Lane County Friends of the Birth Center

Friends of the Birth Center meets with new PeaceHealth Oregon CEO

2011-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

This morning members of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center met with Mr. Tom Reitinger - PeaceHealth Oregon’s new CEO and Chief Mission Officer.

We shared our history as a grassroots advocate for funding and building the new PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center near the Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. (Click here to take a virtual tour.) We also discussed our groups’ continued activity as a consumer advisory group for the practice.

Meeting with Mr. Reitinger provided an opportunity for our group to highlight the many features and characteristics that make the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center such an important asset and resource for Lane County. Among many topics discussed, we touched on its status as a Baby Friendly facility and its provision of Lane County’s only Centering Pregnancy Program (group prenatal care). We also spoke to the power and efficacy of the birth center model and independent midwifery.

Before we could invite him, Mr. Reitinger expressed interest in visiting the Birth Center and we look forward to this happening!

-- Katharine Gallagher

New Members for the Consumer Advisory Group & a Fond Farewell to Outgoing Members

2011-09-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Lane County Friends of the Birth Center consumer advisory group is pleased to announce we have new members – Maria Blum, Anna Connelly and Lynn Kane. We also bid a fond farewell and many thanks for their hard work and commitment to our outgoing and founding members – Renee Bailey, Karen Guillemin, Kathy Lynn and Eleanor Vandegrift. Katharine Gallagher will remain an active member. Incoming and outgoing members look forward to being in touch for a smooth transition. Learn more about these founding and incoming consumer advocates below.

About LaneCoFBC…

LaneCoFBC is the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center’s volunteer-led consumer advisory panel. Our existence and activities meet the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers’ requirement that accredited birth centers (1) have effective mechanisms for receiving advice and information from consumers and (2) demonstrate the effect of this input on the policy and operation of the center. Toward these ends, the LaneCoFBC has quarterly board meetings, in addition to biannual meetings with Birth Center staff and PeaceHealth leadership. We maintain an email account, blog and a Facebook page:

o lanecofbc@gmail.com

o http://www.lanecofbc.blogspot.com

o http://www.facebook.com/lanecofbc

Be sure to “like” our Facebook page as this is where we make announcements and post fun, interesting and informative items.

Incoming Members

Maria Blum

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

My son was born at the old birth center in 2006. If I can't live in an Arts and Crafts house, at least I got to have a baby in one!

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

I loved the client centered service, the view of birth as a normal process rather than a disease or illness, and the home like atmosphere of the birth center. To me, consumer advocacy means viewing individuals as the experts in their own lives, and valuing that expertise.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

The first half of my pregnancy was in the UK, where midwife care is the standard, not the exception. I'm a social worker and like to knit and read in what little spare time I have.

Anna Chorlton Connelly

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

Iris was born at the birth center in May of 2008.

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

The amount of time given by midwives and staff during appointments and not feeling rushed, but rather feeling their concern that all my questions were addressed. It was a level of caring attention that I had not before experienced from the medical field.

Why is consumer advocacy important?

Ordinary people need a voice. Not simply to make a choice between what is presently offered, but to actually have a say in which services or products are offered. We can all make our own choices, but is it a truly free choice if we have no say in what our options are and are forced to pick from a limited line up of services or products? Especially if there's more services or products that could be available, but they're just not being offered.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

Hmm... before becoming a mama to Iris, I was a legal assistant for 8 years and, even after 3 years away from it, I still identify with that profession- to an extent. Presently I'm in flux and feeling my way around for the various directions my life is taking. However, there are three prime areas of self-education and interest that occupy my mind and time. First and foremost, I'm in the process of healing myself internally primarily in order to be the parent I want to be to my daughter, so I've been studying gentle parenting and non-violent communication. Tied into parenting is a leaning toward homeschooling/unschooling with my daughter, which I'm also researching. Second, I feel compelled toward breastfeeding and birth advocacy, but have yet to see exactly what my role will be- that is, whether it takes on any sort of profession or moves more toward activism and advocacy. Last, I will soon (after my small studio area in my house is complete) get back to my painting. I haven't painted a single thing in over 7 years, but have never stopped 'seeing' paintings in my mind that I want to put to canvas or board. I'm increasingly anxious to have this particular creative outlet again, and also to share it with my daughter.

Katharine Gallagher

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

I have two boys – Eitan (6) and Zev (4). I discovered the Birth Center during my pregnancy with Zev in 2007.

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

I love that the Birth Center’s model of care yields optimal outcomes for mothers, babies and families and by extension the community as a whole. Its seamless maternity care follows women, babies and families from the prenatal period well through the postpartum period. After birth, families are provided coherent infant feeding services including drop-in access to Baby Clinic where they can talk with lactation consultants as well as with other mothers. Supportive friendships frequently form at Baby Clinic.

Why is consumer advocacy important?

As the receivers of care, consumers have a unique perspective to offer on practice and policy. Making this perspective part of on ongoing feedback loop takes advantage of this insightful and beneficial information

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

I recently joined the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers as a consumer advocate. I also blog at motherbabynetwork.wordpress.com and teach independent childbirth education.

Lynn Kane

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

Our daughter Lydia was born in February 2010 at the hospital (before the new birth center was open)

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

There are many things I love about the NMBC, but overall it was the positive and holistic approach to pregnancy, birth and postpartum. More specifically I really appreciated our Centering group. It was so fantastic to have so much time with the midwives, so much invaluable information, and the support of other wonderful parents throughout the whole nine months (and beyond--we still get together for regular potlucks!).

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

I am a classical pianist and spend much of my "free" time collaborating with other musicians at the University and around town. We love having lots of music around our home!

Outgoing Members

Renee Bailey

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

Charlotte 1/2/08, Penelope 10/24/09

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

My favorite thing about the birth center is how much I feel apart of my own care there. I really enjoyed weighing myself at each appointment. It might seem a small thing, but this simple act made me feel like they trusted me and because they trusted me I felt I could trust them.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

I'm enjoying the new hobbies that have popped into my life post-motherhood: cooking and baking, blogging (about cooking and baking), and running.

Karen Guillemin

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

My older daughter was born in May 2003 at the old Hilyard Street hospital with midwife Sue Armstrong, who was then at Women's Care but subsequently joined the NMBC. My younger son was born in December 2007 with Chris at the old Birth Center.

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

My favorite thing about the Birth Center is the sense of partnership and camaraderie that one develops with all of the staff. The whole prenatal care process allows you to build up close relationships with the staff and confidence in your own knowledge and intuition for the birthing process. I also really appreciated how much they include the whole family. It was incredible for my four year old daughter to hear her future brother's heart beat and to follow my pregnancy through regular Birth Center visits.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

Although I'm rotating off the board, I'm looking forward to continue working with the Birth Center in a research project I'm conducting with Dr. Rebecca Bent at PeaceHealth (http://www.peacehealth.org/about-peacehealth/medical-professionals/eugene-springfield-cottage-grove/Pages/TRAP-Research.aspx). It's very exciting for me that my research interests in the biology of animal development and interactions with microbes has some possible implications for neonatal health. We discovered than an enzyme in the digestive tract, alkaline phosphatase, confers protection against bacteria. We are testing whether this enzyme is present at lower levels in premature infants (by measuring its level in meconium) as compared to full term babies. If we find this to be the case, this could be a new explanation for certain digestive tract complications experienced by premature infants, including necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Because breastfeeding is the best treatment against NEC in premature infants, we are also interested in determining whether this enzyme is present in breast milk and especially in colostrum. Birth Center clients are a perfect group to study this possibility because they have such a high rate of breastfeeding and work closely with the lactation consultants.

Kathy Lynn

When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

Aria was born October 17, 2006 at the Birth Center. Jasmine was born on August 12, 2009 in Houston, TX but the midwives and nurses played a significant role in helping me to induce lactation and provided support to us during baby clinic.

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

My favorite thing about the Birth Center is having a resource that provides such exemplary pre-natal, childbirth and post-natal support to women, babies and families.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

A person detail: I have a deep interest in talking with others about adoption as way to build a family, as well as the possibilities that exist related to milk-sharing and induced lactation.

Eleanor Vandegrift
When was your baby (babies) born using NMBC services at the Birth Center or hospital?

My first baby was born in November 2007 at the Birth Center in Eugene and my second baby was born in July 2011 at the new Birth Center in Springfield.

What's your favorite thing about the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center?

I love that the staff of the Birth Center care about me as an individual and care about my family as well. Even when they are busy, everyone always takes time to stop, look me in the eyes, and discuss whatever is on my mind. I have received this type of care throughout my prenatal appointments, labor/delivery, postpartum recovery, and on going lactation support. It's amazing to receive such support during this time of major life change surrounding the birth of a child.

