Being Pregnant

Midwifery-Led Care In Action, A Birth Story [video]

Posted by ceridwen on April 3rd, 2011 at 2:30 pm

themooring 300x199 Midwifery Led Care In Action, A Birth Story [video]Here’s an incredible short video about the innovative Family Health and Birth Center (FHBC) in Washington DC. It’s midwife-led and the statistics they’re getting are better than anywhere else in the district, and this is with a high risk population. Whatever your current opinion on midwives or childbirth or family values or health-care, I urge you to watch this short film.

FHBC is an inspiring example of how doctor-midwife collaboration, community-building and preventative health care can not only work extremely well, but save money. As founder and midwife, Ruth Lubic, CNM, EdD says in this video, lots of people have come through here, “and no one has said, this can’t work.”

After seeing it, I think you’ll agree that if well-trained midwives were more thoroughly integrated into our health care system we’d all be better off.

I especially loved this quote, from the general director of the center Cynthia Flynn, CNM, PhD: “Women are told in practically every area of their lives that they can do anything and be anything except in one area, and that has to do with childbirth. This place is 180 degrees from that. We tell women of course you can do this job…. and that message just permeates everything we do.”


What do you think of midwives? Do you think we can benefit from more midwifery care in this country? Has this video changed your perception of the way birth can be handled in this country?

This is the first in a series of posts I’m writing on films and videos of and about childbirth. Stay tuned for a birth film by experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage and more.

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Midwifery Led Care In Action, A Birth Story [video]
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Ceridwen,
As a maternal/child Masters level nurse I am very proud of this video. This is nursing at its very best.
Nurse midwives can treat the entire family network as well as the psycho-social needs in a family center such as the one in this video.
It is therefore no surprise to me that their outcomes are good and they are saving money for the ‘system’ yet are not getting paid adequately for the important services that they provide.
There are so many, many layers of issues here…I think that there is no doubt that nurse midwives can provide excellent obstetric care and go many steps further providing such a wonderful parameter of care as the center in the video.
There are obstacles to overcome…to many to discuss in this comment section.
Doctors are not the problem here they are part of the solution…it is hard to staff a clinic in such a poor socioeconomic area as NE Washington, D.C. with physicians as the pay is extremely low.
I know that you probably do not want to hear this, but economics is a fact of life. Physicians have very high overhead, malpractice and huge education loans to repay which steers them away from a setting such as this one.
The other major issue that I see is the different levels of midwifery practice…I personally am bias and see the CNM as the leader in this movement because of her broad knowledge base and ability to cross many lines of service to the patient and family. CM’s definitely have a huge role as well but they are not the same in their credentials and it would be a mistake to not consider that in this picture.
I look forward to your other articles. I appreciate the opportunity to comment as this is a very important issue which will take a long time to change.
I am working to educate women and families as well as I have many years of experience as a nurse and licensed clinical social worker…it has been my life’s work to help people. http://www.parentingintheloop.com

Lorette Lavine commented on Apr 03 11 at 4:28 pm

@Lorette, Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I agree the issues are too many to discuss– this place is funded by donations right now… so, in that respect, it’s not a model of care. I am also very much aware of– and constantly make the point that–doctors are a part of the solution. My position on maternal health is actually fairly middle-of-the-road in the sense that I think women benefit from positive collaborations between midwives and doctors such as that modeled by the DC center.

ceridwen commented on Apr 03 11 at 4:35 pm

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