Our Mission
WE are committed to scaling up and sustaining US Midwifery.
It’s no secret to those who work in women’s healthcare that the United States is experiencing a shortage of providers. At this critical moment in history, the medical community is tasked with providing high quality care without adequate resources. This shortage is part of why the US ranks last among high-income countries for maternal health outcomes.
Midwives are an underutilized resource and we believe this underutilization is due to a lack of understanding surrounding the midwife role within a technology-focused healthcare system. By incorporating Midwives into collaborative care teams, as in other high-income countries, we can address the provider shortage and improve outcomes.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives, as well as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have described how to incorporate Midwives into a team-based, collaborative care model, but very few obstetric care providers or health systems know how to make this a reality.
The goal of Grow Midwives is to build relationships and educate Physicians, Hospitals, and Midwives about best practices in collaborative experiences. A variety of care models, in a variety of settings, can be implemented with expert assistance . Our aim is to help scale up and sustain Midwifery in the US through four product lines:
- One-on-one assistance with midwives
- Practice development (Obstetrician’s, Family Medicine or Midwives)
- Birth Facility Settings (Accredited, Developing or Alongside Maternity Units
- Advocacy work: In midwifery practice, state legislative work, strategic planning
Our Team
GINGER BREEDLOVE, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN
PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT
Solving the shortage of women’s health care providers in the US is a daunting task that will involve coordinating stakeholders from every level of the medical community. There are few people in the world today who understand this complex issue as well as Ginger Breedlove, PhD, CNM, APRN, FACNM, FAAN.
LESLEY RATHBUN, MSN, CNM, FNP, FACNM
SENIOR CONSULTANT
The main job of any OBGYN or Midwife is to ensure the health of mothers and babies, but birth in the United States is still a business. Lesley Rathbun has spent the last 30 years advocating for women’s health while becoming a well-known figure in the fields of birth center entrepreneurship and legislation.
JOSEPH BOOTH, JD, Mdiv., FAAML
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
Today’s Physicians and Midwives spend the majority of their early careers learning how to administer care. So much so that learning the legal and business aspects of running a practice simply isn’t feasible. The legalities surrounding maternity care require careful navigation by a knowledgeable advocate.
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Just released, a comparative study from Germany on outcomes of midwife-led, alongside midwifery unit for low-risk laboring women. *Data drives change!
“Our retrospective analysis of births planned in the AMU at our institution, a level three university hospital, confirms the non-inferiority of this model compared to standard obstetric care for selected maternal and newborn outcomes. Additionally, the outcome of women transferred during or immediately after labor serves as an indirect confirmation of the medical safety of this model of care and the appropriateness of the transfer checklist. Our findings apply to healthy women entering labor after uneventful pregnancy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting on obstetric and perinatal outcomes of women intending to give birth in an AMU in Germany.”
What is an Alongside Midwifery Unit, a termed coined in Europe?
“Alongside midwifery units (AMUs) are within a hospital that provides obstetric care, close to the delivery (birthing) suite, or labour ward, or may be on the same site in a different building. AMUs are close to medical facilities and personnel should the woman need them. This may include access to interventions that can be carried out by midwives, for example electronic fetal heart monitoring. To access such services, women will need to transfer to the obstetric unit, which will normally be by walking, trolley, bed or wheelchair.”
In contrast to the US freestanding birth center —
“Freestanding midwifery units (FMUs) are on a separate site from obstetric services; in an independent building or on the site of a community hospital. If a woman transfers to the obstetric unit during labour she will usually travel by car or ambulance.” www.midwiferyunitnetwork.org/what-is-a-midwifery-unit/
The European Midwives Association (EMA) developed Midwifery Unit Standards to provide the quality assurance necessary to scale up the implementation of midwifery units across Europe. The Standards aim to improve the quality of maternity care, reduce variability in practice and facilitate a bio-psycho-social model of care. You can find them here. www.midwiferyunitnetwork.org/mu-standards/
In the US, AMUs have yet to take hold. Looking on the CABC website, only 4 locations have been given designation as accredited AMUs (following established standards) yet research shows universal benefits to outcomes and costs of care. www.birthcenteraccreditation.org/find-cabc-accredited-alongside-midwifery-units/
It’s time to understand the US birth model is beyond broken.
