The MAWS eBulletin
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Volume 2, Issue 5
November 2009
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Greetings!
We hope you're planning to attend the Fall Conference on Friday, November 13th at Bastyr University - it's going to be an action-packed day, with great workshops on gestational diabetes, handling postpartum hemorrhages and third stage difficulties, and incorporating homeopathy into your practice.
At our Annual Meeting, we'll fill you in on the numerous important projects that MAWS is engaged in, including disseminating information about swine flu prevention, resolving credentialing issues with the Healthy Options Plans, and developing best practice recommendations to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes (increasing access to VBAC is one of the goals of this work). In addition, we'll be hosting a Women of Wisdom Reception to honor those midwives who've been practicing for over 25 years.
Please join us! If you haven't already registered, you can do so by clicking here now. (Be sure to log in if you are a member to get the member discount). If you are on-call that day but are hoping to attend, please let us know of your intention to be there so we can make sure we have enough conference packets prepared for all attendees. Looking forward to seeing you and sharing the day together!
Sincerely,
Audrey Levine
President
Midwives' Association of Washington State
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REGISTER NOW FOR THE MAWS ANNUAL MEETING & CONFERENCE ON NOV 13TH
coming next week!
All-Region Peer Review
All LMs who
are MAWS members must participate in peer review every two years. This
fall's peer review will be held at the Bastyr University Room 1011 from 9
am-2:30 pm on Saturday November 14, 2009. Please RSVP by email to Darlene Curtis.
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New York Times Article Reports "Premature Births Are Fueling Higher Rates of Infant Mortality in U.S., Report Says"
"High rates of premature birth are the main reason the United States has higher infant mortality than do many other rich countries, government researchers reported Tuesday in their first detailed analysis of a longstanding problem. "
Read the whole article >
We know midwives are part of the solution to this problem! The report commissioned by the WA state Department of Health demonstrated that pregnant women on Medicaid who have Licensed Midwives maternity care have a decreased risk of having a low birth weight baby. Spread the word! Remember you can visit the MAWS website to reference the DOH report.
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MAWS BOARD MINUTES ON THE MAWS FORUM
If you haven't joined the forum yet, click here and register. Please use a login or email that is identifiable so we know you are a member and can approve you quickly. (The MAWS Discussion Forum is for Professional Members Only.)
You can find MAWS Board meeting minutes on the forum under MAWS Admin.
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ANOTHER CANADIAN HOME BIRTH STUDY - FROM MCMASTER IN ONTARIO
A new study was published in the journal Birth recently 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.
Click here to read the article from McMaster>
For future access to this and other recent studies, remember to visit the "Recent Publications" page on the MAWS website. Refer your clients and others there too!
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THANK YOU TO OUR NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS!
The following list contains our newest Associate Members (those who have joined since the last eBulletin) who are supporting MAWS at the $100 level. Click here to find out how you can help support MAWS by recruiting your favorite providers to become Associate Members. You will find these Associate Member listings in the MAWS online directory under "Midwife-Friendly" Providers:
Nikki Farwell-Norquist
Farwell Chiropractic
Chiropractic including Pregnancy & Pediatric Adjusting and Webster
Technique. Certified Member of International Chiropractic Pediatric
Association
Email
Lacey
Michael Hahn
Seattle Cranial Sacral Therapy
Cranial Sacral Therapy for newborns, infants and children as they move
through the many stages of their development. Cranial therapy restores
proper function and creates the potential for healing, growing and
developing to ones full potential.
www.mmhahn.com/children
Seattle
Suzanne Wenner, LAc., LMP
Licensed Acupuncturist and Massage Practitioner committed to supporting
patients in finding and maintaining health with Acupuncture, Clinical
massage therapy, Chinese Herbal medicine, dietary and lifestyle
counseling based on East Asian models
www.naturalhealthclinicofolympia.com
Olympia
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MAWS MEMBER BLUE BRADLEY FEATURED IN METHOW VALLEY NEWS!
Congratulations to Blue Bradley on her first year in practice in the Methow Valley. Blue, a certified nurse midwife, serves women in this medically underserved area offering home and hospital births and well-woman care.
MAWS would would love to hear from our members whenever you are featured in your local media.
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Where is the MAMA Campaign now? So, so close....
