ACNM Midwives: Nevada Affiliate

09/11/2022

If you live in Southern Nevada, join us for a fun event at Pinot’s Palette in Town Square on September 24th.

Purchase tickets at:
https://pinotspalette.com/townsquare/event/631314

05/05/2022

Today is International Day of the Midwife.

Literature from around the world shows that women who have midwife-led care have better outcomes, a higher chance of a live, healthy baby, less unwanted intervention and are more satisfied with their experience.

There are no known downsides to midwifery-led care.

Midwives can make a huge difference but, as the World Health Organization points out, socio-cultural, economic and professional barriers must be overcome to allow midwives to practice to their full potential.

In honour of the day, we have updated our 'midwifery practise wisdom and reflection' information hub. This treasure trove contains links to many articles and blog posts about midwifery practise.

Several of them are the result of my sitting down (as a researcher and colleague) with groups of midwives to record their thoughts and knowledge on different topics.

I hope you enjoy the articles and posts. You can find them at https://www.sarawickham.com/topic-resources/midwifery-practice-wisdom-and-reflection/

And to all the midwives out there who strive to offer amazing care to women and families despite often working under horrendous constraints and awful conditions, I send a huge hug.

04/26/2022

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Here is the info for our zoom meeting tonight. Hope to see everyone there!!

NV ACNM Affiliate’s Zoom Meeting
Scheduled: Apr 26, 2022 at 18:45 to 20:15, PDT
Location: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84528258306?pwd=STUrNzN5WURZWmtBdzlzdjlobU1Wdz09

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

11/06/2021

Nevada CNMs our data is missing!

efforts include understanding the landscape of pay equity to sustain and scale up the profession.

I am reviewing a presentation citing Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on CNM salaries and perplexed by whether dissemination of this source as a matter of authority is valid.

Why?

Look at the image below from the BLS May 2020. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291161.htm#st a reference chart indicates the mean wage for CNMs is $115,500.

When 14 states are not providing any data, how can we discern validity in their findings?

Facts:
1. Data is conducted via a voluntary reporting process. CNM data is not a representative sample when compared to FNP and CRNAs salary data reported in every state. And the Certified Midwife (CM) is not recognized in reporting.

2. Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

3. Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours.

👉Using BLS data is unreliable for the CNM profession. When nearly 20% of states do not report, self-employed workers are not included (which the latest APP MedScape survey indicate generates the highest salary), and full-time, full-scope midwives on average work FAR more than 2,080 hours (40 hours/52 weeks) - HOW can this data be accurate?

database is growing, providing insight and increased understanding of the urgency to more accurately describe not only salary and compensation trends, but how to achieve fair pay for work.

10/08/2021

A big Thank You to the National Perinatal Center for their support of midwives!

10/06/2021

10/04/2021

Thank you SMFM for the shout out!

10/03/2021

Join us in celebrating Midwifery Week.

According to the Lancet - midwives worldwide improve outcomes in 50 parameters .

Don’t you think it’s time - midwives for every community? Does your state have midwives readily available at every hospital where babies are born?

Does your local hospital have midwives ? If not - ask why not ?

Does your community have a birth center? Is there one being developed near you?

How many home births do you know about?

Chances are good that a midwife willing to improve outcomes is available but shut out in spite of the science that midwifery improves outcomes .

10/03/2021

10/03/2021

National Midwifery Week is coming up

09/25/2021

So glad for this success achieved by Serenity Birth Center and CNM April Clyde

Serenity Birth Center is now nationally accredited! 🎉🍾
We are the 1st and only birth center in Nevada to receive this designation. There are 384 birth center in the United States. Only 17% of birth centers receive this national accreditation.

Here are a few examples of how Accreditation ensures dedication to exceptional care for you and your baby.

🎉The standards require best practices in maternity care, so that CABC accredited birth centers can keep up with the latest research.
🎉Because CABC accredited birth centers have proper training and equipment (which meets another standard), they can provide safe care in emergencies.
🎉CABC Accreditation also requires that CABC accredited birth centers use a shared decision-making process, which helps them better understand what you need as they work with you through your pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum and new parent experiences.
🎉When a birth center chooses to be accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC), they are measured against the rigorous, national Standards for Birth Centers.
🎉The birth center practices safe, evidence-based maternity care and
avoids inappropriate use of technology.

