening tool will be introduced with the goal that attending midwives can learn how to incorporate routine pelvic screening and assessment into their antenatal and postpartum care.

Olivia Kimble is a senior midwifery student at Bastyr University, graduating in June 2020, with experience working at the Sprout Birth Center and Puget Sound Birth Center in Washington State. She has worked in birth since 2014 as a certified birth doula and birth assistant with additional training in supporting parous people with trauma histories and homelessness. Olivia previously held leadership positions in the non-profit sector for a small, private college and a national arts organization. Olivia is currently engaged in opening a home birth practice in southeast Minnesota.

Intimate Partner Violence in a Crisis Situation – What healthcare providers need to know about IPV and the increased incidence in the current Pandemic situation.

IPV is an already deadly global epidemic that is now seeing a more than 30% increase in incidences world-wide as shelter in place orders remain in effect. As healthcare providers, we have a unique opportunity to open a dialogue about creating safer environments for all clients.

Cassandra Aho recently graduated from Midwives College of Utah and is the owner of Midnight Midwifery Consulting in Port Orchard, WA. Cassandra is passionate about advocating for victims and survivors of domestic violence and creating a dialogue about systemic change by providing educational lectures to healthcare providers about intimate partner violence and its effects pregnant people, families and communities. She was awarded the Harris-Braun Outstanding Poster Award for Research at MANACAM 2017 for research on Sharing Sexual Responsibility.
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Grappling with Clinical Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Grappling with Clinical Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Fri, Apr 17, 2020 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT
MEAC CEUs applied for

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New guidance and shifting information on safety considerations for pregnancy and birth is emerging almost daily during the current public health crisis, some based on hard evidence and some on professional opinion, challenging community midwives as they strive to mitigate risk to themselves and their clients while protecting the hallmarks of midwifery care that result in our good outcomes. In many situations, there are no clear or hard and fast solutions, and often mitigating rather than eliminating risk is the only path available. This webinar’s speakers will address several of these clinical situations, examining evidence, guidance and practice considerations to help midwives develop practices and protocols that meet their needs and those of their clients during these troubled and complicated times.

Keeping Waterbirth Safe During COVID-19
Barbara Harper, RN, CKC, BET
Founder/Director Waterbirth International

Access to hydrotherapy in labor is a standard and important vital comfort management practice globally and in the U.S. and is beloved by birthing parents and midwives for its comforting and beneficial effects. With many hospitals closing off access to their waterbirth tubs during the pandemic, community midwives are grappling with questions about waterbirth safety, offering water birth to their clients and how to address and mitigate risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Barbara Harper will examine and discuss evidence and practical considerations and modification of protocols during this public health crisis. Barbara is an internationally recognized expert on waterbirth who teaches within hospitals, nursing schools, midwifery and medical school worldwide. Her award winning book and DVD, Gentle Birth Choices, has influenced hundreds of thousands of parents and professionals and has been translated into nine languages.

Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen – Considerations for Use During COVID-19
Michael Civitello, Sales Manager at Porter Instruments
Nitrous oxide has long been considered safe for pain relief in labor around the world and increasingly in the U.S. As more birthing people want to avoid transfer from community settings to the hospital during the coronavirus public health crisis, its use has taken on new relevance for pain management in community settings. Recently, the Society for Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) recommended against the use of nitrous oxide for pain relief during labor, citing safety concerns related to COVID-19. Michael Civitello will discuss Porter Instruments’ response to SOAP’s statement and concerns about lack of evidence for their recommendation. He will address best practices for infection control including issues regarding instrument cleaning, filtering and aerosolization. Michael is the Sales Manager for Porter Instruments, responsible for sales of nitrous oxide and oxygen systems globally. He participated with a group of professionals – midwives, nurses, doctors and anesthesiologists – to make nitrous oxide and oxygen available within the labor and delivery space.

Protecting Midwives and the Use of Masks
Mary Lawlor, CPM, LM
Although community midwives are only caring for pregnant people who are not overtly ill with the novel coronavirus, recent studies reveal that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic and can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. In light of this new evidence, the CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings wherever social distancing is difficult to maintain, which for midwives includes necessary in-person prenatal and postpartum visits and labor. It is critical for community midwives to be protected against the virus, but with the severe shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including approved N-95 and surgical masks, community midwives are left without adequate protection. The limited research on cloth face coverings does not show them to be very effective, but new research in light of COVID-19 suggests they can be constructed to perform better. Mary will share the findings of this new research and options for midwives to better protect themselves. Mary is a long-time home and birth center midwife in southern New England and a founder and executive director of NACPM.

Enhancing Safety and Mitigating Risk During the Pandemic
Jennifer Ross, CPM
Across the country, pregnant parents are worried about the virus and exploring their options for birth, and, in increasing numbers, choosing home birth midwives and birth centers for their care. Although their fear is of COVID-19 in the hospital, the reality is that the real spread of the virus is in the community, putting community midwives at risk of contracting the disease and of spreading it. While there are overlapping safety concerns and practices protocols between birth center and home birth, the home birth setting involves special challenges. While there is no official guidance for homebirth midwives, Jennifer Ross will share homebirth protocols and practices she has collected and curated to support midwives to enhance safety and mitigate risk. Jennifer, an NACPM board member, is a former engineer, manager and developer who lived and worked overseas for 17 years. She graduated from the Midwives College of Utah and is licensed in CA and in NH where she currently has a homebirth practice.

Please join!

