Florida Celebrates National and State Midwives Week this October

Florida Friends of Midwives is proud to join the American College of Nurse Midwives, the Midwives Association of Florida, and communities statewide in celebrating National Midwifery Week and Florida Licensed Midwives Week during the first week in October.

Midwifery Week is a chance for midwives and the women they serve to reflect on their experiences and midwifery's contributions to women's health care, including attending births and providing well-woman care. Throughout Florida, regional groups of Florida Friends of Midwives are celebrating with awareness events, social gatherings and local Mayor's proclamations.

One such proclamation will be read at the Sarasota City Commission meeting October 3rd. “Midwives make a strong contribution to the health and well-being of mothers and babies through proper care and treatment in all phases of childbirth," says Sarasota Mayor Suzanne Atwell. “I look forward to welcoming all those involved in this important effort.”

Midwives have a long and valued history in Florida. The state first passed legislation to license direct-entry midwives in 1931, and the first Certified Nurse Midwife was licensed in Florida in 1970. Florida’s midwives have continued to tirelessly serve the families of Florida and to ensure the continued availability of safe, evidence-based birthing options for Florida’s families.

Florida Friends of Midwives celebrates midwives in Florida and throughout the world during this special week. For more information about midwifery in Florida, please visit flmidwifery.org.

ABOUT FLORIDA FRIENDS OF MIDWIVES (FFOM): Florida Friends of Midwives (FFOM) is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the Midwives Model of Care and supporting the practice of midwifery in Florida. Florida Friends of Midwives was formed to support midwives who offer safe, cost-effective, evidence based care to Florida's Families. FFOM members are consumers and birth advocates committed to organizing the community to support midwives and to assure the continued availability of midwifery care in the State of Florida. For more information, please visit flmidwifery.org.

Legislative Update - Capital Testimony

The following is a testimony that was presented jointly by Midwives Association of Florida and Florida Association of Birth Centers last week to the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. FFOM endorses this testimony and encourages your support of these allied organizations.

Good Afternoon Chairman Hudson and Members,

In this tough budget year I am glad to have the opportunity to share with you a good investment. Birth Centers are an investment that has a high PE (price per earnings) ratio. - A licensed midwife and a birth center is the perfect combination for a healthy birth outcome. The State of Florida in its wisdom has recognized the need to utilize prenatal funds more efficiently and to increase the limited availability of care providers. Families view midwifery services in a birth center as a quality, cost-effective alternative to traditional physician hospital births.

The Florida Health Finder lists over 20 free standing birth centers that are located th

roughout the state. As you are aware prenatal providers in some counties are scare.

Presently a birth center is reimbursed by Medicaid an average of $2,000 per birth. A hospital birth would cost more than double the cost. At this time Medicaid pays for 10 prenatal visits. Birth Centers promote optimum care – they encourage the pregnant woman to start prenatal care at 10 weeks and goes to 42 weeks of pregnancy. That is a total of 16 visits.

Did you know that Birth center service also offer additional free services to their clients and at no cost to the taxpayer?

• Initial and ongoing diet evaluation and nutrition guidance. We know how important it is for the pregnant mother to be healthy during her pregnancy.
• They offer exercise for pregnancy, birth and postpartum -a birth center offers. This could lower the incidence of post-partum depression.
• Child Birth Classes – not only do they educate the pregnant mother what to expect during her pregnancy. Provide awareness to parents to put their baby to sleep on their back to reduce SIDS.
• Parenting and infant care classes
• Baby Safety Education.
• Breastfeeding support – research shows breastfeeding reduces infant illness; babies are healthier, which saves the Medicaid dollars in visits to the physician.
• Breastfeeding also has long-term health benefits:
• Reduced incidence of diabetes, heart disease, childhood obesity……

And last but not least – importance of family planning and baby spacing.

All of this for $2,000.

Most birth centers use a formula of 1/3 Medicaid, 1/3 self paid and 1/3 private health insurance. Some birth centers have 50% or more Medicaid patients. A proposed 20% reduction of an average of $400.00 per patient would cripple the fiscal health of a birth center. Many would be forced not to see Medicaid patients in order to keep their door open.

We are aware of the budget climate and I hope this information will be valuable you continue to craft the budget. Let us know a good investment when we see one!

Thank you for listening and your dedication to our state and our soon to be born citizens.

Homebirth Summit Seeks to Build Consensus

Fewer than 1% of families in the United States choose planned home birth, yet the subject of birthing at home has been the subject of intense and polarizing debate. Elsewhere in the world (e.g., Canada and the United Kingdom), the majority of babies are delivered by midwives and collaborative efforts across professions seek to expand access to integrated home birth services. Last month, the Transforming Birth Foundation awarded a grant to the American College of Nurse Midwives intended to underwrite a U.S. Home Birth Consensus Summit.

Already three years in the making this much anticipated meeting will be facilitated by the Future Search Network, a nonprofit organization that is internationally known for brokering lasting agreements and shared initiatives in highly volatile and polarized settings, around issues related to poverty, health care access, regional and ethnic conflict, and education.

The Home Birth Consensus Summit will be a two- to three-day multidisciplinary summit with the goal of developing areas of consensus on the provision of home birth services in the United States. Invited participants will include representatives from a variety of stakeholder sectors in positions to inform and influence a change process, and/or commit to measurable steps, including consumers and consumer advocates, home birth midwives, maternal/child health collaborating providers (including pediatrics and nursing), obstetricians (including at least one family practice obstetrician and one resident), hospital systems and administration, health plans and liability insurers, health policymakers, legislators and regulators, and public health, epidemiology, and research professionals.

The successful grant proposal was submitted under the leadership of ACNM Home Birth Section Chair Saraswathi Vedam, RM, CNM, MSN, Sci D (h.c.), Associate Professor and Director, Division of Midwifery, University of British Columbia. Joining ACNM as co-applicants of the grant were Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Pediatric Association (APA), National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), Lamaze, and American Association of Birth Centers (AABC).

According to a statement from the American College of Nurse-Midwives, “Invited participants will include representatives from a variety of stakeholder sectors in positions to inform and influence a change process, and/or commit to measurable steps, including consumers and consumer advocates, home birth midwives, maternal/child health collaborating providers (including pediatrics and nursing), obstetricians (including at least one family practice obstetrician and one resident), hospital systems and administration, health plans and liability insurers, health policymakers, legislators and regulators, and public health, epidemiology, and research professionals.”

ACNM will provide additional information about the Home Birth Consensus Summit when the dates are established as well as following the meeting. For details visit their website www.midwife.org