We are so proud to welcome you to Nevada's ONLY accredited birth center!

04/15/2021

The world’s platform for change

Statement from the American College of Nurse-Midwives on the Movie "Beware of the Midwife"

This week, Lifetime released “Beware of the Midwife,” a film that depicts a Black midwife hired to assist a couple with the birth of their baby in their home, who then kidnaps the child. The movie casts midwifery, especially home birth midwifery, in a detrimental light, and its release during Black Maternal Health Week is especially harmful due to its negative portrayal of Black midwives.

The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) opposes this film and the harmful messages it communicates. Maternal mortality rates are disproportionately high among Black mothers, often due to lack of adequate care and racial disparities that create gaps between health care professionals and patients. Midwifery and Black midwives specifically have played a critical role in improving birth outcomes in the Black community. This film’s biased message is detrimental to efforts to expand midwifery care and foster trust among our patients and health care colleagues.

ACNM is aware of a Change.org petition to have the movie removed from Lifetime and encourages signing of this petition.

Change.org is the world’s largest petition platform, using technology to empower more than 200 million users to create the change they want to see.

03/31/2021

What do you say fellow midwives?

I feel this sooo hard today. What is that other saying about well behaved women rarely making history????

03/16/2021

Check ACNM Connect for info about the next affiliate Zoom meeting on March 23.

09/06/2020

We are SO honored to have been nominated for best place to have a baby!! We are beyond grateful for everyone’s continued support! You are able to vote once a day, just make sure you click “review/submit ballot” or it doesn’t submit your vote😬 You can find us under the health/beauty category🗳 Together we are making birth in Nevada better for all families, where ever they choose to birth✨

https://www.votebolv.com

06/18/2020

Please welcome Nevada's newest CNM, Malia Smylie.

03/28/2020

Keeping Healthcare Workers Safe From COVID-19

Good suggestions from ZDoggMD

02/07/2020

Check out the linked report and share it far and wide!

To be clear, my stance.

01/04/2020

The Experience of Land and Water Birth Within the American... : The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing

Midwives love to offer waterbirth when it is allowed in their work settings. Nevada hospitals need updated working policies

servational Perinatal Data Registry (PDR) used by American Association of Birth Center members (AABC PDR). All births occurring between 2012 and 2017 in the community setting (home and birth center) were included in the analysis. Descriptive, correlational, and relative risk statistics were used to....

03/24/2019

Childbirth series starting at Serenity Birth Center on Thursday April 18th from 6-8pm. Call (702) 269-6018 with any questions. Thank you for passing along to families!

03/20/2019

Has Improving Infant Mortality Led to the Neglect of Maternal Health?

System change needed urgently!

Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP, shares his thoughts on whether improving infant mortality has led to the neglect of maternal health. Subscribe to our channel! https:...

02/27/2019

What is a Certified Midwife?

CM explained

Learn what a certified midwife is and what clinical training and experience they receive.

12/31/2018

Share with your friends and colleagues

12/13/2018

Need a plan to share this with employers and legislators.

Need greater consumer awareness of Midwifery!

Harold Miller, President and CEO of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment reform was present at the NEHI meeting this week. Discussion about maternity care bundled payment methods have been underway the last couple years. Getting there has been challenging, but ‘they’ will! Understanding how Midwifery care should be integrated in any future reform is critical. Check out the full report on innovative concepts discussing comparisons of services, cost and outcomes. The interesting comparative table is from this website pdf. Anyone you can share this with?

http://www.chqpr.org/downloads/MaternityCare_APM.pdf

Midwives need to understand the context and be engaged in these discussions as much as physicians, hospitals, birth centers and consumers paying for services via their employers. We’ve got to be more present and defend the $$ value of our work.

What can you do?

Consumers - TELL your HR department and employers what you want and highly value as a maternity care options. Speak out in organized ways with co-workers.

Midwives - find routes to pitch awareness about the cost and quality values of Midwifery-led care to businesses, women’s groups, and the general public. We have to educate the public on WHY choose a midwife. Get some media attention, volunteer to speak at consumer events, hold a lunch and learn on a health care topic at a large employer venue. Just do one action before end of this year.