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Midwives and the U.S. Census: Making Sure Every Child Counts

Midwives and the U.S. Census: Making Sure Every Child Counts
Thursday, April 23, 2020 1:00-3:00 ET

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Very young children, from infants to four years old, are historically the population at greatest risk of being undercounted in the U.S. Census, with an estimated one million uncounted in the 2010 Census. Many federal programs, that support young children, families and communities, such as nutritional assistance, Head Start and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, rely on accurate data about where young children live to provide foundational services for children. The 2020 Census will dictate the distribution of more than $675 billion dollars of federal programs, and the Bureau is making a concerted effort to address this issue by creating community partnerships.

NACPM is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to provide information and support to midwives across the country so they can help ensure an accurate count of newborns and young children. Claire Ross, Account Manager of the National Partnership Program at the U.S. Census Bureau and this webinar’s keynote presenter, believes that midwives can play an essential role as trusted voices in reaching out to parents and caregivers to remind and encourage them to include babies and children in the 2020 Census.

We are most pleased that Micaela Cadena of New Mexico and Rhonda Lee Grantham of Washington State, both long time advocates for birthing people, babies and families, will join the webinar to present about their communities’ context and challenges with counting young children in the Census. Micaela Cadena is the Research Director of Bold Futures (formerly Young Women United) and a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Rhonda Lee Grantham, a cultural anthropologist, is an Indigenous Midwife from the Cowlitz Nation and the founder of the Center for Indigenous Midwifery.

Please join us for this important webinar so you can do your part to ensure inclusion of babies and children in the federal programs that matter so much to families and communities.

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Live Remote Proctoring for the NARM Exam is Available!

As you know, most of the usual NARM test sites are closed, and many applicants are also in states with shelter-in-place orders. This situation has delayed the testing part of the CPM certification process for the past three weeks and for what could be several months to come.

NARM submitted an application to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies to permit Live Remote Proctoring of the NARM Exam, and it was approved!

The CPM credential is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). In the past, NCCA has prohibited remote proctoring for accredited exams, but with the current situation they have realized the need to make an exception. They are now allowing certifying organizations to obtain temporary permission to test applicants via their home computers. NARM and PROV have received permission to deliver the NARM Exam to applicants on their home computers with a web camera in place that will allow proctoring under the visual oversight of a remote proctor. PROV has contracted with Examroom, a live proctoring company, to offer the NARM Exam.
Applicants who are eligible for the NARM Exam now have the option to take the exam on a home computer while the option is available or to wait until the regular test sites are open again.
If your testing deadline occurs during this undetermined time period, there will be no penalty for the delay in testing. When testing sites are open again, new deadlines will be set to complete the process.
Basic requirements for home testing are:

• A MAC, PC, or Chromebook with an operating system less than 4 years old

• A Chrome or Firefox browser (Chrome works best)

• A functioning computer web-camera and microphone

• A good consistent Internet connection capable of uploading files in excess of 3 Mbps

• A quiet area with no distractions for the duration of the exam time for two, 3-hour time frames.

• A phone camera for a second camera in the testing room to be placed slightly behind and beside the web camera. Currently, only Android cameras work with the Examroom software, but they are developing software for the iPhone. So, right now you need an Android phone (it can be a borrowed one or an Android tablet with camera). iPhone capacity is coming soon, we hope!

For more information —

Applicants currently eligible to test may contact Applications@narm.org to register for this option.

For more questions, email testing@narm.org

NACPM COVID-19 Webinars

COVID-19: Telehealth for Community Midwives

Friday, April 3, 2020 1:00-2:30 ET
MEAC CEUs applied for

WATCH RECORDING

VIEW SLIDES (PART 1)

VIEW SLIDES (PART 2)

Certified Professional Midwife care takes place within the context of relationship, respect and support. As providers of high-touch, time-intensive and highly personal care, midwives are having to adopt policies and procedures for protecting their clients and themselves from the coronavirus while continuing to support their clients to achieve the birth experience they are seeking. Telehealth has quickly become an essential component of prenatal and postpartum care for community midwives during this health crisis. NACPM wants to provide support to midwives as they adapt their practices to account for our suddenly changed environment.

Two experts from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation will provide an overview of telehealth, the different models and services that can be provided, the potential roles of telehealth in maternity care, some of the startup issues and a summary of the landscape of policies and laws that govern provision and coverage of telehealth.

essential component of prenatal and postpartum care for community midwives during this health crisis. NACPM wants to provide support to midwives as they adapt their practices to account for our suddenly changed environment.

Two experts from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation will provide an overview of telehealth, the different models and services that can be provided, the potential roles of telehealth in maternity care, some of the startup issues and a summary of the landscape of policies and laws that govern provision and coverage of telehealth.

Gabriela Weigel is a Health Policy Fellow for the Kaiser Family Foundation, a member of the Foundation’s Women’s Health Policy team and is leading the Foundation’s work on pregnancy and COVID-19. She is the lead author on the Foundation’s policy briefs, Novel Coronavirus “COVID-19”: Special Considerations for Pregnant Women and Telemedicine and Prenatal Care.

Usha Ranji is Associate Director for Women’s Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her work addresses the impact of major health policy issues on women and girls, with an emphasis on insurance coverage, access to care, and low-income populations and how federal, state and local policies influence health and access to services for women.

We also welcome Nancy Koerber, CPM, CPC, who will talk about the latest developments on coding and billing for telehealth during the pandemic. Nancy is the executive director of the WNC Birth Center in Asheville, N.C. She is a Certified Professional Coder with experience in small business operations, having worked for a federally qualified community health center as medical coder, auditor, documentation specialist, team leader for the ICD-10 transition and compliance educator for providers and residents.

Please come with your questions for our presenters – there will be one-half hour for Q&A with the presenters. If you have a question ahead of time, please submit them here.