A personal detail - examples: profession, hobby, dream for the future

In addition to being a mom, I am an instructor in the Teaching and Learning Center at the UO, and I love my work helping students to succeed academically.

Giving Thanks for the New PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center

2011-05-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

The new PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center (Birth Center) turns one this week! On this occasion, the first anniversary of the 2010 grand opening, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center would like to thank and express deep appreciation to PeaceHealth, the Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation, donors, community leaders and families for making this new facility a reality.

Don’t forget to come to the Birth Center’s 1^st birthday cupcake party!

RSVP here.

Because of this shared leadership, collaboration and support, local families are continuing to enjoy the benefits of a more than 25-year local tradition of accessing midwifery care in a freestanding birth center. Since the 2010 grand opening and as of April 18, 120 babies have been born at the Birth Center! Even more babies and families have also enjoyed prenatal and postnatal support at the Birth Center. It’s been a great first year.

The Birth Center provides a compelling local example of cost-effective and excellent maternity, breastfeeding and well-woman services consistent with and frequently exceeding international maternal and infant standards for wellbeing. Women and families regularly describe this care as uniquely supportive and empowering.

Families also consistently highlight the Birth Center’s Baby-Friendly designated lactation services which include regular, drop-in access to lactation experts as well as peer support from other Birth Center families during the year following the births of their children. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program sponsored by WHO and UNICEF to promote, protect and support breastfeeding through the Ten Steps for Successful Breastfeeding; evidence-based practices that help mothers reach their breastfeeding goals. Read what Birth Center families have to say – read Friends’ recent breastfeeding survey here.

Friends’ appreciation for the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center is deepened by the knowledge of Sacred Heart Medical Center’s plans to become a Baby Friendly-designated hospital (see page 10 of Cornerstone Spring 2011). As consumers, we know first-hand the critical importance of initiating infant feeding in an evidence-based model and are pleased to know that more Lane County families will enjoy the Baby Friendly standard of care. Thank you PeaceHealth and Sacred Heart Medical Center for making this commitment!

Please join us for a week-long Facebook birthday celebration beginning today. “Like” us at facebook.com/lanecofbc.

The Birth Center is Turning 1! Come to a cupcake party to celebrate....

2011-04-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Lane County Taking Over PeaceHealth Prenatal Clinic

2011-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

As of Feb 1, services currently offered at the PeaceHealth Prenatal Clinic will be transferred to the Lane County Charnelton Community Clinic at 151 W. 7th Avenue.

Lane County is joining six other counties to provide prenatal care for women who would be OHP-eligible except for immigration status. This new coverage expands the “Citizen / Alien Waived Emergency Medical” (CAWEM) and is made possible through the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP allows states to serve the unborn children of women who would be Medicaid(OHP)-eligible except for immigration status. Learn more at MotherBaby Network.

Long before CAWEM Plus, PeaceHealth undertook and underwrote maternity services through its Prenatal Clinic. The same Certified Nurse-Midwives who staff the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center staffed the Prenatal Clinic. The Prenatal Clinic ensured pregnant women, regardless of immigration status and/or ability to pay, received the excellent, continuous midwifery care associated with positive birth outcomes. Services included prenatal care, birth attendance, lactation support, postpartum care, well-woman visits and birth control.

CAWEM Plus expansion into Lane County prompted Public Health and PeaceHealth to negotiate the transfer of the Prental Clinic services to the Charnelton Community Clinic. Lane County will contract with PeaceHealth to have Prenatal Clinic midwives and staff continue providing maternity services at the community clinic.

Births will continue to occur at RiverBend. PeaceHealth obstetricians will continue to collaborate with the midwives. While the six-week post-partum appointment will still be available, coverage for the mother ends with the conclusion of her pregnancy. Newborns will be enrolled in OHP Plus for one year of automatic eligibility.

As we understand it, CAWEM Plus does not cover birth control but there are other accessible programs available to women who desire it. We do not know the degree to which lactation support will be available.

Friends of the Birth Center has followed the status of the Prenatal Clinic with great concern. We are pleased that the Prenatal Clinic midwives and staff will continue providing quality, continuous midwifery care that many of the most vulnerable women and babies in our community have come to trust and rely on. We hope this care will continue to include lactation support.

100+ Lane Co. Families Credit Baby Friendly Evidence-Based Breastfeeding Services

2011-01-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

Press Release / For Immediate Release

Eugene, OR – January 18, 2011 – Lane County Friends of the Birth Center (LaneCoFBC) is publicizing results from a recent survey conducted during World Breastfeeding Week 2010. More than 100 local women and families describe the positive experiences they consistently have with breastfeeding services at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center – one of only four Oregon-designated providers of evidence-based care by the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. Demonstrating the connection between evidence-based services and consumer satisfaction, LaneCoFBC intends the survey to encourage all Lane County hospitals to achieve the Baby Friendly designation.

Using the survey, women and families describe the critical role evidence-based breastfeeding services play in supporting mothers and babies to establish and maintain breastfeeding. Powerful personal testimonials are offered throughout. They touch on specific breastfeeding challenges, observations about breastfeeding generally and the value of learning in an environment equipped to support their choice. Having ongoing, drop-in access to lactation experts and the opportunity to regularly connect with other families comes up frequently.

Access LaneCoFBC Breastfeeding Survey

Baby-Friendly facilities move beyond slogans to ensure all women receive the evidence-based care known to promote and protect breastfeeding. They have codified policies requiring all staff, from nurses’ aides to doctors and midwives, who are in contact with mothers be trained to assess and support initiation. Proper training empowers staff to help mothers and babies resolve common breastfeeding complications before they threaten breastfeeding initiation. Less-common breastfeeding problems are referred to lactation consultants. Women and families learn about breastfeeding during pregnancy, receive 24-hour lactation support and access to on-going, non-emergency expert and peer support during postpartum. Women and families can be confident of quality breastfeeding support when they see the Baby-Friendly seal of approval on hospital or birth center literature.

Consumers are not alone in connecting facility-based practices with breastfeeding outcomes following discharge. Legislators, government agencies, the business community and hospital accreditation bodies have made the same connection and increasingly call for better services as the best route towards realizing the complex, far reaching benefits of breastfeeding. Benefits include better long-term health outcomes for women and children – including reduced rates of childhood obesity – and reduced costs for employers. The following organizations support Baby Friendly care or use its language, reflecting the growing consensus around increasing evidence-based breastfeeding care.

The Joint Commission – the leading hospital accreditation body – issued a new perinatal care core measure set including exclusive breast milk feeding
The CDC’s latest Breastfeeding Report Card highlights growth of Baby Friendly hospitals
Healthy People 2020 calls for increasing the percentage of Baby Friendly Hospitals to 8% (news coverage)
The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report includes several Baby Friendly recommendations as a key factor in early childhood obesity prevention
The Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon just launched OR Hospitals Partnering for Evidence-Based Infant Nutrition

With the release of the survey results, LaneCoFBC adds the voices of women, families and community supporters to encourage local hospitals to become Baby Friendly designated facilities. LaneCoFBC is pleased to put hospital leaders, community organizations and media outlets in touch with local women and families interested in sharing their experience with Baby Friendly care.

###

Media Contact: Katharine Gallagher

Phone: (541) 221-8892

Email: lanecofbc@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.lanecofbc.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lanecofbc
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lanecofbc

Cupakes for Haiti

2011-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center is pleased to be a community partner for the "Cupcakes for Haiti" event honoring the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti and the ongoing needs there. The Divine Cupcake will donate 20% of sales on January 12, 2011 to the Haitian Health Foundation.

Following is the event press release - spread the word and head on over to The Divine Cupcake on January 12th!

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 3, 2011

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Kathy Lynn, kathy_lynn1@yahoo.com, (541) 206-3281

Cupcakes for Haiti

EUGENE, Ore. – In recognition of the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and the ongoing needs that still exist, The Divine Cupcake, Eugene’s organic and vegan cupcakery, will donate 20% of sales from cupcakes on January 12, 2011 to the Haitian Health Foundation (http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org/.)

The Haitian government reported that as a result of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, an estimated 230,000 people died, 300,000 were injured and 1,000,000 people became homeless. The Haitian Government also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. Since the earthquake, relief and redevelopment efforts have been hampered by the poverty and lack of governance that has plagued the country for two centuries.

Numerous tropical storms and hurricanes have resulted in heavy rains and floods that have most critically affected the hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent cities. Most recently, an outbreak of cholera has already killed over 2100 people. Officials expect that the number of fatalities will continue to rise, and that it may take six months to a year to control the cholera outbreak.

