January 2010
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Volume 8 No 1
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Greetings!
In 2006, in response to the initiative of our midwifery students, the Board of Directors of Seattle Midwifery School committed this organization to creating a learning environment that is free from racism and dedicated to social justice in the education of childbirth professions. It is a considerable task, but we are pleased to say that the work continues. In 2009 we received a grant to help fund the work of visioning the systemic changes necessary to reach this goal. I am proud to report that today we have a working task force and the skilled guidance of professionals committed to working with SMS in this process. For more information and resources on health equity, visit
the Unnatural Causes web site. We'd love to hear from you on this important subject. Please feel free to write me any time.
Sincerely,
Mary Yglesia
Director
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 When Survivors Give Birth with Penny Simkin
February 5-6, 2009
Join maternity care, mental health and allied providers to focus on the issues of the least understood of pregnant clients. Two full days with Penny Simkin PT
- Advance your understanding of an all too common issue for childbearing women and families.
- Expand your care practices for women at risk of poor physical and psychosocial childbirth outcomes.
- Improve your response to women who express emotional concerns about childbearing.
Click here for more information or here to register now>
Do you know a practicing psychotherapist, marriage and family therapist or social worker? Please forward this information - we'd be so grateful!
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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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 MAMA is Back on the Hill for Midwives & Mothers
MAMA Is Ready To Start the Year Strong!Individual contributions from people like you give MAMA life. Thanks to every one of our 500 donors, MAMA is alive and well! With just a few more weeks to go, we need just a few more dollars. Can you help us now by making a contribution of $50, $100, $500 or more? Every dollar will be well-spent as we wrap-up this phase of our campaign to achieve federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives! Any amount will make a difference!
Keep Those Letters Coming!
As your legislators make crucial decisions about what will be included
in health care reform, it is important that they hear from you and that
they know that MAMA is watching! Write to your members of Congress
today to ask them to include Certified Professional Midwives in any
health care reform legislation! If you have not written yet, now is
the time! If you have written previously, write again! Your Senators
and Representatives need to hear from YOU on behalf of Certified
Professional Midwives and Mothers, regardless of their position on
health care reform. Click here
for help and sample letters you can use to contact your legislators. And please sign up as a MAMA Campaign supporter to receive the latest news.
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Interested in Becoming a Lactation Educator or Consultant?
Enroll in the Next Professional Education in Breastfeeding & Lactation Course
Feb 1-3 & 5-7, 2010
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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CALL FOR ANTHOLOGY CONTRIBUTIONS
For an anthology about doulas and doula-supported birth, editor seeks true, first-person accounts from moms, dads, midwives, docs, nurses, doulas, and others with strong writing skills. Accounts can also relate to pre and/or post-natal support. What did you experience, observe, feel, learn, reflect upon? How were you moved, changed by the experience of having or working with a doula? What can you share with prospective parents, reluctant practitioners, passionate advocates? Send double-spaced MSWord attachment (Times New Roman, 12 pt.) - 3000 word max -- + 50 word bio and complete contact information via email by 3/15 to Elayne Clift.
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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: APHA ANNUAL MEETING
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is accepting abstracts for its 2010 Annual Meeting, scheduled for November 6-10 in Denver, CO. The meeting theme is "Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative." Abstracts in all areas of public health are requested, as well as those focusing on the Annual Meeting theme.
Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and must include a measureable learning objective. Abstract authors do not need to be members of APHA. However, if the abstract is accepted, presenting authors must become an Individual APHA member and register for the Annual Meeting. Deadline for submission of abstracts ranges from February 1 through February 5, 2010, depending on the area to which they are being submitted. For more information, or to submit your abstract online, click here>
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Expansion of Access to Midwifery Statement from Our Bodies, Ourselves"Many MDs and others committed to evidence-based medicine have long
recognized the benefits of the midwifery model, and Our Bodies
Ourselves now has a statement about Choices in Childbirth signed by
hundreds of such experts in the maternity care field (these individuals
support expansion of access to midwifery care in all settings)." Click here to read the statement signed by "physicians, midwives, women's health advocates, and educators concerned
about preserving safe choices in childbirth that respect the diversity
of women's needs." |
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Recent Studies on Racism and Birth Outcomes
USC's Tyan Parker Dominguez appears in the "When the Bough Breaks Episode" of Unnatural Causes. She has published three studies over the past year on the relationships between racism and birth outcomes. - Dominguez, TP, Strong, EM, Gillman, MW, Krieger, N, Rich-Edwards, JW (2009). "Differences in the self-reported racism experiences of US-born and foreign-born Black pregnant women" Social Science & Medicine, 69, 258-265.
- Dominguez, TP (2008). "Race, racism, and racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes" [Special issue: Societal Factors in Pregnancy: Why Worry?]. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 51, 360-370.
- Dominguez, TP, Dunkel Schetter, C, Glynn, L, Sandman, C, Hobel, C (2008). "Racial differences in birth outcomes: The role of general, pregnancy, and racism stress" Health Psychology, 27, 194-203
Abtracts for each and links to the full text articles can be found in the www.unnaturalcauses.org Health Equity Data Base.