COVID-19: Community Midwives, Public Health, and Emergency Preparedness

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 1:00-3:00 ET
MEAC CEUs applied for

REGISTER HERE

In these days of the coronavirus pandemic, midwives are putting themselves on the front line to serve childbearing people. They are organizing to increase their capacity to serve people now flocking to midwives as well as those who may soon need community midwife services as hospitals caring for the increasing numbers of people sick with the virus reach capacity. In these troubled times, the pandemic is prompting unprecedented collaboration among midwives and outreach to other providers, hospitals and public officials to enable midwives to meet the growing and urgent needs of the childbearing population. This webinar explores the role of CPMs and other community midwives as integral members of the public health system and features examples from communities from around the country where midwives are developing policy and forging coordination and collaboration and building new opportunities to deploy midwives.

• The role of midwives and community birth in the context of a global pandemic: Tamara Wren, MA Tamara is Executive Director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery (FAM), and played a lead role in developing the FAM statement on Out of Hospital Birth and Pandemic Planning, a guide to the role of community midwives in emergency planning for maternity care during a global and national pandemic.

• Community Midwives: Shifting the perspective from ‘my practice’ to midwives as critical public health providers and how this shift will change practice in a global pandemic: Karen Hayes, DNP, CNM, APRN Karen is adjunct faculty member at Bastyr University in the Department of Midwifery, a homebirth and hospital midwife, and an active contributor to the American College of Nurse-Midwives Disaster Caucus, Global Health Media Project, Pronto International, and the King County Medical Reserve Corps.

• Caring for the Community: collaboration and coordination between hospitals and community midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of a community hospital: Autumn Vergo, MSN, CNM, APRN Autumn, Chief of Obstetrics at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a collaborative Women’s Health practice in Keene, NH, is originally an apprentice-trained, state-licensed midwife and provided home and birth center services for many years.

• A Washington State task force to elevate and support midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic: Emily Jones and Jen Segadelli, JD, MSM Long before COVID-19, senior Bastyr midwifery student Emily studied the role of community midwives in disaster preparedness for her master’s thesis, Integration of Community Midwifery and Licensed Freestanding Birth Centers into Washington State Disaster and Emergency Management. Jen is the Clinical Education Supervisor and adjunct faculty member of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University, and co-president of the Midwives Association of Washington State.

• The Rainier Valley Community Clinic in Seattle – how their Birth Bundle model can support a midwifery response to COVID-19: Jodilyn Owen, LM (WA & TN) and Latonia Westerfield, midwife student at Birthwise Midwifery School

• A Minnesota approach to secure and enhance hospital-community midwife coordination : Rebecca Polston, CPM, LM Rebecca is the founder, owner and director of Roots Community Birth Center with a passion for building community and creating a safe space for all birthing families.

• A Maryland midwife collective responding to a governor’s call to reopen recently closed hospitals to address pandemic-generated needs: Mairi Breen Rothman, CNM, DM Mairi is leading a large CNM/CPM midwife collaborative to work with officials to reopen a community hospital as a place for birth during the pandemic and beyond.

• A North Carolina example: requesting a governor’s order to expedite the licensing of CPMs during COVID-19: Meredith Christie, CPM Meredith is the president of the NC NACPM Chapter and a leader in NC MERA.

REGISTER HERE

NACPM Celebrates CPM Victories!

Today, we celebrate three exciting milestones! NACPM has an abiding commitment to social justice in birth, to eliminating the unconscionable effects of racism on birth outcomes, and to investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative midwifery workforce. We are honored to partner with community leaders, our midwife colleagues, students, donors and other stakeholders to achieve the goal of justice, health and well-being for all birthing people and their babies. We invite you to celebrate with us a new law to license CPMs in the District of Columbia, the first MEAC school grant applications for federal funding for midwifery education, and NACPM’s newest Bigger Table Fund awardees!

DC Becomes the 34th Jurisdiction to License CPMs! 

On Tuesday, March 3rd, the District of Columbia joined the 33 other jurisdictions that now license Certified Professional Midwives by passing, without opposition, the Certified Professional Midwife Act of 2019. We could not be more proud of Aza Nedhari, CPM, MS and her colleagues who pulled off this critical win, an inspiring example of a community-driven solution to the perinatal care crisis in the U.S. The plight of birthing people in the District, already grave, has been made more desperate by hospital closures, provider shortages, and increasing social disparities. As community-based midwives, CPMs are prepared to immediately deploy to care for people in the most-affected communities in the city where the need is most urgent, the outcomes the poorest, and services currently most limited. We are deeply grateful to Osa Imadojemu, JD, MPH, recently Deputy Director for the DC City Council’s Committee on Health, who envisioned the role CPMs could play in serving those most in need in the District, who reached out to CPMs to be part of the solution, and who shepherded this legislation from start to finish. NACPM was honored to provide strategy and technical support to Osa, Aza and the Committee on Health throughout the process. Congratulations to the midwives and birthing people of the District of Columbia!

MEAC Schools Apply for Federal Government Grants for the First Time

NACPM heartily congratulates Birthwise Midwifery School of Maine, the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University outside of Seattle, and the Midwives College of Utah on this week submitting the first-ever MEAC school grant applications for federal funding for midwifery education - a significant step toward the goal of equity in midwifery shared by NACPM, our schools and our profession. NACPM applauds you and we are rooting for your success!

In December 2019, Congress passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, whichincluded an allocation of $2,500,000 to educate midwives within the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) Program in Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. For the first time ever, students enrolled in MEAC-accredited schools and programs have been included in the categories eligible to receive SDS scholarships.

These grants will increase the number of MEAC students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and the number of our MEAC school graduates working in underserved communities. NACPM, MEAC and our schools recognize the undue barriers faced by indigenous and midwifery students of color. We are deeply grateful to Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA) – both of whom are dedicated to federal support for midwifery education becoming part of the normal course of business for the government – for the opportunity to work with them to mitigate these barriers with federal funding for midwifery education.