After the January 2010 earthquake, hundreds of thousands of people left Port-au-Prince for more rural areas of the country. Since that time, the Haitian Health Foundation, located on the southern peninsula in the town of Jérémie, has begun providing health care for an additional 100,000 people. In addition to the city of Jérémie, HHF provides support to over 100 rural mountain villages and now serves over 300,000 people. HHF is proud of an overhead of less than 8 cents per donated dollar, with over 92 percent of funds collected going directly to services for the poor.

Eugenian and former Peace Corps volunteer Kathy Lynn is coordinating this event with Divine Cupcakes to keep Haiti in the hearts and minds of people throughout Lane County.

“In these difficult economic times, it isn’t easy to continue to donate money. And yet the people of Haiti still need basic resources for public health, shelter and food.”

Money raised at Divine Cupcakes on January 12 will specifically be directed to HHF’s Center of Hope, a residential treatment facility for at-risk pregnant women and severely malnourished children in rural Haiti.

Community partners are helping to publicize the event and increase awareness of the critical needs still facing the Haitian people a year after the devastating earthquake. Community partners include the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center (http://lanecofbc.blogspot.com/).

For more information about the event, visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/create.php?eid=181502151876572#!/event.php?eid=181502151876572

Cindy Hunter radio interview re Haiti trip

2010-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

Cindy Hunter was interviewed this morning on The Wake Up Call with Holloway and Lundun. Robb Holloway conducted the interview and shared that a baby will soon be born to his family.

Formerly with the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center, Cindy is now the Nurse Educator for Labor and Delivery at Sacred Heart. She is also a recent recipient of the Lane County 2010 Healthy Babies Award.

The interview was scheduled in anticipation of Friends of the Birth Center’s fireside chat with Cindy this evening. The chat is scheduled in honor of National Midwifery Week.

Thanks Robb Holloway for a local discussion about practices to improve maternal and infant well being in this country, in Haiti and elsewhere. The discussion touched on the idea that in this country/community we are working hard to bring back the low-tech, mother- and baby-focused practices including skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding that can improve our troubling local/national outcomes. In other countries, including Haiti, accessing the technical knowledge and expertise that are plentiful in much of the US is a top priority for improving outcomes.

Here are the highlights….

Skin-to-skin contact. Robb asked about the importance of this for mother and babies. It’s a common practice around the world but not so much in this country. As birth moved inside the hospital, mothers and babies were routinely separated. Now, we’re trying to keep them together with skin-to-skin contact for the first hour.

Are we behind the world in our childbirth practices? Cindy responded that in many places around the world, Haiti for example, having a skilled birth attendant is not common but rather a luxury. However, US neonatal and maternal mortality rates are not what they should be. (Indeed, Lane County fetal and infant mortality rates are higher than much of the United States and many other nations. Recent coverage.)

Haiti. Its maternal and neonatal mortality is the world’s highest. Cindy described that many of the circumstances contributing to poor outcomes (anemia, food insecurity and poverty) are normal for the affected families. She described how heart wrenching it is to witness this. It is not uncommon to find babies in the care of grandmothers and aunts due to a woman dying in childbirth.

Parenting. Robb asked about parenting under such extreme circumstances. Cindy described the Haitians with whom she came into contact as extremely resilient. Families are tightly knit and they work together.

Breastfeeding. One of the most striking and important lessons Cindy took from her experience in Haiti was the power of breastfeeding to protect babies from infection and disease. Breastfeeding babes were “fat and happy.” It was when they weaned that they became vulnerable.

Congrats to Friends' Katharine Gallagher, Midwife Cindy Hunter, UO Project FEAT for Healthy Babies Awards!

2010-10-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Lane County Healthy Babies 2010 Award Recipients recognized at yesterday’s second-annual reception!

Awards were given to an individual, a practitioner and an organization in acknowledgement of their contributions toward reducing fetal-infant mortality and increasing community health in Lane County. Former KEZI news anchor Rick Dancer served as the master of ceremonies. Dancer encouraged Healthy Babies to use social media to increase its reach. Commissioner Rob Handy and Lane Co. Health and Human Services' Director Rob Rockstroh both emphasized the critical importance of reducing Lane County’s uniquely high rates of fetal and infant mortality.

Individual. Katharine Gallagher, chair of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center, was recognized in the individual category. Katharine touched on the importance of evidence-based mother- and baby-centered care in improving community outcomes and on the need for ongoing county support for the Healthy Babies initiative. (See Katharine’s comments below)

Katharine Gallagher & Cindy Hunter

Practitoner. Cindy Hunter, former Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center midwife and currently the Nurse Educator for Labor and Delivery at Sacred Heart, was recognized in the practitioner category. Cindy shared her inspiring story about discovering the importance of and ultimately in finding ways to ensure dignified care for women and babies. LaneCoFBC looks forward to its upcoming October 5 fireside chat with Cindy. She will be sharing her recent experiences volunteering in Haiti. (Learn more here.)

Organization. Project FEAT (Family Advocacy and Treatment) coordinators Kristin Funk and Liz Twombly reflected on the lessons learned and insights gained throughout their 5-year project funded by the Department of Health and Human Services to develop policies and procedures for addressing the special needs of substance exposed newborns. Kristin and Liz highlighted the importance of nurturing and protecting mother-child bonds and the power that this connection can have to inspire women to move beyond substance abuse.

If you missed the the recent media focus on Lane County Healthy Babies, here are links to the coverage:

Lane County State's Top Fetal-Infant Mortality Rate: That rate is prevalent and statistically significant regardless of other factors

ALIVE AND KICKING | County’s infant death rate improves, but could it be better?

EDITORIAL: A gauge of social health | Reduction in fetal-infant death rate encouraging

Healthy Babies initiative helps (letter to the editor, scroll down)

To get involved or for more information about the Healthy Babies initiative, visit www.preventionlane.org. The next Healthy Babies meeting is on October 7 from 8:30 to 10am at Lane County Mental Health.

Following are LaneCoFBC Chair Katharine Gallagher’s comments:

Thank you very much for this award - I am honored by the acknowledgement.

Little did I know that founding Friends of the Birth Center to encourage construction of the new PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center would be the beginning of a genuinely rewarding endeavor. Like all worthwhile efforts, it’s been a joint one from the start.

Practically over night Friends of the Birth Center brought many, many other women, families and community members together. Families with brand new babies and families with kids graduating high school shared their stories. This evening, three founding members who now serve on the Friends’ board join me: Eleanor Vandergrift, Karen Guillemin and Kathy Lynn. Our other board member, Renee Bailey, could not attend.

Karen Guillemin, Katharine Gallagher, Kathy Lynn, Eleanor Vandegrift

And a founding Dad – my husband David Wacks as well as a Birth Center grandfather – my dad Mike Gallagher.

Originally seeking to maintain our personal preference for maternity services in a freestanding birth center, we quickly made connections between the holistic, communal and mother-baby focused approach we know so well and the local and national discussions about the power of preventive, evidence-based and cost effective care to dramatically improve maternal- and infant-wellbeing.

A strong link exists between the care we regularly access at the Birth Center and what is needed to increase community-level wellbeing. Early prenatal care regardless of insurance status, regular postpartum opportunities to meet other new parents, and ongoing breastfeeding support that really works – this is the “standard issue” package for anyone walking through the Birth Center’s doors.

As we were making these connections, the Friends group began to learn about our community’s local rates for fetal and infant mortality. We have been moved to view construction of the new Birth Center as one of great importance for the entire community. This is because it is a living laboratory of the kind of care we need to see more of in Lane County. Accordingly, we remain very grateful to PeaceHealth for making the new Birth Center a reality.

Moving forward, I look forward and I know Friends of the Birth Center does, too, to supporting the County’s initial efforts to focus our collective attention and resources on reducing fetal and infant mortality. The most recent statistics show some improvement and I believe that is a credit to the Healthy Babies, Healthy Communities initiative. If we are to continue making progress, ongoing county and community support are necessary.

Fireside Chat with Cindy Hunter on Haiti

2010-09-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

In celebration of National Midwifery Week 2010, the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center invites you to join us on Tuesday, October 5^th at 7 pm at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center for a Fireside Chat with Cindy Hunter, a former midwife with the Birth Center who is now based at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Cindy will share her experience working at a clinic in Haiti for a week in May 2010 as part of team organized by Midwives for Haiti. Midwives for Haiti is an organization dedicated to educating midwives in Haiti and providing health care teams to help keep women and their babies as safe as possible in Haiti’s difficult situation. (See our earlier post discussing Cindy's trip to Haiti here.)

