Midwifery & Doula News from SMS
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August 2009
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Volume 7 No 8
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Greetings!
Summer is waning and everyone seems to be trying to squeeze in a bit of vacation before students of all kinds return to school. Here at SMS, we are looking forward to welcoming our new and returning midwifery and Simkin School students in September. But even though it is summer, the pace around here doesn't seem to have slowed much - curriculum reviews, merger talks, hiring new faculty, conferences, and healthcare reform - good stuff, all of it.
Speaking of healthcare reform, are you a member of the MAMA Campaign? If not, please take a moment to click on the link and join. Every member counts and there is no time like the present to add your voice to make sure Certified Professional Midwives are included in the reform efforts.
Sincerely,
Mary Yglesia
Director
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 Update From the MAMA Campaign
Congress may be in recess this month, but the MAMA Campaign is not! We have heated up with the August weather for a major grassroots outreach effort to members of Congress who are on the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee - the two committees with the power to include our amendment in the health care bills.
MAMA Campaign members are making another round of visits to the DC Congressional offices this week. It may be sweltering around us between the weather and the health care reform debate but we are swimming along undeterred. With all of the talk about cutting health care costs and saving money, CPMs can help right away!
Click here to join MAMA.
SMS Midwifery Education Chair, Suzy Myers, former SMS Executive Director, Jo Anne Myers-Ciecko, and other MAMA Campaign supporters are meeting with an aide to WA Senator Maria Cantwell this week to bring our message to her district office. Until the end of August recess, the MAMA Campaign needs supporters in Washington State to fax or e-mail letters to the district offices of Senator Maria Cantwell and Rep Jay Inslee, asking them to support our amendment in their bill that would expand Medicaid coverage to Certified Professional Midwives. The central message is that Washington State has demonstrated the positive benefits of including midwives in Medicaid. Please tell Sen. Cantwell and Rep. Inslee (if you are in his congressional district) how urgent their support is!
Click here for fax and email information for Maria Cantwell and Jay Inslee.
Click here to go to the MAWS website for talking points you can use in your letters to Maria Cantwell and Jay Inslee.
The MAMA Campaign also supports House Bill 2358/ Senate Bill 1423, the Birth Center Medicaid Reimbursement Act. You can include this in your letters, and learn more about it at the AABC web site.
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| Contact Us |
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info@seattlemidwifery.org
4000 NE 41st Street
Building D, Suite 3
Seattle, Washington 98105
206.322.8834 / 800.747.9433
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SMS and Bastyr University Merger Update
Thanks to the incredible work of many talented and forward thinking people, we are within one week of the merger of two great Seattle educational institutions. September 3, 2009 at 4:00 pm on the campus of Bastyr University, representatives from both Seattle Midwifery School and Bastyr will sign the merger agreements making us one.
We are all so excited about the future but it is not without sadness that we let go of the dear vessel of SMS that nurtured so many talented care providers and sent them out to support women and their families in the childbearing year. Our students, graduates, faculty, staff, donors, board members and volunteers have touched thousands of people's lives and we know they have made a positive difference in the world. For this we are so proud and the work continues! Stay tuned as we venture into new territory.
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Sept 23-26, 2009Hone your skills for emotional and physical care during childbirth and enjoy the beautiful Bastyr campus in the sunshine. DONA International approved curriculum. Click here for more information and to register. Still Room in the October Professional Education in Breastfeeding & Lactation Oct 19-21 & 23-25, 2009Are
you interested in becoming a lactation educator or consultant? The
Simkin School six-day Professional Education in Breastfeeding and
Lactation course sets the standard for comprehensive instruction based
on current research as it applies to best practice issues in the
clinical setting. Click here for more information>
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Watch and Share the Film, "Reducing Infant Mortality"
From the producers: "Our astronomically high African American infant mortality rate at 16 deaths per 1,000 is similar to countries such as Malaysia and the West Bank. Not only are babies dying needlessly, but the ones who survive this failing system are also often adversely affected by unnecessary procedures and separation from their mother and family. Our intent with this video is to encourage policy makers to consider a health care system that holds prevention of these calamities as a high priority. The midwifery model of care for healthy low-risk women is a simple solution which addresses many of these issues simultaneously...[and] will save our health care system millions of dollars each year."
Click here to watch and share the film>
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Applying to the Midwifery Education Program in 2010?