NACPM is enormously proud of our schools for stepping up to the daunting application process and the less than two month turnaround for submission, as well as for their track record of racial and ethnic diversity within their student populations and of the number of their graduates serving in provider shortage areas – requirements to be eligible for these grants. This new funding will support our schools to include more students of color and indigenous students, and to better support the students from these communities already enrolled in their programs. More of our schools hoped to apply but discovered unexpected and various reasons for why they did not meet all the eligibility requirements. These schools are making plans now, based on all they have learned about eligibility, to be prepared for future grant opportunities.

Anticipating this opportunity, NACPM called together an Educators Task Force late in 2019 to provide support for our schools to ensure their applications would be competitive.  NACPM partnered with the participating schools and with MEAC to hire a DC firm – McAllister and Quinn – with deep experience in supporting institutions of higher education to apply for these SDS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grants.  We made sure to include schools not able to apply this round in some of the services offered by McAllister and Quinn, at no cost to them, to help build expertise among all of our schools. Current applicants anticipate partnering in future rounds with schools  new to the process. We have learned a lot about the grant application process and how to prepare for future opportunities; we plan to share these learnings about our schools and our profession in the near future.

NACPM continues to work towards the passage of H.R. 3849, the Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternal Outcomes (MOMS) Act, which will establish new federal funding streams for midwifery education, including $15 million that MEAC schools to will be able to apply to.  On Wednesday, March 11th, Mary Lawlor, NACPM’s executive director, will join Amy Kohl, ACNM Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs, to lobby Congress in support of this important legislation.  Please contact your Congress members to ask for their support of this

NACPM Congratulates the First 2020 Bigger Table Fund Awardees

It is with great pleasure that NACPM congratulates the first 2020 Bigger Table Fund awardees: Chelsea Jahn’s award towards state licensing fees, and Tamara Trinidad-Gonzalez,Elizabeth Merbitz and Davonia Greenslade who were awarded funding to take the NARM examination. Congratulations! We look forward to the many contributions you will make to improve the lives and health of childbearing people in our country!

Aligning with requests and recommendations from the community, The Bigger Table Fund provides scholarships for student midwives of color, indigenous and/or LGBTQIA2S+ student midwives for the initial NARM examination fee, the fee for retaking the NARM examination when needed, and state licensure fees for those who are already CPMs. Since its inception in the final quarter of 2018, twenty-six Bigger Table Fund scholarships have been awarded.

The goal of the fund is to remove some of the significant financial barriers that student midwives of color, indigenous and/or LGBTQIA2S+ students and midwives face when entering the CPM profession. Funds are distributed quarterly, according to a lottery system, with $3000 available per cycle. The maximum individual award is $1000.

Apply Now for the Next Cycle of the Bigger Table Fund!

Eligible candidates may apply through this form by April 15.

$2.5 Million to Educate Disadvantaged Student Midwives Becomes Law

On Thursday, December 19th, following a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier in the week, the Senate passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which includes funding for the Department of Health and Human Services through next September. NACPM and the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) are thrilled to announce that funding to educate midwives that was included this past summer in the House appropriations bill, is part of this final legislation. The President signed this Act last evening, December 20th.

This legislation allocates $2,500,000 to educate midwives within the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) Program in Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. For the first time ever, midwives enrolled in accredited programs will be included in the categories of students eligible to receive SDS scholarships. This funding within the SDS program will increase the number of midwifery graduates working in underserved communities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups.

“A midwifery workforce that represents the changing racial and ethnic demographics of the childbearing population is urgently needed to address the mortality and morbidity crisis for birthing people in the U.S. today,” said Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of NACPM. “We know that communities of color tragically suffer these outcomes disproportionally and that concordant care – where people see themselves as similar to their care provider – contributes to better outcomes in vulnerable populations. NACPM celebrates this new funding as a positive step forward toward a representative midwifery workforce and better health for all people having babies.”

NACPM and MEAC are committed to investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people. We applaud Congress for prioritizing for the first time the growth of the midwifery workforce. We especially thank Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Chair of the Maternity Care Caucus, and Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Co-Chair of the Caucus, for supporting the critical role midwives must play in alleviating the birth care crisis. We thank them first for including this funding in the House appropriations legislation this past summer, and for ensuring that it remained intact in the final legislation. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with these Congressional champions to address the critical national shortage of birth care providers, and to specifically address the urgent lack of adequate racial representation in the midwifery workforce.

“Midwives are integral to solving the current maternity care crisis in the United States,” said Kristi Ridd-Young, Vice-President of Outreach for the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council. These funds will have a direct impact on the midwifery student’s ability to graduate and practice as a qualified, credentialed midwife in their own underserved communities. The completion of a degree or certificate, particularly in midwifery, requires so much more than evidence-informed curriculum and qualified faculty. A safety net of support is vital to the success of midwifery students, especially those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, racial or ethnic minorities, and who are first-generation college students.”

This past fall, NACPM, with participation from MEAC, convened a Task Force to develop guidance for our MEAC-accredited schools to ensure they have the information needed to apply for grants provided by this $2.5 million funding. Schools and programs can expect this guidance early in the new year.

We now look forward to working with the Maternity Care Caucus Co-Chairs in 2020 to ensure the passage of H.R. 3849, the Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services (MOMS) Act. This legislation, introduced by these Congresswomen, will create historic and substantial new funding streams for midwifery education within Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. It will provide grants to accredited midwifery programs for direct student support, expansion of programs, and support for the preceptor workforce. This legislation will also address the lack of adequate racial representation in midwifery by directing resources to schools and programs that train students who plan to practice in provider shortage areas, and that focus on increasing racial and ethnic representation in midwifery education and the workforce.