The January 12th earthquake in Haiti killed more than 200,000 Haitians and left over 1.5 million people living in temporary camps. As reported by NOW on PBS in a documentary on saving Haiti’s mothers, challenges in transportation, education, and quality health care contribute to Haiti having the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere, a national crisis even before the earthquake struck. Worldwide, over 500,000 women die each year during pregnancy. The United Nations Population Fund, which trains midwives to share life-saving birth techniques and serve in rural communities, says that with proper funding, public support, and wider application of simple but scarce innovations, such deaths could be reduced by nearly 70 percent.

“The reproductive health needs of the population are often forgotten in the aftermath of a disaster,” said UNFPA Representative in Haiti, Igor Bosc.

Women and families remain in desperate need of pre- and post-natal care. During Cindy's visit to Haiti in May 2010, her group, which consisted of three midwives and four nurses, saw 600 patients in just one week. Through donations, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center assembled and sent 14 new mother kits with Cindy. These kits included blankets, cloth diapers, vitamins, and other items new mothers and their babies need.

On October 5, Cindy will share her experiences in the first Fireside Chat hosted by the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center. Members of the Eugene and Lane County community are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be provided. For questions, contact lanecofbc@gmail.com.

When: Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 7 pm

Where: Nurse Midwifery Birthing Services, 353 Deadmond Ferry Road, Springfield OR 97477

Facebook Event Page

The case for community approaches and Baby Friendly hospitals

2010-08-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Friends of the Birth Center’s last blog post celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2010 (WBW). Thank you for reading, forwarding, reposting and commenting on the week’s offerings.

We especially appreciate Lane County Healthy Babies, Healthy Communities, the Lane County Breastfeeding Coalition and the American Association of Birth Centers for encouraging their members to follow and join our online celebration. We appreciate the opportunity to have health care providers and administrators hear about our WBW online celebration. Thank you, too, to The Register-Guard for the following August 1 mention:

Breastfeeding blog offered

Advocates of breastfeeding are observing World Breastfeeding Week, encouraging increased understanding and the adoption of evidence-based breastfeeding support systems for women, families and communities. A blog operated by Lane County Friends of the Birth Center offers various perspectives from families, elected leaders and others. Visit www.lanecofbc.blogspot.com for more information.

Making the case for Baby Friendly evidence-based support
Breastfeeding is a family and community affair. Friends of the Birth Center conveyed this by inviting a cross section of supportive perspectives for effectively supporting women, babies, families, employers and communities in breastfeeding initiation and maintenance. We agree with the Surgeon General that a community-wide approach is needed to reduce disparities among breastfeeding mothers and children of all backgrounds and to improve support for nursing women in their workplaces and communities.

Specifically, the week’s blog posts make the case for and encourage Lane County hospitals to adopt comprehensive, evidence-based breastfeeding support systems by becoming officially designated Baby Friendly facilities.

Read the week's offerings
Senator Merkley: Breastfeeding Great Formula for Moms and Babies
Simply put, breastfeeding provides a great ‘formula’ for healthier moms and babies.

Community Perspectives on Breastfeeding Support at the Birth Center
…the breastfeeding care we describe as lifeline-like is not magic or luck but rather the outcome of the Birth Center practicing comprehensive, evidence-based breastfeeding care.

A Provider’s Perspective on Baby Friendly Breastfeeding Care in Lane County
Everyday, I was humbled to see how complicated decisions around breastfeeding are and how much more than an individual woman’s preferences are involved.

Baby Connection: an innovative approach to transforming community breastfeeding services
Baby Connection experiments with altering current models of care while navigating resistance to change.

During WBW 2010, Science and Hollywood weighed in, too
The New York Times published “Breast Milk Sugars Give Infants a Protective Coat” describing some of the non-nutritive, non-digestible components of breast milk.

“We were astonished that milk had so much material that the infant couldn’t digest,” Dr. German said. “Finding that it selectively stimulates the growth of specific bacteria, which are in turn protective of the infant, let us see the genius of the strategy — mothers are recruiting another life-form to baby-sit their baby.”

Much remains to be learned (and unlearned) about breast milk, a fluid shaped by 200 million years of mammalian evolution. What do the scientists conclude?

… every component of milk probably has a special role. “It’s all there for a purpose, though we’re still figuring out what that purpose is,” Dr. Mills said. “So for God’s sake, please breast-feed.”

Meanwhile in the land of pop culture and celebrity buzz, actresses who breastfed put a little something together.... Try not to laugh - we dare you!

What's next?
We will continue to collect survey responses from women, partners, extended family members, friends, neighbors and community members who have received or are familiar with someone who as received evidence-based breastfeeding support at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center – Lane County’s only Baby Friendly designated facility.

In sharing our stories, we hope to help make Baby Friendly care baseline for all women and families in Lane County. Anonymous results from this survey will be shared with staff and administrators of Lane County hospitals.

Take the Survey

Baby Connection: Innovative Breastfeeding Care

2010-08-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our fourth day of special blog posts devoted to increasing evidence-based breastfeeding care in Lane County and in honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2010. The theme today is innovation. We have asked Desiree Nelson to talk about Baby Connection.

Baby Connection: an innovative approach to

transforming community breastfeeding services

By Desiree Nelson

A couple of weeks ago, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center asked me to guest blog on innovative approaches to bringing evidence-based breastfeeding care to Lane County.

Specifically, Friends asked me to talk about a collaborative project called Baby Connection that I helped found. I was pleased to learn that my perspective on evidence-based infant feeding would be added to those offered by an elected leader, consumers (families) and a former local provider. Collaborative approaches are essential, if we are to effectively support families and communities in increasing access to breastfeeding support systems that work.

So, it is with pleasure that I join Lane County Friends of the Birth Center in their local celebration of World Breastfeeding Week 2010 “Baby Friendly” by blogging about Baby Connection, an innovative evidence-based local practice.

Friends was kind enough to give me a few prompts….

What is Baby Connection?

Baby Connection is a weekly, drop in service where families are welcome to weigh their babies, access lactation experts and connect with other families. Weight certificates, baby photos, scrap booking, snacks and good conversation among moms, dads and grandparents happen at Baby Connection. Everyone is welcome.

What makes Baby Connection evidence based?

Baby Connection is step 10 of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding for maternity service providers:

Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic

Families who use the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center receive step 10 in the form of its weekly baby clinic.

In what ways is Baby Connection more than a “new parents’ café”?

The Baby Connection model is a complex, multifaceted program. Put plainly, it provides regular, non-emergent healthcare worker to mother-infant support, as well as mother-to-mother and family-to-family support.

To the casual observer, it probably looks pretty simple to run and fun to attend. It’s not simple but it is fun. It’s fun because Baby Connection is a pleasant, supportive antidote to the challenges many families (and providers) encounter around infant feeding – challenges that include knowledge gaps and that frequently put cultural/social practices and biology at odds.

Baby Connection cannot “fix” these problems or challenges. Rather, it responds by providing sound and up-to-date infant feeding information and unconditional positive regard and assistance with problem solving as parents desire.

How is Baby Connection innovative?

Baby Connection experiments with altering current models of care while navigating resistance to change. It continuously creates and role models the simultaneous provider-family and family-to-family connections needed to effectively support breastfeeding.

How is Baby Connection funded?

There is no funding for Baby Connection. Baby Connection is a collective gift given by lactation consultants, nurses and community members in the form of time, knowledge (nurses, lactation consultants) and labor (community members).

Special support is provided by Birth to Three. They host us weekly in their beautiful and spacious building. They also provide one staff member each week to Baby Connection. THANK YOU Birth to Three!

What does Baby Connection hope to achieve?

Through demonstration, Baby Connection acknowledges and responds to the unaddressed but entirely serviceable demand for evidence-based breastfeed support in this and other communities. Baby Connection hopes to encourage sound replication throughout the healthcare system. By sound, I mean evidence based.

You mean inside hospitals?

No, not necessarily. Baby Connection serves families who used different facilities. Hospitals could collaborate and, in the process, complete a step toward becoming officially designated Baby Friendly hospitals.

When and why did Baby Connection come into existence?

In 2007, Lane County learned it had a fetal-infant mortality rate that was the most serious in the state and among the most serious in the nation. The high rate of infant death was in part due to unsafe infant sleep practices. I contacted James McKenna, Phd, A Mother-Baby Sleep researcher at Notre Dame to assist our county. McKenna is an international SIDS expert. He reviewed Lane County’s fetal/infant mortality data, then, at no cost, came to Eugene, Oct. 2008, to give a presentation on Safe Infant Sleep. In addition he gave this recommendation to our county:

Help socially at risk women breastfeed, sleep safely with their babies.