SMS' anticipated merger with Bastyr University means that, with accreditor approval, we will be offering a Master's of Science in Midwifery. It will be an articulated Master's Degree. With an articulated degree, if you don't already have a Bachelor's Degree, students enter with 90 transfer credits, including prerequisites, start the program as an undergraduate student and graduate with the Master's. If you do already have a Bachelor's Degree, then you enter with our prerequisites and start as a graduate student. SMS prerequisites are changing, especially for those applicants who do not yet have an undergraduate degree.  Please contact Stephanie Safholm, Admissions Specialist, for information about new prerequisites that have not yet been posted on the website. Contact Stephanie by e-mail or by phone at 800.747.9433, x101.
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Lexington Medical Center Doulas Win Annie Kennedy Award
"Lexington Medical Center's
innovative Doula program (West Columbia, SC) has won the prestigious Annie Kennedy Award
from the Doulas of North America (DONA)...
The LMC Doula Program is the
first-of-its-kind in the Southeast and has served as a benchmark for
other hospital-based programs across the country. Currently, the
program has sixteen doulas on staff and almost half of the doulas have
been with LMC for ten years or more. Since the LMC Doula Program began
fifteen years ago, it has assisted more than 6,500 families."
From Carolina Newswire Article>
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Wall Street Journal Article: For Moms, Therapy Beats Drugs - New Report from American Psychiatric Association and ACOG
"Pregnant women suffering from depression should consider
psychotherapy before taking antidepressant medications, according to
the first comprehensive treatment recommendations issued on the subject.
But the risk of the mother's untreated depression to the unborn
child also should be taken into account in making the decision, said
the report from the American Psychiatric Association and American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Depressed expectant mothers
may experience more stress and take care of themselves more poorly than
women without depression, which can affect the development of their
unborn children." Click here to read the article>
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Tibetan Birth Center Opens
from Marge Mansfield, LM, CPM
On the auspicious weekend of July 25, 2009, Dr TseringKyi,
Tibetan ObGyn (who visited SMS with Tibetan Healing Fund board member Marge Mansfield in 2005)
welcomed government officials and villagers alike to the opening of the Tibetan
Natural Birth and Health Training Facility in Repkong, Qinghai Province,
PRC. In this meeting place and
center, she will provide culturally and linguistically appropriate gyn and
maternity services to local Tibetan women, attend births, and continue to
conduct midwife trainings of village women to serve in their geographically
disparate communities.
 This is
truly an accomplishment, only made possible by the wisdom and leadership of
both TseringKyi and founding board president Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen (Buddhist monk,Tibetan
medical doctor and PhD candidate in Public Health at UCLA), the capability of
in-country Tibetan partners, and the support of friends/donors in the west.
 Within one week of the opening, the
first mother gave birth here, and as this goes to print another 6 have!
Please visit the Tibetan Healing Fund web site for more information.
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Upcoming Conferences & Workshops
American Association of Birth Centers Birth Institute & Annual Meeting
September 3-6, 2009 - Atlanta, GA. More information>
Mountain Midwives Conference
September 4-6, 2009 - Spearfish, SD. More information>
Promoting Infant Mental Health: Intervention Focused on the Parent-Child Relationship
September 14 & 15, 2009 - Bellevue Hyatt Regency, Bellevue, WA. More information>
Promoting Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy
September 16th & 17th, 2009 - Bellevue Hyatt Regency, Bellevue, WA. More information>
Celebrating the Magic of Normal Birth - Lamaze International 2009 Annual Conference
October 1-4, 2009 - Lake Buena Vista, FL. More information>
Northwest Doula Conference at North Seattle Community College
October 10, 2009 - Seattle, WA. More information>
International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA) International Convention
October 15-17, 2009 - Oklahoma City, OK. More information>
Midwives Alliance of North America 2009 Conference - Rising Tide: women, midwives and the future
October 22-25, 2009 - Asilomar State Beach & Conference Grounds near Monterey, CA. More information>
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Pregnant in Seattle? - Panelists Needed
The Simkin School is seeking pregnant women in their third trimester to be
panelists for our popular Birth Doula Labor Support Course.
It's a lot of fun and a great chance to help aspiring doulas learn
about the emotions of pregnancy. We need panelists for September 23, 2009 at Bastyr and November 21, 2009 at SMS' Talaris campus from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. Honorarium offered. Contact us by email or call Annie Kennedy at 206.322.8834 x115 for more information.
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We truly appreciate the feedback you continue to give us on the SMS eNews. Please keep it coming. We welcome your input and, certainly, any news that affects women, babies and families in the childbearing year. You can write to us by simply replying to this email. And please share this with your friends by using the "forward email" link, which will give them the benefit of the graphics and photos. They will not be automatically subscribed to the list, but they can sign up if they like!
Sincerely,
Seattle Midwifery School
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