$2.5 Million to Educate Disadvantaged Student Midwives Becomes Law

On Thursday, December 19th, following a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier in the week, the Senate passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which includes funding for the Department of Health and Human Services through next September. NACPM and the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) are thrilled to announce that funding to educate midwives that was included this past summer in the House appropriations bill, is part of this final legislation. The President signed this Act last evening, December 20th.

This legislation allocates $2,500,000 to educate midwives within the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) Program in Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. For the first time ever, midwives enrolled in accredited programs will be included in the categories of students eligible to receive SDS scholarships. This funding within the SDS program will increase the number of midwifery graduates working in underserved communities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups.

“A midwifery workforce that represents the changing racial and ethnic demographics of the childbearing population is urgently needed to address the mortality and morbidity crisis for birthing people in the U.S. today,” said Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of NACPM. “We know that communities of color tragically suffer these outcomes disproportionally and that concordant care – where people see themselves as similar to their care provider – contributes to better outcomes in vulnerable populations. NACPM celebrates this new funding as a positive step forward toward a representative midwifery workforce and better health for all people having babies.”

NACPM and MEAC are committed to investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people. We applaud Congress for prioritizing for the first time the growth of the midwifery workforce. We especially thank Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Chair of the Maternity Care Caucus, and Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Co-Chair of the Caucus, for supporting the critical role midwives must play in alleviating the birth care crisis. We thank them first for including this funding in the House appropriations legislation this past summer, and for ensuring that it remained intact in the final legislation. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with these Congressional champions to address the critical national shortage of birth care providers, and to specifically address the urgent lack of adequate racial representation in the midwifery workforce.

“Midwives are integral to solving the current maternity care crisis in the United States,” said Kristi Ridd-Young, Vice-President of Outreach for the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council. These funds will have a direct impact on the midwifery student’s ability to graduate and practice as a qualified, credentialed midwife in their own underserved communities. The completion of a degree or certificate, particularly in midwifery, requires so much more than evidence-informed curriculum and qualified faculty. A safety net of support is vital to the success of midwifery students, especially those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, racial or ethnic minorities, and who are first-generation college students.”

This past fall, NACPM, with participation from MEAC, convened a Task Force to develop guidance for our MEAC-accredited schools to ensure they have the information needed to apply for grants provided by this $2.5 million funding. Schools and programs can expect this guidance early in the new year.

We now look forward to working with the Maternity Care Caucus Co-Chairs in 2020 to ensure the passage of H.R. 3849, the Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services (MOMS) Act. This legislation, introduced by these Congresswomen, will create historic and substantial new funding streams for midwifery education within Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. It will provide grants to accredited midwifery programs for direct student support, expansion of programs, and support for the preceptor workforce. This legislation will also address the lack of adequate racial representation in midwifery by directing resources to schools and programs that train students who plan to practice in provider shortage areas, and that focus on increasing racial and ethnic representation in midwifery education and the workforce.

Upcoming Webinar: The Power of Mentorship

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Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program
Thursday, December 12
3:00-4:30 ET

One of NACPM’s core commitments is investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people in our country.  In partial fulfillment of this goal, we are pleased to bring you Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program.  This webinar is both the 8th in our Equity, Race and Access to Midwifery Series, and the first in NACPM’s new Education in Midwifery Series.  Drs. Keisha Goode and Ashlee Lien have important research to share with us from their mentorship program at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury that can apply to supporting increased representation in our midwifery training programs.  Please join us !

Register Now

Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program
By Keisha Goode, PhD and Ashlee Lien, PhD

In addition to our roles as Professors, we are Co-Coordinators of the Research Aligned Mentorship (RAM) Program at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Old Westbury. The RAM Program is funded by a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant awarded by the United States Department of Education. The RAM Program is collaboratively administered among five universities: Farmingdale State College, Bowie State University, Central Connecticut State University, Kean University, and SUNY Old Westbury.

In each of the Fall 2016, Fall 2017 and Fall 2018 semesters, 100-115 incoming first year students at Old Westbury were selected into the program by lottery.  The Program is designed to provide each cohort of students, regardless of major, with exclusive supports to improve retention and graduation rates. Some of the program benefits include priority registration; customized workshops; and, supports for the completion of an applied learning experience opportunity which may include independent research with a faculty sponsor, an on- or off-campus internship, a global learning opportunity, an addendum to an applied learning course within the major or an interdisciplinary learning experience on campus. The most effective program element we have identified thus far, however, is mentoring in which each RAM student is matched with a faculty or staff member to provide social support and leadership development throughout their undergraduate experience. The role of the mentor is not to be an academic advisor (students have designated academic advisors on campus) but instead is to be, as we like to call it, “their person” on campus. 

For incoming first year students, having a mentor has a positive impact on adjustment to college and academic success throughout the student’s college years (Phinney, Campos, Kallemeyn, & Kim, 2011; Hurd, Tan, & Loeb, 2016). To assess the effectiveness of the mentoring aspect of the RAM program, current RAM students were asked to participate in focus groups about their experience in the program. Research team members held three focus groups during the Fall 2018 semester.

In this webinar, we, along with one of the research team members, Rhayna Prado, look forward to sharing more about the lessons we learned from the various strategies we used over the years to match faculty/staff mentors with students, along with sharing some of the findings from the focus group research.

This academic year is the last year of the program’s funding. Many of our first cohort will be graduating in May 2020, and we are very proud of them. This webinar is an important opportunity for us to reflect on our experience and candidly share with you so that the midwifery community may continue the work of brainstorming, researching and implementing mentoring programs for midwives. Mentoring is essential to NACPM’s commitments to growing the CPM workforce and investing in one that is racially, ethnically and socially representative to meet the needs of childbearing people.

We look forward to sharing with you on Thursday, December 12, from 3-4:30pm EST.