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Moxibustion for Turning Breech Babies Thank you to Childbirth Connection for including the results of a systematic review published in September 2009 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in their recent Childbirth Connection News. "Combined results from six studies presenting data from 1087 women" were pooled and "showed that the fetuses of women receiving moxibustion were 36% more likely to turn to a head-first position than those who got other treatments or no treatment, and this result was statistically significant." Here's the citation if you want to look it up in AJOG: Moxibustion for Bringing Babies Around to the Head-First Position Vas J, Aranda JM, Nishishinya B, et al. Correction of nonvertex presentation with moxibustion: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2009;201(3), 241-59. Click here for the abstract.
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Midwives Association of WA State 2010 Legislative Agenda
WA Midwives are in Olympia Thursday, January 21 for MAWS' Annual Lobby Day. If you weren't able to attend, you can still support this year's agenda by writing to your legislators. Click here to read the MAWS Public Policy Agenda on the MAWS Website, including instructions on how to find your legislators and their contact information. Then call or send an e-mail to your legislators asking them to:
* Support HB 2435 which will give licensed midwives electronic access
to the UW Health Sciences Library through HEAL-WA for a $25 annual fee
* Maintain the budget proviso that caps the midwifery licensing fee for the 2009 - 2011 biennium
* Support Senator Karen Fraser's anti-shackling legislation - Support
HB 2747 - which would prevent incarcerated women from being shackled
during labor & delivery.
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Bringing Baby Home (BBH) Certification Training February 26-28, 2010 in Seattle
Become a Bringing Baby Home Certified Gottman Educator! Instructor: Joni Parthemer (Simkin Center faculty member) and special guest Dr. John Gottman discussing the role of fathers during the transition to parenthood.
Visit the Bringing Baby Home web site or contact Emily Nackley, BBH Program Coordinator for details or to register.
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Midwifery Program Class of '92 remembers KatiAnn Watson (7/29/46-10/18/09)
During the SMS class of '92 graduation ceremony, we lifted our voices in song as each graduate's name was called to arise and receive her diploma. We had chosen popular songs that seemed to capture the essence of each student. For KatiAnn we sang, from The Sound of Music:
Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, til you find your dream.
A dream that will need, all the love you can give, every day of your life, for as long as you live.
 KatiAnn, who commuted to Seattle from Colfax (Eastern Washington) with 5 young children left in the hands of husband Jacob, never missed a class or an assignment deadline. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and always conveyed how much she loved childbearing women and our tight-knit class of student midwives. She shared, with vivid memories, the details of her varied birth experiences with Rose, Aynn, Kate, Bronwyn, and Morgan. KatiAnn was the first LM on the Palouse, and practiced there for several years while continuing her gardening, music, care of animals, and cooking her award-winning recipes such as lentil chili (see Wikipedia).
KatiAnn passed away on October 18, 2009, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, after complications from surgery for metastatic kidney cancer. Her husband, children, and chaplain were by her side. Jacob said the last thing she learned before losing consciousness was that Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which pleased her greatly. Our Class of '92 extends our condolences to KatiAnn's family and to all of the families she served as a midwife. We know those families will never forget her service to them during their journeys of bringing forth new life, and we will never forget KatiAnn's life journey and how blessed we are to have shared in that.
You can click here to visit a web site where you can send condolences or here to sign a memory book or light a virtual candle.
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 Applying to the Midwifery Program
We are thrilled with how much interest we are getting for the new midwifery program. As we await approval from the accreditors, applicants can contact our admissions advisor for the midwifery program, Stephanie Safholm, at 800.747.9433, x101 or by by email, for general information about the program and information about applying.
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Join us this Saturday, January 23 for the
Bastyr Admissions Open House
9am- 4pm at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA
If you are interested in the midwifery program this is the best opportunity of the year to meet faculty and students from the Department of Midwifery, attend information sessions, tour the beautiful Bastyr University campus, and get all of your questions answered. Please RSVP by clicking here. Click here for more information.
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Childbirth Professions Open House
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - 4:30-6:30 PM
Join us on campus to discover meaningful education and professions dedicated to women and families! Meet staff, faculty and graduates. Schedule: 4:30-5:30 PM Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations courses: birth and postpartum doula training, childbirth educator training, breastfeeding education; 5:30-6:30 PM Midwifery Program. Please RSVP to by clicking here
Click here for directions
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Upcoming Conferences & Workshops
Coalition for the Improvement of Maternity Services (CIMS) 2010 Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum & Annual Meeting
Feb. 26-27, 2010 - Austin, TX. More information>
National Healthy Start Association Conference
March 14-17, 2010
- Washington, DC. More information>
2010 REACHE Conference: Changing Birth Practices From the Outside In and the Inside Out
April 9, 2010 - Edmonds, WA. More information>
NIH VBAC Consensus Conference
March 8-10, 2010 - Bethesda, MD. More information>
Normal Labor & Birth: 5th International Research Conference: The Benefits & Challenges of Preserving Physiologic Birth
July 20-23, 2010 - Vancouver, BC. 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 February 19th and March 19 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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