A profound comment near the end of the conference day from a well respected national quality leader was
- I didn’t have any idea what a Midwife was a few years ago when I was pregnant. How do we expect a large percentage of healthy women in our country to choose Midwives if they don’t understand their role?

Everyone who believes in the value of Midwifery care can help change this public void in understanding and, it’s urgent!!

12/01/2018

University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine brings new group prenatal care program to northern Nevada

There's a new Centering program in Reno! What other midwifery practices are doing Centering in Nevada? Do you love it?

https://med.unr.edu/news/archive/2018/centeringpregnancy?fbclid=IwAR0aI6QyXV7WVAsIT2Sqy1wtQoKmTBJWlpPk1JCbj55Gyx1cs1ZqgcR9p00

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) is bringing a new model of prenatal care to northern Nevada, offering women due around the same time, a group prenatal care experience. CenteringPregnancy is an innovative, evidence-based model of group care that is effectively addressing t...

10/07/2018

2018 National Midwifery Week

It's national midwifery week. My journey into and through midwifery has been touched, molded, and refined by so many incredible women. I am blessed to continue to be a midwife and serve women and families in this capacity.

10/02/2018

Let’s encourage folks around us to join in advancing US Midwifery!

Day 3 - National Midwifery Week

So how can we mobilize the public to help advance and ?

There are MANY simple and no cost actions that families, friends and supporters can do to help increase the presence and scope of service for Midwives in the U.S. Using one's voice is more powerful than many realize.

If a family wants to thank their Midwife for the special care received, we think you might find a way with one of these ten ideas!

For that want to help!

10/01/2018

Nevada midwives work in hospitals, homes, clinics. We are working on opening birth centers in both Las Vegas and Carson City

-Day 2 of ACNM National Midwifery Week-

Ever wondered where Midwives work?

Perhaps in more settings than most realize.

Even more astounding is the essential services midwives could provide! According to UNFPA global organization, "Well-trained midwives could help avert roughly 2/3 of all maternal and newborn deaths. They could also deliver 87% of all essential sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health services. Yet only 42% of people with midwifery skills work in the 73 countries where more than 90% of all maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths occur."

Critical to to improve outcomes of moms and babies!

10/01/2018

Sharing to be shared

It's not too early (or late) to RSVP for the 8th Annual "A Time For Remembrance" on October 14, 2018, 1-3pm in the California Bldg at Idlewild Park. If you include your baby's name when you preregister, you will get a personalized gift. Please share this event, as all are welcome. We hope to see you there!

09/17/2018

MANA Health Policy Statement on Passport Denials

MANA Health Policy Statement on Passport Denials

Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) is concerned about recent news reports of the revocation or denial of US passports for American citizens born at home near the US-Mexico border, particularly if a midwife attended their birth. Furthermore, there have been reports of people being detained and...

09/12/2018

Congratulates to April Clyde on receiving all 3 variances needed to move forward with opening Serenity Birth Center in Las Vegas!

09/10/2018

Maternal Mortality Legislation: HR 1318/S 1112 (115th Congress)

Challenge your contacts to sign the petition. Do it now! Just do it!

09/08/2018

Finger crossed 🤞🏽

07/07/2018

These People Have Dedicated Their Lives To Keeping Black Babies Alive

Who are the leaders in Nevada? Let’s give them some recognition!

There are so many public health workers, researchers and community organizers across the country who have dedicated their lives to improving birth outcomes for black babies. Here are some of them.

06/23/2018

Encourage Nevada Senators to get on board to pass this bill!

06/21/2018

Help Us Get Maternal Mortality Review Legislation Across the Finish Line

Involve your clients!

The maternal health crisis in the United States has been front and center with the recent swell of media attention. And with good reason —…

05/29/2018

Video: How More Midwives May Mean Healthier Mothers — ProPublica

Check it out

When it comes to midwife use, the U.S. falls behind other affluent countries. A deeper look at history explains why.

05/09/2018

MANA Response to ACOG

ACNM president Lisa Kane Low has indicated that she has begun private discussions with ACOG leaders over this issue. What is your view of this issue? Was anything said where you work?

A wave of disbelief and disgust traveled quickly across social media in response to a presentation given at the ACOG 2018 Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting suggesting that using condoms to prevent pregnancy was ACOGs best advice for reducing the maternal mortality rate that is on the rise in th...