Equity and Education Resources:  Mentorship and Beyond

Equity in Midwifery Education provides a rich array of resources with an equity focus:  power and privilege are taken into account so that school and clinic climates can better support the learning of all students.

NACPM Archived Webinar ~  Diversity Matters:  What Are Our Challenges

Keisha Goode, PhD, and Nancy Anderson, MD, MPH, will discuss the barriers to attaining a representative midwifery profession and the positive impact that a truly representative midwifery workforce could have on health inequities.  They report on their landmark research, designed to reveal the experiences of contemporary black midwives and students in midwifery education programs, practice settings, and professional associations.  Their important findings and recommendations are a call for action for all midwives.

The Power of Mentorship

Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program
Thursday, December 12
3:00-4:30 ET

One of NACPM’s core commitments is investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people in our country.  In partial fulfillment of this goal, we are pleased to bring you Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program.  This webinar is both the 8th in our Equity, Race and Access to Midwifery Series, and the first in NACPM’s new Education in Midwifery Series.  Drs. Keisha Goode and Ashlee Lien have important research to share with us from their mentorship program at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury that can apply to supporting increased representation in our midwifery training programs.  Please join us !

Register Now

Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Mentorship Program
By Keisha Goode, PhD and Ashlee Lien, PhD

In addition to our roles as Professors, we are Co-Coordinators of the Research Aligned Mentorship (RAM) Program at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Old Westbury. The RAM Program is funded by a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant awarded by the United States Department of Education. The RAM Program is collaboratively administered among five universities: Farmingdale State College, Bowie State University, Central Connecticut State University, Kean University, and SUNY Old Westbury.

In each of the Fall 2016, Fall 2017 and Fall 2018 semesters, 100-115 incoming first year students at Old Westbury were selected into the program by lottery.  The Program is designed to provide each cohort of students, regardless of major, with exclusive supports to improve retention and graduation rates. Some of the program benefits include priority registration; customized workshops; and, supports for the completion of an applied learning experience opportunity which may include independent research with a faculty sponsor, an on- or off-campus internship, a global learning opportunity, an addendum to an applied learning course within the major or an interdisciplinary learning experience on campus. The most effective program element we have identified thus far, however, is mentoring in which each RAM student is matched with a faculty or staff member to provide social support and leadership development throughout their undergraduate experience. The role of the mentor is not to be an academic advisor (students have designated academic advisors on campus) but instead is to be, as we like to call it, “their person” on campus. 

For incoming first year students, having a mentor has a positive impact on adjustment to college and academic success throughout the student’s college years (Phinney, Campos, Kallemeyn, & Kim, 2011; Hurd, Tan, & Loeb, 2016). To assess the effectiveness of the mentoring aspect of the RAM program, current RAM students were asked to participate in focus groups about their experience in the program. Research team members held three focus groups during the Fall 2018 semester.

In this webinar, we, along with one of the research team members, Rhayna Prado, look forward to sharing more about the lessons we learned from the various strategies we used over the years to match faculty/staff mentors with students, along with sharing some of the findings from the focus group research.

This academic year is the last year of the program’s funding. Many of our first cohort will be graduating in May 2020, and we are very proud of them. This webinar is an important opportunity for us to reflect on our experience and candidly share with you so that the midwifery community may continue the work of brainstorming, researching and implementing mentoring programs for midwives. Mentoring is essential to NACPM’s commitments to growing the CPM workforce and investing in one that is racially, ethnically and socially representative to meet the needs of childbearing people.

We look forward to sharing with you on Thursday, December 12, from 3-4:30pm EST.

Equity and Education Resources:  Mentorship and Beyond

Equity in Midwifery Education provides a rich array of resources with an equity focus:  power and privilege are taken into account so that school and clinic climates can better support the learning of all students.

NACPM Archived Webinar ~  Diversity Matters:  What Are Our Challenges

Keisha Goode, PhD, and Nancy Anderson, MD, MPH, will discuss the barriers to attaining a representative midwifery profession and the positive impact that a truly representative midwifery workforce could have on health inequities.  They report on their landmark research, designed to reveal the experiences of contemporary black midwives and students in midwifery education programs, practice settings, and professional associations.  Their important findings and recommendations are a call for action for all midwives.

Managing Postpartum Hemorrhage

Considerations for Managing Postpartum Hemorrhage in the Community Setting

NACPM is committed to informing and supporting evidence-based practices among CPMs and to promoting safe and healthy birth for all people having babies in the United States. Skillful management of postpartum hemorrhage is a cornerstone of safe birthing care. Postpartum hemorrhage remains a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. Families choosing to deliver their babies at home and in birth centers need guidance through shared decision making addressing their risk, their midwife’s plan for managing hemorrhage, and the resources for emergency care available in their birthing communities.

While competent pharmacologic management is the standard of care during hemorrhage, planning for patients’ safe progression through third stage ideally begins during prenatal visits with careful history-taking, risk assessment, and education for families on what they can do to ensure a healthy, uncomplicated physiologic labor, birth, and recovery.

Some certified professional midwives practice in environments where the pharmacologic formulary is limited. By necessity, CPMs must develop their skills of initial and ongoing risk assessment, partnering with and educating pregnant patients in order to decrease risk, ongoing evaluation of labor disposition, and the timely activation of consultation and transfer. These skills may be deemphasized in hospital practice where medications, procedures, and surgery are readily available.

Community midwives have an opportunity to model assessment and education-based strategies for decreasing hemorrhage risk to their colleagues in hospital practice, while advocating for good access to uterotonic and antifibrinolytic medications in all states.