What does breastfeeding and safe sleep have to do with infant mortality?

This is a complex and important subject. Please contact Lane County Public Health officials for comprehensive information. Breastfeeding and consistent safe infant sleep practices both are known to prevent SIDS. Many other factors play important preventative roles.

You have a new role with WIC. Can you tell us a little bit about it in the context of Baby Connection?
I have taken a temporary position with Oregon State WIC, through September 30, 2010. My position: WIC Project Coordinator for the Improvement of Maternity Care Practices. (Read more about Desiree’s position with WIC.)

How can community leaders and health care providers learn more?

We regularly welcome visitors to observe staff roles, family activities, shadow expert Feeding Specialists and attend our weekly staff debrief. Interested parties can contact me at desiree.nelson@gmail.com

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If you or someone you know received Baby Friendly care at the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center, please complete this short online survey.

A Provider’s Perspective on Baby Friendly Breastfeeding Care in Lane County

2010-08-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Lane County Friends of the Birth Center’s third blog post celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2010. Our first post was by Sen. Jeff Merkley. Our second post invites mothers, fathers, extended family and friends to complete a short survey about the Birth Center’s evidence-based breastfeeding care.

Today Janie Akerlund guest blogs about her more than two decades’ experience with breastfeeding as a mother, a WIC peer counselor, a nurse and a lactation consultant in Lane County. Formerly employed at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center, Janie is currently pursuing a PhD in Immunology at UC Denver/National Jewish Health Hospital.

A Provider’s Perspective on

Baby Friendly Breastfeeding Care in Lane County

It’s time for me to recertify as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Sitting here amongst piles of breastfeeding literature, I am thinking back over the 20+ years since my lactation obsession began. When Friends of the Birth Center asked me to reflect on my experiences as a provider in a Baby Friendly facility – the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center, it seemed the perfect way to start preparing for the exam.

Baby Friendly facilities are officially designated hospitals and birth centers where women and families receive evidence-based care known to positively influence breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity and duration. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) works with these facilities to implement comprehensive evidence-based practices referred to as “Ten Steps.” Over ten thousand birthing facilities around the world have achieved this designation, including 96 facilities in the US; the Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center was designated in 1997 as one of the first ten US facilities.

In the nearly 14 years since becoming a Baby Friendly facility, it is gratifying to note the maintenance of breastfeeding initiation rates and the increases in duration and especially in duration of exclusive breastfeeding that have occurred at the Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center. We can attribute these positive outcomes to our adherence to Baby Friendly basic care standards.

It is frustrating to still see the largely preventable difficulties experienced by women who deliver and initiate feeding inside most hospitals. Along with a newborn, these families bring home contradictory, confusing information about feeding. Before discharge, women and families come into contact with pediatricians, lactation consultants, obstetric nurses, postpartum nurses, neonatal nurses, nurse’s aids and the housekeeping staff. All have different opinions, levels of knowledge and degrees of experience regarding breastfeeding initiation.

Women and families routinely experience this informational chaos even at hospitals like Sacred Heart Medial Center and McKenzie-Willamette. These facilities practice some of the Ten Steps including written breastfeeding policies and 24-hr rooming-in. They also have excellent lactation consultants. In the absence of the additional evidence-based practices including consistent training across the healthcare team, these practices fall short. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative works with facilities to identify and address gaps and inconsistent practices.

Personal experience – not a substitute for evidence-based breastfeeding management

Having nursed three children, I thought I knew all there was to know when in 1990 Lane County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) asked me to participate in their pilot peer counseling program. This volunteer program provided training for WIC participants who were successfully breastfeeding so that they could provide phone support to WIC peers who were new to breastfeeding. I thought, “You need breastfeeding training? Don’t you just decide to do it?”

After the first WIC training session, I realized I knew NOTHING and set about immediately to rectify the situation. I went through the LCC nursing program thinking I would surely learn all I needed to know to assist with birthing and breastfeeding. NOT! Here is the only reference to breastfeeding in my maternity nursing module:

I. Breast feeding (sic)

a. Advantages

b. Disadvantages

II. Bottle feeding

a. Advantages

b. Disadvantages

It was clear that I was on my own if I wanted further education in lactation. The more I learned, the more enthusiastic (aka annoying) I became. This was exciting! Breastfeeding reduces infant mortality! It prevents allergies, autoimmune disease and asthma as well as decreasing the incidence of a host of childhood diseases! It decreases the mother’s risk of breast cancer, decreases her postpartum bleeding and helps her more quickly return to her pre-pregnancy weight! Why is this all-natural-miracle “drug” not more widely appreciated? People must not know! I sure didn’t. I shall tell them! I naively thought that if women knew of the risks associated with artificial feeding they wouldn’t do it; surely they would see the value in breastfeeding. Right?

Working at the Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center I heard the stories of many, many women; those who didn’t want to try breastfeeding and those who truly wanted to nurse their babies, and all the women in between. Everyday, I was humbled to see how complicated decisions around breastfeeding are and how much more than an individual woman’s preferences are involved. It wasn’t and still isn’t a simple matter of individual choice.

Every woman I have worked with wanted the absolute best for her baby. Suggesting otherwise is an insensitive simplification. The majority of these women believed that breastfeeding was best but many of them made rational decisions to formula feed in line with the realities of their lives. Not because they wanted less for their babies but because in the absence of a supportive environment at home, at work and in the healthcare system it would have been virtually impossible for them to succeed. So, they expended their resources on more achievable goals.

Eventually, I started talking to physicians and other health care colleagues about their training around breastfeeding. Aware of the inadequacy of my training, I was curious to know about their experiences. I wasn’t surprised to find that the majority, even pediatricians, had little or no formal education around breastfeeding. Fortunately, this is improving somewhat.

Well then, I thought, what we really need is a supportive environment; we need all health care providers, including the housekeeping staff, to be knowledgeable about how to help women succeed; we need employers and the community to understand what moms and babies need to make breastfeeding work. Piece of cake or chasing windmills? It’s a mixed bag.

A glimmer of hope: Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative

Around the time I was learning that I knew nothing, a small group of neonatal health care providers in San Diego went to a course on lactation physiology. They came away realizing that much of the care they were providing in the mother-baby wards was not evidence-based and was counterproductive to successful breastfeeding. They had a series of meetings where they laid out a policy with ten simple guidelines to bring their mother-baby care in line with lactation physiology and the developmental capabilities of the newborn infant.

These ten simple steps have been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the standard of care for all mothers and babies; they were intentionally conceived so that any hospital, whether in an industrialized nation or a developing nation, urban or rural, rich or poor, could achieve them. Ten Steps is backed by a fully referenced 109-page document containing the best evidence available from peer-reviewed journals.

I brag a lot about the Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center’s BFHI designation and the high rates of breastfeeding we see there – “best of the best of the best, SIR!” Perhaps our exuberance plays into the frequent dismissal that these excellent outcomes can be attributed to the special, self-selected group of birth center moms. Of course, I agree they are special, but no more so than any other mom and family in Lane County.

Besides, these dismissals overlook the fact that Birth Center moms are a representative cross section of Lane County. They come from all walks of life; ages 14 to 46 from the ivory tower professor to the fast food restaurant worker to the inpatient at Willamette Family Treatment Center. Every one of these women receives consistent standard Ten Step care. I believe our outcomes are best understood as indicative of the model, one that can be replicated.

Fortunately, awareness of the efficacy of providing evidence-based breastfeeding care is rising. The special supplemental nutrition program for Oregon WIC has recognized the importance of evidence-based care in hiring Desiree Nelson, a Lane County lactation consultant with BFHI expertise, to be an available resource to support Oregon hospitals to improve breastfeeding practices; the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospitals Organization (JCAHO) is now monitoring breastfeeding exclusivity outcomes at discharge as a part of their periodic hospital assessment; the CDC recently surveyed all birthing facilities on their level of breastfeeding support through the 2007 CDC National Survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC). (Oregon nPINC results)

In light of these shifts in understanding and, hopefully, priorities, hospitals will need a comprehensive plan to meet the standards of their accrediting bodies, governmental organizations and consumers. BFHI provides these tools and the clearest pathway forward to implementing comprehensive evidence-based care in the form of the “Ten Steps.”

I challenge Sacred Heart Medical Center, Peace Harbor Hospital and McKenzie Willamette Hospital to partner in providing 100% of Lane County’s hospital-born babies with comprehensive evidence-based breastfeeding care through implementation of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

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Contact Janie at Linda.Akerlund@ucdenver.edu

Comments welcome - feel free to post below!

