The MAWS eBulletin
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Volume 2, Issue 3
May 2009
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 Welcome to the Pacific Northwest version of spring! We look forward to seeing you all at the MAWS Conference this Friday!
MAWS Board of Directors
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 ACNM Annual Meeting and Exposition in Seattle
Join MAWS to greet Nurse Midwives from all over the country as they gather in our backyard. The ACNM event will be held in Downtown Seattle May 22-27. If you plan to attend the conference, please visit the MAWS table Friday evening (8-11 pm), Saturday afternoon (12-3 pm). or Sunday morning (8-11 am) or join us for the reception MAWS is co-hosting with SMS at Seattle Midwifery School on Monday night from 5 pm to 8 pm in the Hearth Room. Come network with our sister midwives. If you are interested in being a driver to help transport guests, please send us an email.
If you have any stories or pictures of collaborative and cooperative care between LMs and CNMs in WA state that you would like to share for our table display, please send them via email to Kristin Effland by Sunday May 17.
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NARM has posted an online petition in an effort to organize supporters
and convince the ACNM to reconsider its position on apprentice trained
midwives
Visit this link to read details about this issue and sign the petition if you wish to do so. Also, professional members can visit the MAWS Discussion Forum to share your comments about the petition with other MAWS members.
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SPRING COMMITTEE UPDATE
MAWS has been very busy lately:
- Participating on the Department of Health's Perinatal Advisory Committee (PAC) including the Physician-Midwife Workgroup and the C-section Subcommittee of the PAC
- Educating legislators and consumers about the benefits of midwifery care
- Planning your Spring Conference
- Organizing to launch a Public Education Campaign: Better Birth Options
- Representing WA state LMs and CPMs in national forums
- Keeping the Quality Management Program running smoothly
- Creating new ways for MAWS members to network
For a more detailed update on MAWS' Committee work, visit the MAWS news page (follows announcement of May 30th march) by clicking here.
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Legislative Update: MAWS at work to Keep Midwives in Business in WA State
Faced with the worst budget crisis ever, legislators in Washington have been looking for ways to cut costs any way they can. With support from midwives and midwifery consumers throughout the state, the MAWS legislative committee successfully fought off attempts during this session to eliminate both the Midwifery Advisory Committee, a legislatively mandated entity that advises the Department of Health about regulatory matters affecting licensed midwifery, and the Joint Underwriting Association (JUA), the only avenue through which midwives and free-standing birth centers in Washington can obtain liability insurance.
 We also managed to get a budget proviso passed to avoid the proposed licensing fee increase to $1,500-$2,000 a year! The proviso maintains the current $450/year cap on the midwifery licensing fee for the 2009-2011 biennium. Our strategy this year has been to play offense, rather than defense. Instead of pleading with legislators to preserve licensed midwifery and the option of out-of-hospital birth, we approached them with the concept that licensed midwifery is part of the solution. In tough economic times, it makes more sense than ever to promote this safe and cost-effective form of care for low-risk pregnant women. MAWS also lobbied for passage of a bill to protect mothers nursing in public which also passed!
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IMPORTANT REMINDER!
Don't forget to join MAWS along with 100 other state organizations in a march on May 30, 2009 in Seattle:
Health Care for All in 2009: Mothers Leading the Way!
Starts at Pratt Park, 18th Ave. S. and E. Yesler Way, Seattle at 12:30 PM
This is not a protest march - this is a support march! We are joining together with others in our community to voice support for President Obama's mandate:
"Health Care Reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year!"
Click here for more details and to download pdfs of the flyer for the march.
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MIDWIVES AND MOTHERS IN ACTION NEW CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCED!
Announcing the Launch of the Midwives & Mothers in Action (M.A.M.A) Campaign, a new national campaign to secure federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs). The M.A.M.A. Campaign Steering Committee includes the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC), Citizens for Midwifery (CfM) and the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC).
In the coming days & weeks, the M.A.M.A Campaign will be providing more information about the campaign and about how we can help raise awareness and secure a place for CPMs in the developing federal health care system.
The M.A.M.A Campaign Steering Committee just returned from a successful planning meeting in Washington DC where they also met with various legislators and congressional committee members. Congress has laid out an ambitious timeline for achieving health care reform this year, and midwives are ready to be part of it.
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MAWS BOARD MEMBERS SUZY MYERS & AUDREY LEVINE / MAWS MEMBER MICHELLE SARJU QUOTED IN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ON NATIONALLY POPULAR BLOG.
And if you want to read more from Miriam Perez, she will be part of a live chat tomorrow at 9:00 am Pacific Time.
"Join Feministing blogger, radical doula, and RH Reality Check writer
Miriam Perez and JayVon Muhammad, certified professional midwife and
Steff Hedenkamp with 'The Big Push for Midwives' campaign,
on Thursday, May 14th for a fascinating, in depth discussion about the
reality of access to homebirth in the United States for all women!"
In a live chat, the writer publishes her content, and you can submit comments. Click here for details>
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) Course
Course participants discuss methods of managing pregnancy and birth urgencies and emergencies, which may help standardize the skills of practicing maternity care providers. Content and skill acquisition is demonstrated by successful completion of the course written exam and megadelivery testing station.
Friday, May 29 - Saturday, May 30, 2009
Group Health Capitol Hill Campus. Click here for a pdf brochure/registration form.
Spanish for Birth Professionals
June 13, 2009
9am-4pm at Birthingway College of Midwifery in Portland, OR
Call 503-760-3131 for more information
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The discussion forum for Professional MAWS Members
Click here to register for the forum. Once we verify your membership, you will be able to log on and check it out. (You can see a screen shot of the forum with many of the great discussion categories in store for you by clicking here.) If you are reading this and are not a current member, renew your membership now. We think you'll find it a fun and useful tool.
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 BUY PENNY SIMKIN'S NEW COMFORT MEASURES FOR CHILDBIRTH DVD & PENNY WILL DONATE 10% TO MAWS!
This 90-minute interactive DVD contains more than 40 techniques for reducing and managing the pain of labor contractions. Christiane Northrup, MD states, "Comfort Measures is wonderful. I suggest that it be required viewing for all pregnant couples and childbirth professionals." Use this link to buy it now or click here to read more about it.
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Membership Reminder
Thank you to everyone who has renewed their membership. If you haven't had a chance yet, please do so soon, as we will be removing inactive members from the online directory after the spring conference. If you need help with the new online system or have a question about your membership, simply write to us or call 888-422-4784. Certificates have been printed for everyone who has renewed and will be mailed soon.
This is your newsletter. Please send any feedback, suggestions or contributions to Kristin Effland.
If you enjoyed this E-newsletter, contribute an article yourself for future MAWS E-news publications. Submit your contributions for review to info@washingtonmidwives.org.
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