Support for Managing Postpartum Hemorrhage in the Community Setting - 18th Offering in NACPM’s Clinical Practice Webinar Series Thursday, September 26 3:00-4:30 ET 

We begin this webinar with a presentation by Margie Mueller Boyer, MS, RNC, C-EFM, CNS-BC.  Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for childbearing people in the U.S., even though researchers have identified PPH to be preventable in many cases.  Margie will explore key strategies to decrease the rate of PPH through early recognition of excessive blood loss.  Based on research, visual estimation of blood loss is considered an imprecise method based on research and quantification of blood loss (QBL) is considered best practice.  Margie will outline the steps for quantifying blood loss, an important and highly practical support to midwives practicing in community settings.

Margie received her BSN & Masters from The Ohio State University where she worked for a decade. She has worked as a Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist, a hospital administrative director, and patient safety manager.  Margie serves on the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative Obstetrical Hemorrhage Initiative as a Nurse Expert and is an AWHONN Obstetric Patient Safety Instructor.  After working for twenty-seven years at Advent Health Tampa, formerly Florida Hospital Tampa, Margie is now taking a year to travel and work as a consultant.

Autumn Versace Vergo, CNM, MSN, APRN, our second presenter, will offer practical information for midwives who attend deliveries and provide shared decision-making about hemorrhage risk and management in community settings.  Included will be a case presentation, a review of risk assessment, a review of pharmacologic management of PPH, and a comparison between hospital-based and CPM-relevant formularies and protocols.

Autumn is a certified nurse-midwife and Chief of Obstetrics at Cheshire Medical Center  Center/ Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a collaborative Women’s Health practice in Keene, NH. She is originally an apprentice-trained, state-licensed midwife and provided home and birth center services for many years. She has worked extensively on regional perinatal quality improvement, focusing on best practice in collaborative care and interprofessional communication. She has served as a subject matter expert on community midwifery to NH Medicaid and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, and is a member of the faculty at Birthwise Midwifery School, a MEAC-accredited program in Bridgton, Maine.

Register now and join us on September 26 th for this exciting webinar!

Excellent Resource for Managing Postpartum Hemorrhage in the Community Setting

In addition to NACPM’s September 26th webinar on managing postpartum hemorrhage, we refer you to the Clinical Practice Guideline on Postpartum Hemorrhage from the Ontario Midwives Association. This excellent and comprehensive resource includes basics about PPH, risk factors, prevention, treatment including pharmacologic and herbal agents, recovery, perspectives and needs of clients, considerations for debriefing experiences with clients and families, and more. We invite you to review this guide and let us know your thoughts on this important clinical topic area: info@nacpm.org.

Safe Distance to the Hospital: Impacting the Availability of Midwives

At what distance from the hospital is home and birth center birth safe? This question is especially important to examine due to the critical role that CPMs, as community-based providers, must play in mitigating the birth care provider shortage in both rural and urban areas. Recent research demonstrates that placing arbitrary limits on distance to the hospital is not evidence-based, and in fact there are social and medical risks associated with placing limits on community-midwife services in care shortage areas.

A 2017 report from ACOG, The Obstetrician-Gynecologist Workforce in the United States, Facts, Figures and Implications, tell us that 49% of the 3,143 U.S. counties lack a single obstetrical provider, affecting more than 10 million people who live in predominantly rural counties. The shortage of birth care providers, however, is not limited to rural areas. In Washington, D.C. for example, where mortality for birthing people is among the highest in the nation, the closures of birth care units and hospitals over the past years have left the birthing residents of the poorest and predominantly Black sections of the city with no labor and delivery services at all. People in these neighborhoods often must travel for over an hour on public transportation for care, sometimes resulting in loss of employment. In March of last year, the Atlanticquoted Aza Nedhari, CPM and founder of D.C.’s perinatal support organization, Mamatoto Village: “Every black woman who makes it and has a full term baby – it’s just like ‘You made it!” CPMs provide critical, life-saving services in our rural and urban birth care deserts.

A March 2019 article in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health  – Distance from Home Birth to Emergency Obstetric Services and Neonatal Outcomes: A Cohort Study – concludes:  “…From a policy perspective, our findings suggest that it is inappropriate to place arbitrary limits on proximity to hospital to determine eligibility for home birth…There are both medical and social risks associated with restricting access to maternity services in remote settings and with imposing a requirement for people to travel to access intrapartum care (italics added).  Arbitrary limits on the acceptable distance for home birth and birth centers from hospitals with cesarean capacity are not evidence based and limit the ability of community midwives to provide skilled maternity services to rural residents.”  These findings would apply to urban areas as well, such as in Washington, DC, where there is no access in whole parts of the city to hospital intrapartum services.  

A related article published in the journal Birth in June 2018 – Rural community birth: Maternal and neonatal outcomes for planned community births among rural women in the United States, 2004-2009 -using a Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) dataset of 18,723 people, concluded “…after adjusting for risk factors and confounders, there were no significant differences for a composite of maternal or neonatal outcomes between rural and nonrural pregnancies…Among this sample of low-risk women who planned midwife-led community births, no increased risk was detected by rural vs nonrural status.”

Midwives provide critical, life-saving services in our rural and urban birth care deserts and evidence backs the safety of community midwife practice in these care shortage areas.

From the MANA News, Issue #102, September 4, 2019: How Reliable is the APGAR Score?

A new article, authored by MANA Division of Research members, Marit Bovbjerg, Melissa Cheyney and Jennifer Brown, and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, examined data on Apgar scores using both the MANA Stats dataset and a large, hospital birth dataset from California. This article focuses on implications for research rather than on clinical implications for care. It reports on the limited usefulness of the Apgar score in research and shows that it is not an effective proxy for eventual infant well-being in research settings.