Suzy Myers, LM, CPM
MAWS Board of Directors
I've just returned from a wonderful and stimulating Midwives Alliance
of North America (MANA) conference in Asilomar, California. There, the
MAMA Campaign received an extraordinary reception from the over 500
people who attended this year's conference. Following an informative
presentation by Mary Lawlor, campaign co-chair, and members of the
steering committee, including a live web-streamed address by our
lobbyist in Washington, D.C., Billy Wynne--all punctuated by much
applause, cheers and foot-stomping - many people told us how much they
appreciate the work being done to include the services of Certified
Professional Midwives in federal Medicaid law.
Where is the campaign and our amendment now? We have new and ongoing
support in the Senate to include our provision, as well from the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, whose staff have told us "your provision
is front and center on the minds of the committee staff - you are in the
mix as the House prepares their bill for the floor." So, we will see
this legislative session through to its conclusion and hope for the
best!
To date the campaign has raised over $130,000 to support the work,
including a talented team of professional lobbyists and campaign staff
in Washington, D.C. We will need about $30,000 more to get us to the
end of the year. Have you donated yet? If so, can you give again? If
not, your contribution means even more now. Let's not lose momentum
when we are so, so close!
Please make a contribution today to help carry us over the top! Invest in the future of midwifery in the United States!
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Should All Women in Labor Receive Oxytocin and/or Ergometrine to Prevent Postpartum Hemorrhage?
A new study suggests that prophylactic use of these drugs may affect breastfeeding rates. Read below for more on this study and join us at the MAWS conference Nov. 13 for more on postpartum hemorrhage.
From Zikkir Health News:
Drugs given to women in labour to prevent postpartum
haemorrhage could reduce their ability to breastfeed, latest research
suggests.
Swansea University researchers studied more than 48,000 women who
gave birth to healthy babies in South Wales between 1989 and 1999. They found that use of the clotting agents oxytocin or ergometrine,
which are routinely given to women to prevent bleeding after birth, was
associated with a 7 per cent decline in the number of women who started
breastfeeding within 48 hours of giving birth.
Click here to read the full article>
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Treatment of Mild Gestational Diabetes in New England Journal of Medicine
A recent study published in the New England Journal concluded that treatment of women with mild GDM "reduced the risks of fetal overgrowth, shoulder dystocia, cesarean delivery, and hypertensive disorders."
"The treatment is pretty straightforward -- it's diet and exercise," says Catherine Spong, MD,
chief of the pregnancy and perinatology branch of the Eunice Kennedy
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the
National
Institutes of Health. "But that's not to say it's simple, she acknowledges, especially if a
woman already has young children to care for. The exact diet and exercise
instructions in the study were left up to the doctors, she says. Typically
advised are carb counting and taking a brisk walk after a meal to help regulate
blood sugar levels," Spong says.
Read the abstract here>
Discussion of the study from Medline Plus>
Join us for the MAWS conference on Nov. 13 for more on Gestational Diabetes and to find out how you can have access to full text journal articles online as a WA state Licensed Midwife.
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Access to Full Text Medical Journals for Licensed Health Care Professionals in WA
The following professions already have access to HEAL-WA: Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Massage Practitioners, Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists, Licensed Social Workers, Naturopaths, Optometrists, Physicians, PAs, ARNPs, Podiatrists, and Registered Nurses.
Register now, and join us at the MAWS conference Nov. 13 to learn more about how Licensed Midwives can also gain access to this invaluable resource.
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BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS NEEDED FOR MAWS WEB SITE!
We are embarking on a web site face lift and are also developing a co-branded sister site called "Better Birth Options" specifically targeted to consumers! We need high quality photos of moms, babies and families for these sites. Please send your client photos (with their permission, which we are happy to confirm) to Lynn.
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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 front line 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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JUA RENEWAL SEASON
 You should have received your renewal form for 2010 in early October. Please return it by December 1st to give me plenty of time to process them all before the crush of the holiday season. If you have CEU or Peer Review certificates pending, I encourage you to send the renewal form in with a note saying when you expect to receive them. That allows me to get your renewal started (though if you aren't current on CEUs or Peer Review, I won't be able to issue your actual policy until you follow up with those certificates).
Let me know if you have any questions,
Liz Chalmers
Liz@WashingtonJUA.com
(425) 956-3227
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
Midwives' Association of Washington State 2009 Fall Conference & Annual Meeting
November 13, 2009 - Seattle, WA. More information>
CIMS,
2010 Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum & Annual Meeting
February 26-27, 2010 - Austin, TX. More information>
See the MAWS web site for ongoing continuing education opportunities.
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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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This is your newsletter. Please send any feedback or suggestions to Kristin Effland. We welcome suggestions for
future topics, popular articles or research to include.
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