Why do we remain un-phased decade after decade to simply stand-by and endorse need for healthy, low-risk women managed in an ICU environment attended by overqualified caregivers. Physician/surgeons whose education and services are urgently needed for sick or disease based conditions.
If you work in a hospital setting and interested in developing a conversation for establishing an AMU #GrowMidwives is here to help.
#2020YearofMidwife
#Ifnotnowwhen
bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12884-020-02962-4
Acknowledging differences of family needs in childbirth highlighted as Covid-19 continues to cast fears for expecting families.
This is one of the first articles I’ve read where a state, Colorado, convened maternal health leaders and community partners from across the state to address needs of families.
Four strategy’s emerged:
1. Provide clear information about hospital policies
2. Encourage bonding between mother and newborn
3. Rapid testing for people who enter hospital
4. Support community birth
Worth the short read as an example for ALL state PQIs, MMRCs, and other state-integrated perinatal work groups to invest time and thought around shifting trends in all birth settings.
#GrowMidwives
www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200520.240860/full/
Centering The Needs Of Birthing People During The COVID-19 Pandemic | Health Affairs
www.healthaffairs.org
Health Affairs Blog Related Topics: COVID-19 Health care providers Pandemics Access to care Midwives Maternal health Centering The Needs Of Birthing People During The COVID-19 Pandemic Erin Miller Sam...Memorial Day 2020 — Remember and Honor 🇺🇸
To those who have lost family and friends, brave souls defending our country, we are grateful for our freedoms.
This could be a *game changer for family planning options in so many ways... cost, access, hormone-free, discreet.
A fascinating (long) read about the woman behind the R&D for this product Amphora can be found here. Disciplined, tenacity and passion to say the least. “Why This Woman Might Disrupt the Condom (and the Pill) Saundra Pelletier's company, Evofem, is developing a contraceptive gel that could be the biggest breakthrough in birth control since the 1960s.”
www.inc.com/magazine/201711/kimberly-weisul/evofem-contraceptive-gel.html
And an earlier article related to phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, “Amphora can be an appealing option for women seeking a non-hormonal contraceptive, who are willing to accept a higher chance of unintended pregnancy compared to the hormonal options while benefiting from increased protection against STIs, especially when healthcare access may be limited.Amphora has the advantage of fewer side effects compared to hormonal contraceptives. However, it also demonstrates lower efficacy than hormonal contraception (89.5% and 95.9% contraceptive efficacy with typical and perfect use, respectively). Non-hormonal contraceptives offer another option for women who want to avoid the side effects of hormonal contraceptives.”
www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/comment/evofems-non-hormonal-contraceptive-amphora-scores-attractive-...
#Themoreyouknow
abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/us-regulators-approve-type-contraceptive-gel-70839257
US regulators approve new type of contraceptive gel
abcnews.go.com
U.S. regulators on Friday approved a birth control gel that works in a new way to prevent pregnancyThink about it and ask why? Latest data from CDC on provisional birth variables for 2019.
For both preterm and cesarean rates. “In 2019, the overall cesarean delivery rate decreased to 31.7% (from 31.9% in 2018) (Tables 2 and 3); the rate has generally declined since 2009 (32.9%) (3). See Table 3 for state-specific rates. “
My questions: a) why is the late preterm birth rate going up (overall preterm birth up for now five consecutive years) and b) decline of c-sections marginal at best?
Perhaps ARRIVE is Awry?
Why are we worse than other countries?
Do we have to keep proving cause and effect?
Enjoy the provisional data. The ongoing story of childbirth in America seems to be on same path as past.
www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr-8-508.pdf