And, please share your experience with Baby Friendly care at the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center by completing a short online survey. Click here.

Community Perspectives on Breastfeeding Support at the Birth Center

2010-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our second blog post celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2010. Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley guest blogged about the importance of supporting mothers and babies to breastfeed. Today, we invite women, families and the community to share their experiences with the lactation services available at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center by completing an online survey. Tomorrow, Janie Akerlund guest blogs about her more than two decades’ experience working as a nurse and lactation consultant in Lane County.

Baby Friendly care at the
Nurse Midwifery Birth Center

A year and a half ago, the future of the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center was uncertain. PeaceHealth and the community worked together to clear obstacles and Lane County enjoys ongoing access to a new and beautiful freestanding, out-of-hospital birth center. (Take a virtual tour of the new facility.)

Before the Birth Center’s future was secure, families and community members reflected on what its absence would mean. In our letters and petition comments, many of us emphasized the critical role Birth Center lactation services play in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding.

We have since learned that the breastfeeding care we describe as lifeline-like is not magic or luck but rather the outcome of the Birth Center practicing comprehensive, evidence-based breastfeeding care. Specifically, the Birth Center practices the “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” and is officially designated "Baby Friendly" by the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, Friends of the Birth Center invites parents, extended family members, friends and supporters to share their experiences with Baby Friendly care via an online survey. Our perspectives, as recipients of this critical care, can encourage Lane County maternity service providers to make Baby Friendly baseline for everyone. Anonymous results will be shared with staff and administrators of Lane County hospitals.

Take the survey

Breastfeeding is a family and community affair. Convey this by having your partners, extended family and friends respond to the survey by August 17, 2010.

In the mean time, here’s what community members had to say about evidence-based Baby Friendly care at the Birth Center in 2009:

Mother

Both breastfeeding and transitioning into being a parent were a lot more difficult than I anticipated and the caring and compassionate staff at the Birth Center helped me through it.

When our daughter was about 3 weeks old, I started to have problems with breastfeeding. She wasn’t getting enough milk and therefore wasn’t gaining enough weight. It was a very scary and frustrating time. Through the constant support of the lactation nurses, we have been able to continue breastfeeding through her first birthday! If it weren’t for their unfailing support, we wouldn’t have made it to through her fourth week.

Father

We had various challenges after delivery with the establishment of nursing, and the lactation consultants were always there for us in person or via phone to listen and offer advice. They even met us on weekends and holidays to allow us to track our son’s weight. There were times when I thought we might give up on trying to breastfeed our son, but after many weeks, my wife and son were finally successful at nursing. I attribute this in a large part to the staff at the Birth Center and the support we received from them.

Grandmother

The follow up by the Birth Center after my granddaughter’s birth has been more than I could have ever dreamed of having. I have gone with my daughter and granddaughter for a weekly “check in” at Baby Clinic. You can’t put a price tag on how important that kind of support is for a new mother. In the waiting room are mothers, fathers, and babies of all sizes.

Mother

My first birth was an unsatisfying high-tech, low-touch experience that left me dazed and, ultimately, deeply dissatisfied. Recovering from surgical birth was not easy especially as I mightily struggled to initiate breastfeeding and establish myself as a mother for the first time. My obstetrician’s practice employed a lactation consultant but she was hard to reach, pressed for time and, in the end, not helpful despite my repeated calls. Following my first son’s birth, I felt alone without anyone knowledgeable in breastfeeding and infant care with whom to check in.

I had my second son, a vaginal birth after cesarean, with the Birth Center. Watching first-time moms receive the Birth Center’s breastfeeding services as a matter of course was revelatory – this is how it’s supposed to be! Receiving this care the second time was wonderful and life altering as I not only thrived and enjoyed initiating breastfeeding the second time but loved doing it an community of other women where help from a friend or a provider was always within reach.

Grandmother

My daughter gave birth in July at the birthing center. The midwife and the lactation specialists were incredibly encouraging, kind, & informative to my daughter as well as the rest of us in the room. Following the birth, my daughter continued to ask many questions about breastfeeding for several weeks. The lactation consultants always took their time listening to her concerns. Without their encouragement, I am doubtful that she would have been able to continue breastfeeding. Also the baby clinic was a wonderful way to check her baby's progress and connect with other mothers. Having a baby and the follow-up she received was a far superior method of having a child than what I experienced long ago in the hospital with my births. I can't imagine Eugene without this center.

Mother

The Birth Center also provided me with the support I needed to continue breastfeeding my newborn through the first few difficult days. I made many friends on Tuesdays in the lobby of the Birth Center that first year.

Mother

… the excellent after care that I received at the Birth Center and the expert lactation advice that gave me the sense that the consultant was always there for me when I needed to call with questions and concerns. She knew me. She cared consistently and she never tired or expressed anything other than hope.

The Birth Center is such a special place for my family and me. They know me and my child by name. The Birth Center has been a great place to meet other moms and families through the birthing classes offered and the weekly baby clinics. We have made strong and lasting connections that strengthen our abilities to be the best parents that we can be.

Friend of mother

… delivery went smoothly but there were nursing difficulties. Within a half-hour of birth, the midwife and her assistant were providing information and assistance which were key to the nursing process, and which in my experience are rarely available in larger hospital settings.

Mother

My husband and I received education and information through the prenatal visits, the breast feeding class and child birth classes, that allowed us to make educated decisions about what was best for us and our baby.

The follow up care from the first home visit to the many consults with the lactation consultants, to the numerous visits to the baby clinic, have provided me with continued support to successfully nurse my baby (even through teething!).

Mother

I was allowed to hold my daughter, skin-to-skin, from the moment she was born. There was no pressure to breastfeed immediately or bathe her before I was ready too. I, personally, had problems with breastfeeding and they help my daughter and I figure it out without me feeling like I was failing as a mother.

Mother

My husband and I attended birth classes at the center, and found them valuable even as second-time parents. I have since visited the free baby clinic numerous times for information, support, and camaraderie with other mothers. I can honestly say that without the baby clinic and on-call lactation specialists, I would not have breast-fed my son past the first month. He is now 9 months old and I feel confidant and comfortable breast feeding at least to his first birthday, which was a personal goal of mine. I credit the supportive staff and community atmosphere of the birth center in making this possible.

Mother

My son thrived, but I continued to go to the well-baby clinic for the reassurance of tracking his growth and the camaraderie of the other new mothers.

Mother and father

We even called for support from the Birth Center lactation consultant in the middle of the night while we were still in the hospital and she made all the difference in easing our worries.

Our favorite aspect of the Birth Center has been the weekly baby clinic. My family has found the baby clinic invaluable for lactation support as well as helping enhance our sense of community with our fellow new parents.

We are again enjoying the benefits of the baby clinic and have recommended the Birth Center to many friends.

Mother

After our baby was born, I had an amazing experience of holding him on my chest for two hours. Annie took care of all the members of our growing family and checked on us throughout the night. We went home at 7am to start our new life with a baby. She noted we were having some difficulties with nursing, but gave me some suggestions of how to assist him in learning this important first skill.

I was recovering well from delivery, but we were continuing to have difficulties with breastfeeding. This visit started a very close and important relationship for our family with Hope and the other lactation consultants at the Birth Center.

Over the next 8 weeks, we visited the Birth Center (and Hope or Annie) at least twice a week to weigh our son, who slowly started to learn how to nurse and gain weight. Hope called me at home over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays (and many other times) to check on how we were doing. On several occasions, I also talked to the other lactation consultants, Annie and Janie, on the phone with a variety of concerns.

Each time I called with a new problem (often in tears), I felt that my concerns were treated with the utmost respect and concern. Ultimately with their wonderful care and support, we were able to determine the causes of my nursing problems and associated pain and find ways to resolve the problems.

Hope, Annie, and Jude never gave up on finding solutions for me. They suggested books to read, lactation tools to try, and foods to eat. Hope recommended that we visit Tuesday Baby Clinic to meet and talk with other Mamas.

Every Tuesday, I felt that I was wrapped in a new community that cared about me, my husband, and our son. This community encouraged us even on the most difficult days when it felt like I would never be able to breastfeed.

I had always envisioned myself breastfeeding my children. One day, almost magically, when our son was four months old, nursing stopped hurting, and we were able to nurse just like I had imagined. Nursing is a skill that he has perfected, and now, one year later it is hard to image all of the problems that we had with our rough start. However, I do remember that I could not have continued learning how to breastfeed and survive the early weeks of motherhood without the love and support that I received from the staff of the Birth Center.

