Midwifery & Doula News
From the Simkin Center & Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University
Formerly Seattle Midwifery School
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September 2009
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Volume 7 No 9
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Greetings!
It is a season of changes, from summer to autumn, from applicants to students and from Seattle Midwifery School into Bastyr University. You can catch up on all the merger status below in the update, but be assured that as we excitedly await that approval we are laying the groundwork for a smooth transition for our students, staff and faculty.
Moving into the Bastyr organization will mean many changes and that includes what the Midwifery and Doula News will look like. As soon as we receive the final approval for the merger, the look and the address of this e-newsletter will change. Please be looking out for it, do not delete it and add the new "from" address to your contact list. This will insure that you do not miss out on all the great information we send your way each month.
Please feel free to call me at the school if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mary Yglesia
Director
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Still Room in the October Professional Education in Breastfeeding & Lactation
 Oct 19-21 & 23-25, 2009
Are
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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 Update From MAMA:
It's Crunch Time
Congress is ready to move on health care reform. But will they make Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) part of that reform? We still hope so, and we know you do, too. You've written your letters and you've told your friends. You've helped us along the way. But now we need a little more.
At Long Last, the Senate Has a Bill
Last Wednesday, the powerful Senator Max Baucus of Montana introduced his long-awaited America's Healthy Future Act. This bill will be the crux of the health care reform debate for the next few weeks. Read a summary of Baucus's bill on his website.
The bill is large and complicated, with provisions that will affect insurance companies, Medicare, and even Native American tribes. But it is silent on the important issue of Medicaid patients' access to CPMs.
Because of our persistent outreach, all of the key legislative offices are aware that Certified Professional Midwives can be part of the health care reform solution. But Congress only pays attention if you tell them over and over. Please write your legislator today and ask them to support the inclusion of CPMs in Medicaid! Did you already write a letter? Write again!
Go to the MAMA Campaign web site for instructions on writing and sending your legislators a letter.
To date, MAMA has received nearly $100,000 in individual contributions and organizational support! An additional $50,000 is needed in order to maintain the presence in Washington, DC through this Congressional debate over healthcare reform.
Please consider making a contribution today to help carry us over the top! Invest in the future of midwifery in the United States!
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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
We are pleased to announce that on September 3, 2009, representatives from Seattle Midwifery School and Bastyr University executed merger documents at a signing ceremony hosted on Bastyr University's Kenmore, Washington campus. The event was attended by guests from both SMS and Bastyr communities. While we await final approvals from both Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) we are busy doing the work of combining these two great organizations.
With the final approval, expected some time in the fall of 2009, the new Bastyr University Department of Midwifery will offer an articulated BS/MS degree in midwifery. The Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations, formerly known as the Simkin School, will continue to offer training for birth doulas, postpartum doulas, childbirth educators and lactation educators, with plans for growth in the program offerings. Both of these programs will be a part of the School of Natural Health Arts and Sciences at Bastyr University.
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Two New Studies Published on the Safety of Home Birth
The home birth debate is heating up with two new studies published within a month. ACOG is pushing back with its typical fear-based media publicity. One example of this is recounted in TheUnnecesarean's blog post (below) on the Today Show's 9/11 segment called "The Perils of Midwifery." First, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a study on 8/31 - Outcomes of planned home birth with registered midwife versus planned hospital birth with midwife or physician.
"Women in the planned home-birth group were significantly less likely
than those who planned a midwife-attended hospital birth to have
obstetric interventions." Click here to read the abstract and access the full-text pdf.Then Wednesday, a new study was published in the journal Birth from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. "The study found serious complications - death, the need for medical
care immediately after birth, neonatal resuscitation, admission to a
pediatric intensive care unit and low birth weight - were lower in the
home birth group (2.3 per cent) compared to the hospital group (2.8 per
cent), as were rates for all interventions (5.2 per cent home birth vs.
8.1 per cent hospital), including cesarean section."
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TV, News, Blogosphere on Home Birth Safety
The Home Birth Debate is in full swing on the airways, in print, and in online news articles (click on "comments" for USA Today articles) and in the blogosphere ever since the CMAJ released the BC Study. Here are just a few examples:
Watch the Today Show segment>
Read USA Today articles:
Study: Home birth with midwife as safe as hospital birth>
Home births get a bump, over obstetricians' objections>
Read Amie Newman's post on RH Reality Check>
Read The Unnecesarean Blog Post>
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Air Pollution May Increase Risk of Preterm BirthReuters Health reports that "exposure to air pollution later in pregnancy may raise a woman's risk of delivering her baby too soon, a new study suggests." Research found that "while there were no clear connections between preterm
birth and most of the air pollutants they studied, three particular air
pollutants were related to a higher risk." Click here to read the whole story>
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New Census Data Show More Women Uninsured
The March of Dimes released a special report
today prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau that shows that in 2008, more
than 20 percent of American women of childbearing age-12.4 million-were
uninsured.
Click here to read the whole story, which includes a link to the full report.
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Lamaze Offers Opportunity to Attend This Year's Conference Virtually!"Attending the annual conference may not be convenient for you this year, but through the On Call Conference
you can participate in the lively and rewarding educational sessions of
the Orlando event from the comfort of your workplace." This CEU opportunity includes a workshop and the Closing Plenary Session with our own Penny Simkin. Click here for more information>
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Applying to the Midwifery Education Program in 2010?
SMS' merger with Bastyr University means that, with accredit or 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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New approaches to researching and improving safety in maternity care
Call for papers to a special issue: Midwifery
The adverse impact of poor quality and unsafe care on women's health and well-being is becoming an increasingly prominent concern for policy makers, clinicians and the public worldwide. Christine Morton (US) and Jane Sandall (UK) are Guest Editing a Special Issue of Midwifery which will broaden the scope of existing approaches to safety and quality of care by inviting papers which report on research that engages with work at the frontline and the organizational level, which uses methods that are sensitive to clinical and organizational complexity, and that displays awareness of the impact of the research process itself on healthcare delivery and organization.
Midwifery is an international journal and we are keen to include papers from a wide range of countries, including non-western settings. Research foci might include the implications for safety and quality of care of research conducted at the micro, macro and meso levels. Methods can include, among others, ethnographic observation; evaluation of complex interventions, narrative and discourse analysis; improvement methodologies, comparative research and the use of visual methods. In policy terms the special issue aims to contribute to informing the activities and strategies to improve the safety of maternal and newborn care by drawing on different and wider perspectives.
We would like to invite authors from a range of backgrounds who feel their work addresses the above methodological and contextual aims to submit their full manuscripts for consideration to Midwifery to this page by February 1, 2010. When asked to choose article type, authors should select ''Special Issue: Safety in Maternity Care'', and in the ''Enter Comments'' box any further acknowledgements should be inserted. For a more detailed version of this call for papers, click here to download the full pdf document>
Contact for more information:
Christine H. Morton, PhD, Program Manager/Research Sociologist
California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, Stanford University
p. 650-725-6108
c. 650-995-4550
Email Christine Morton
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Upcoming Conferences & Workshops
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>
Dancing for Birth Instructor Training
October 24-25, 2009 - Seattle, WA. More information>
Midwives' Association of Washington State 2009 Fall Conference & Annual Meeting
November 13, 2009 - Seattle, WA. More information>
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Pregnant in Seattle? - Panelists Needed
The Simkin Center 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 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 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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