Thursday, 10.17.19 1:30-3:00 ET

2019 State and Federal Legislative Updates!

• Kentucky with Mary Kathryn DeLodder, MA

• Hawaii with Sky Connelly, CPM

• Washington, D.C. with Aza Nedhari, CPM, MS

• H.R. 3849, the Midwives for MOMS Act with Mary Lawlor

Thursday, 11.21.19 3:00-5:00 ET

Annual Member Meeting

with NACPM Board, Staff and Chapter Leaders

Thursday, 12.12.19 3:00-4:30 ET

On Mentorship: Lessons Learned from the Research Aligned Mentorship Program

with Keisha Goode, PHD and Ashlee Lien, PHD

Affirming NACPM’s commitment to oppose the oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people

NACPM Statement_Midwifery Today & NACPM Commitments 

All childbearing people have the right to safe, effective, respectful care, including and especially the care of midwives. NACPM affirms our commitment to oppose the oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people, including our commitment to oppose homophobia, transphobia, and violence or exclusion based on sexuality, gender expression, and family structure.

Equity is essential to our ability to effectively advocate for midwives and childbearing people. Our NACPM chapters are uniquely positioned to work for equity in their local communities and nationally, and NACPM supports them in their efforts.
NACPM stands behind the recent efforts of our NACPM Pennsylvania Chapter and other advocates around the country to oppose Midwifery Today’s discrimination against LGTBQIA2S+ midwives in their choice of venue for their conference. We stand with their statement that: “Midwifery Today’s choice of venue is discriminatory, callous, and behind the times. Exclusionary policies based on race, sexual orientation, or lifestyle have no place in the midwifery community.”

We urge our members to consider deeply what it means to spend time and money on subscriptions and conference attendance if they are out of alignment with your values. When some of the content is homophobic or racist, even when it is not a majority of the content, it influences the conversations we have about midwifery, and it ultimately impacts the care we provide. Magazines and conferences can be an entry point to the profession and a community for isolated midwives. They shape the profession, and it is time to expect that a sustained commitment to equity is a basic expectation of our midwifery organizations and publishers.

Affirming NACPM’s commitment to oppose the oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people

NACPM Statement_Midwifery Today & NACPM Commitments 

All childbearing people have the right to safe, effective, respectful care, including and especially the care of midwives. NACPM affirms our commitment to oppose the oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people, including our commitment to oppose homophobia, transphobia, and violence or exclusion based on sexuality, gender expression, and family structure.

Equity is essential to our ability to effectively advocate for midwives and childbearing people. Our NACPM chapters are uniquely positioned to work for equity in their local communities and nationally, and NACPM supports them in their efforts.
NACPM stands behind the recent efforts of our NACPM Pennsylvania Chapter and other advocates around the country to oppose Midwifery Today’s discrimination against LGTBQIA2S+ midwives in their choice of venue for their conference. We stand with their statement that: “Midwifery Today’s choice of venue is discriminatory, callous, and behind the times. Exclusionary policies based on race, sexual orientation, or lifestyle have no place in the midwifery community.”

We urge our members to consider deeply what it means to spend time and money on subscriptions and conference attendance if they are out of alignment with your values. When some of the content is homophobic or racist, even when it is not a majority of the content, it influences the conversations we have about midwifery, and it ultimately impacts the care we provide. Magazines and conferences can be an entry point to the profession and a community for isolated midwives. They shape the profession, and it is time to expect that a sustained commitment to equity is a basic expectation of our midwifery organizations and publishers.

Legislation to Fund Midwifery Education Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives

 Legislation to Fund Midwifery Education Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives

Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Co-Founders and Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Maternity Care, introduced the Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services Act (H.R. 3849) on May 19, 2019. The Midwives for MOMS Act authorizes new federal funding for midwifery education within Title VII and Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act. This bill addresses the growing birth care provider shortage by increasing the number of midwives available to families in our country today. In addition, the bill addresses the significant lack of racial and ethnic representation in the birth care workforce by focusing resources on schools and programs that prioritize students who plan to practice in health professional shortage areas and that focus on increasing racial and ethnic representation in midwifery education and the workforce.

NACPM is invested in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative

CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people. We join the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) and midwives everywhere in applauding the Congresswomen for their leadership in addressing the underlying causes of poor birth outcomes in the U.S. by elevating midwifery care, and thank them for the opportunity to consult on the development of this important legislation.

The Midwives for MOMS Act authorizes the first-ever federal funding program that will support the education of CPMs: $15,000,000 for fiscal years 2021-2025. This funding will apply to CPM and Certified Midwife (CM) schools that are accredited by MEAC or ACME. (The Act authorizes a corresponding $20,000,000 for nurse-midwifery education in Title VIII.) Grants from this funding can be used for these purposes:

• Establish or expand CPM and CM accredited midwifery schools and programs

• Secure, prepare and/or provide support to increase the number of qualified preceptors for training the students of an accredited CPM or CM midwifery school or program

• Provide direct support for CPM and CM students (stipends/tuition reimbursement) including minority students, in an accredited midwifery school or program

Call Your Legislators Today

Now the work begins – and your help is needed!

Please reach out to your Congress member today and urge them to support H.R. 3849, the Midwives for MOMS Act of 2019.

• Find your Representative here

• Click here for specific support in navigating to your Representative’s contact information and making your call

• Let us know if we can be of any assistance to you!

• Please let NACPM know of any response you receive from your Representative as a result your call – positive or negative – by writing to us at info@nacpm.org or calling us at 603-358-3322.

• Make a visit to your Representative’s District office. Congress is in recess in Washington, D.C. during the month of August, and August is a great month to visit the office in your District to urge support for the Midwives for MOMS Act! Call today for an appointment.

• Print and take this one-page advocacy sheet with you to the District Office visit

• Thank you!

Tips for Calling Your Representative

Click here for instructions, talking points and scripts for making your call.

Thank you!