In an era where families are scattered around the globe and women do not share in the common experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding with their female relatives, we need places like the Birth Center.

Mother

After the birth, I continued to discover the uniqueness of the services at the birth center. I had heard about baby clinic during my consultation with Hope, the lactation consultant, and when my daughter was three weeks old I brought her to baby clinic for the first time. The benefits of baby clinic were two fold. For one, I got incredible ongoing breastfeeding support from the nurses and assurance that my daughter was indeed thriving. The simple 5 minute visit each week put my mind at ease to all of the little worries I was having about caring for my newborn.

Additionally, knowing that I could call a nurse 24 hours a day and receive breastfeeding support made me feel at ease. I was never fearful of a middle of the night incident sending me over the edge because I knew help was always available.

The second benefit of baby clinic is perhaps even greater than the first and that is the community that is created each week in the living room of the birth center. Mothers come together and talk, share, and support one another. Any topic related to new motherhood, newborns, or postpartum experiences is open for discussion.

The first time I went I felt right at home with all of the other breastfeeding mothers. In those early weeks of motherhood and breastfeeding it saved my sanity to have a place I could go and be with other nursing mothers who were also learning how to breastfeed our babies.

I quickly made friends with a few other new moms. I looked forward to seeing them each Tuesday and I am convinced that this support network is a big reason that I did not experience any postpartum depression. It is almost a year since my daughter’s birth and I am still close friends with many of the women I bonded with at baby clinic.

I chose the birth center because the midwives and staff are committed to natural birth and it is one of the only places in our community that natural birth is fully supported on a daily basis. The pre and postnatal care in connection with the community of support makes the Nurse Midwifery

Senator Merkley: Breastfeeding Great Formula for Moms and Babies

2010-08-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 

By Senator Jeff Merkley  

Today marks the first day of World Breastfeeding Week - a week where people come together to raise awareness about the health benefits of breastfeeding and to promote the rights of nursing moms around the globe.

Breastfeeding provides proven health benefits for both babies and moms, while at the same time increasing productivity for businesses. Studies have shown that children who are breastfed have lower risks of diseases and illnesses including asthma, diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers. New moms who breastfeed also have reduced rates of cancer and diabetes. Simply put, breastfeeding provides a great ‘formula’ for healthier moms and babies.

This year we took a significant stride forward to help support nursing moms across America. The 2010 health care law includes an amendment I authored that provides nursing moms with reasonable break times and a private place to pump milk in the workplace. This may be old news in Oregon, where these protections have been in place since 2008, but enacting similar national legislation greatly enhances breastfeeding opportunities for all of our nation’s mothers.

Through events like World Breastfeeding Week and with the help of organizations like Lane County Friends of the Birth Center, we can accomplish a great deal for new moms. It’s important to continue to work together to ensure that nursing moms around the world have every opportunity available to provide healthy breast milk for their new babies.

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Click here to communicate with Sen. Merkley.

Read more about Lane County Friends of the Birth Center's World Breastfeeding Week Celebration and come back for tomorrow's post:

Read what families have to say about accessing lactation services in a Baby Friendly facility – the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. LaneCoFBC will invite more families to share their perspectives via an online survey. Findings will be shared with local healthcare facilities and community leaders.

Join LaneCoFBC in Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week

2010-07-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Next week is World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). Lane County Friends of the Birth Center will join communities from more than 120 nations to encourage increased understanding and the adoption of evidence-based breastfeeding support systems for women, families and communities.

WBW 2010 commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Innocenti Declaration by WHO and UNICEF to protect, promote and support breastfeeding through implementation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative’s “Ten Steps” in facilities providing maternity care. “Ten Steps” is a comprehensive evidence-based pathway to support women and guide healthcare facilities in the provision of sound breastfeeding care.

Please celebrate WBW 2010 with LaneCoFBC by visiting our blog every day from August 2 through 6 to read and comment on a series of special posts devoted to promoting increased access to Baby Friendly-designated facilities in Lane County. Visitors to our blog will be treated to the unique perspectives offered by an elected leader, families, a former Lane County provider and an innovator in bringing breastfeeding care that works to local families.

Here’s our blog line up:

Monday: guest post by United States Sen. Jeff Merkley

Sen. Merkley, a long-time advocate for breastfeeding families, recently authored the 2010 health care provision providing nursing moms with break times and a private place to pump milk in the workplace.

Tuesday: Birth Center families’ perspectives
Read what families have to say about accessing lactation services in a Baby Friendly facility – the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. LaneCoFBC will invite more families to share their perspectives via an online survey. Findings will be shared with local healthcare facilities and community leaders.

Wednesday: Janie Akerlund, RN, IBCLC

Janie Akerlund reflects on more than two decades of experience working as a nurse and lactation consultant at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Immunology at UC Denver/National Jewish Health Hospital.

Thursday: Desiree Nelson, RN, IBCLC

Desiree Nelson tells us about Baby Connection, an innovative approach to bringing evidence-based drop-in breastfeeding services to Lane County.

Friday: Wrap up

LaneCoFBC offers a concluding post.

Background

World Breastfeeding Week 2010

WBW 2010 commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Innocenti Declaration by WHO and UNICEF to protect, promote and support breastfeeding through implementation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative’s “Ten Steps” in maternity facilities. Ten Steps provides a comprehensive evidence-based pathway to support women and guide healthcare facilities in the provision of sound breastfeeding care.

Ten-Step facilities are referred to as “Baby Friendly.” These facilities ensure all women receive comprehensive evidence-based service. They have codified policies requiring that all staff who are in contact with mothers be trained to assist and assess breastfeeding. Assessing can mean knowing when to call in a lactation consultant. Women and their support network learn about breastfeeding during pregnancy, receive 24-hour lactation support after discharge and access to on-going, non-emergent expert and peer support throughout the first year postpartum.

Local context

There are four Baby Friendly facilities in Oregon, one of which is the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. As the fortunate recipients of Baby Friendly care, Friends of the Birth Center members know firsthand the role it plays in establishing and maintaining breastfeeding. We regularly credit this care for providing the accessible expertise and peer support necessary for learning to breastfeed with confidence, especially as we resume work beyond newborn care. Because of our unique experience, we are committed to supporting local efforts to make Baby Friendly care baseline for all Lane County women and families.

The Center for Disease Control recently surveyed all birthing facilities about their level of breastfeeding support through the 2007 CDC National Survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC). Click here to view the CDC report for Oregon.

National context

Consistent with Healthy People 2020’s national breastfeeding objectives and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity’s new recommendations for evidence based lactation services, Baby Friendly care is associated with national as well as state and local goals for facilitating higher rates of breastfeeding exclusivity for longer periods of time. (See a recent study here.) Baby Friendly is also consistent with the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospitals Organization (JCAHO) new monitoring of breastfeeding exclusivity outcomes at discharge as a part of their periodic hospital assessment.

Moving forward

The WBW’s 2010 theme coincides with a unique window of opportunity here in Lane County. Oregon WIC recently dedicated federal funds for the express purpose of supporting the healthcare system, specifically hospitals, to provide evidence-based breastfeeding services to women and newborns. Hospital practices are the focus for this funding. Learn more here.

Cindy's trip to Haiti

2010-07-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

In May, Cindy Hunter, a former midwife with the Birth Center who is now based at Sacred Heart Medical Center, spent a week working at a clinic in Hinche, Haiti.

Seven months past the January 12th earthquake, the situation in Haiti remains dire. Women and families are desperately in need of pre- and post-natal care. During Cindy's visit to Haiti, her group, which consisted of three midwives and four nurses, saw 600 patients in just one week.

Through donations, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center assembled and sent 14 new mother kits with Cindy. These kits included blankets, cloth diapers, vitamins, and other items new mothers and their babies need.

Following are pictures from Cindy's visit. You can see our kits in a few of the photos of women and their babies. There’s also one of young men learning about “cycle beads.” While not ideal, they represent a chance to learn about fertility. About them, Cindy shared:

Once one of the interpreters understood the use of the beads, he began to teach the others... and the next day everyone wanted one for their sister!

Thank you to all of the Birth Center families who donated items for these kits! And, thank you to Cindy for allowing us to be part of her trip to Haiti.

Open House Presentation

2010-06-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came to our open house at The Divine Cupcake on Sunday! We so enjoyed meeting all the moms, dads, toddlers, and babies! If you weren't able to make it to our open house, but are still interested in finding out more about us, are interested in helping, or simply want to stay up to date with news and information please email us at lanecofbc@gmail.com.

Here is a the powerpoint presentation we presented at the open house.
LCFBC Open House Presentation

Open House Invitation

2010-05-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center invites you to our Open House!

When: Sunday, June 6^th from 12 pm to 3 pm.

Where: The Divine Cupcake, 1680 W. 11^th Avenue. Eugene, OR 97402

Facebook Invitation

Come to our open house, buy a cupcake, meet the Executive Board and other supporters, and learn more about the Friends of the Birth Center and how you can get involved!

At the open house, we will have more information about how you can join a committee and become part of the creative force that will shape the direction of the LaneCoFBC. The first committee meetings will be held in July 2010.

Friends of the Birth Center Committees:
Advocacy: Promotes evidence-based care at the Birth Center as well as throughout the wider community.
Membership / Archives: Maintains electronic and print archives of LaneCoFBC and birth-related community events.
Programs / Events: Plans at least two annual events to foster the Birth Center community and provide forums to discuss issues related to birth and parenting.
Fundraising / Philanthropy: Plans at least one annual fundraiser.

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center was formed in 2008 to support the Birth Center's transition to the new facility at RiverBend. This year, we look forward to the opportunity for building and sustaining the Birth Center community. We invite you to join us. The goals of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center are to build community and support the needs of the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center, form relationships between birth center families, and advocate for evidence-based care in Lane County.

For More Information visit us on Facebook.

Lane County, Oregon celebrates the new PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center

2010-05-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, PeaceHealth hosted a grand opening of the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center! More than 200 community supporters joined in the celebration.

The grand opening marks the re-opening of the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center practice in a new freestanding facility on the Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend campus. The practice began more than 20 years ago and has welcomed more than 5,600 children. On May 7, Donna and Corey Templeton welcomed Faye Patience,the first baby to arrive at the new center.

Expectant parents, new parents and little ones along with extended families and friends joined the Birth Center staff, PeaceHealth leadership and Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation to celebrate the new facility. It was a joyous affair all the more special for the glorious spring weather. (See photos of the new Birth Center here.)

Each program speaker emphasized the critical community partnerships that made the new birth center a reality.

Tom Ewing, PeaceHealth Medical Group Chief Medical Officer, described the Birth Center services as “benchmark care.”

Mel Pyne, PeaceHealth Oregon Region CEO spoke to the importance of community collaboration. Pyne also read a congratulatory letter from Sen. Jeff Merkley. The Senator emphasized the importance of evidence-based breastfeeding support from prenatal care through the first year of a child’s life.

Midwife Michele Peters-Carr shared the staff’s pleasure in resuming the special work they do and the joy they feel in seeing the old birth center's spirit, history and love grace the new one.

Bob Scheri, PeaceHealth Director of Mission and Spiritual Care Services, brought the Birth Benter staff together where all could see and honor these women for the unique role they play in attending women and families to gently birth and welcome their babies.

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center made the following comments:

Good afternoon. My name is Katharine Gallagher and I am the chair of Lane County Friends of the Birth Center. I also served on the SHMC Foundation’s capital campaign. It is a pleasure to be here - the day before Mother’s Day and forty weeks, the gestation time for a baby, after construction began. It is an honor to thank PeaceHealth for making this day possible. Forgive me; I might take a bit more time than technically appropriate – my apologies!

Going back sixteen months, the future of PeaceHealth’s out-of-hospital maternity services was uncertain. The available funds to build a new facility at the RiverBend campus were insufficient to initiate construction. Deeply concerned, a group of Birth Center families met to identify how we could collectively communicate the importance of continued access to a freestanding birth center and invite community support for the construction of a new facility.

If you haven’t, I encourage you to talk to the women and families who use the Birth Center. You will hear descriptions that seem almost magical. Don’t be fooled – the birth center model is not magic, it just feels that way. These magical descriptions of birth center midwifery are the result of receiving care in line with the highest national and international standards for evidence-based mother and baby practice. Evidence-based care follows what research tells us yields the greatest good. In essence, these standards bring women into the center of their own care where they are fully engaged in preparing for birth, giving birth and caring for a new baby.

Originally seeking to maintain a personal choice in maternity care, Friends of the Birth Center has learned to value the connection between PeaceHealth’s birth center-based midwifery and the wellbeing of the community as a whole. Though largely unknown or overlooked, Lane County struggles with an unacceptably high fetal-infant mortality rate. It is higher than the nation; higher than the state; and higher than rates in comparable counties and it affects women and babies across all socio-economic, age and ethnic groups. The individualized, holistic care women and babies need to avoid these tragic outcomes happens at the Birth Center. The earlier the prenatal care, the better the outcomes and PeaceHealth honors this by serving all women at the Birth Center, regardless of their insurance status.

Many of us discover the seemingly magical benefits of the PeaceHealth birth center after our babies arrive and we begin to breastfeed and care for them. Most of us need to learn how to breastfeed, to establish and maintain our milk supply and to incorporate breastfeeding into our lives, especially as we resume commitments in addition to mothering a newborn. The Birth Center knows birth is the middle, not the final, event of maternity care, even if most of us don’t! After we give birth, we along with our families are seamlessly ushered into a twenty-four hour lactation support system and a weekly baby clinic where we weigh our babies, ask lactation experts questions and find peer support among the many other moms, dads and grandparents who attend. We go home confident that breastfeeding works. This comprehensive postpartum support is key to seeing breastfeeding extend beyond initiation.

This lifeline -like, evidence-based breastfeeding care has a name: the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. As the name suggests, this initiative is not just for birth centers. Most Baby Friendly facilities in the country are hospitals. I raise this point because Lane County has very high rates of breastfeeding initiation but steep drop off rates once women go home. Ensuring all women and families receive Baby Friendly care is a goal worthy of our community and one we can accomplish. We can do this and we will be better for it.

I will close with heartfelt thanks to PeaceHealth Oregon CEO Mel Pyne for his vision and leadership and to his staff for their commitment to getting the job done. From our first overture, Friends of the Birth Center was welcomed into a productive dialogue and partnership. We are also grateful for Rueben Mayes’ leadership of the SHMC Foundation and to his staff for supporting every effort to identify all potential pathways forward. That PeaceHealth pressed forward during a wrenchingly difficult and turbulent recession speaks to its capacity and resolve to invest in the future by providing the much-loved, cost effective, prevention-oriented care that will yield excellent long-term outcomes for Lane County women, babies, families and the community.

That PeaceHealth’s investment should result in an uncommonly attractive facility in a setting of remarkable natural beauty speaks to its respect for the community – US. Friends of the Birth Center looks forward to continuing its partnership with PeaceHealth and to continuing efforts to foster connections among Birth Center families.

Thank you for the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center - the best Mother’s Day gift ever!

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center welcomes community participation. To learn more, please read our membership letter of invitation.

Waterbirth International at the Birth Center

2010-04-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Moving in, resuming services and planning the May 8th grand opening celebration keep the Birth Center staff super busy these days! Last Friday, the staff took time out to focus on and discuss water birth with Waterbirth International’s founder Barbara Harper and Polly Malby, current American College of Nurse Midwifery Oregon Chapter chair.

It was a fun and instructive afternoon. Best of all? Seeing Birth Center midwives, nurses and staff in their new PeaceHealth home ready to resume serving women and families in an out-of-hospital setting.

Here are some photos from the afternoon…..

Sneak Peak Tour Photos

2010-04-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

PeaceHealth hosted five sneak peek tours for the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center over the past month. A lot has happened since the last birth center tour in January! Paint is on the walls, the floors are done, the landscaping complete, and the new birth center is almost move in ready. There are only a few details to finish up before the new facility opens on Monday, May 3rd!

Did you miss the sneak peak tours? Check out our slideshow-

The birth center staff will be moving from the PeaceHealth Medical Group Downtown Eugene Clinic on Friday, April 30th. Appointments, baby clinic, and births (yeah!) will be occurring at the new facility beginning May 3rd.

PeaceHealth Medical Group
Nurse Midwifery Birth Center
353 Deadmond Ferry Rd
Springfield, OR 97477

Donate Maternal Health and Baby Supplies for Midwife's Trip to Haiti

2010-04-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Former Birth Center midwife Cindy Hunter (shown here with Birth Center mom Anna Glazier) departs for Haiti on April 29th. Through Midwives for Haiti, Cindy will support earthquake recovery in one of the poorest and hardest-hit areas of Port-au-Prince. Here is a description of what she will encounter:

Haiti’s desperate poverty and lack of health care infrastructure strongly influence the childbearing women of Haiti. These women suffer in pregnancy, die in record numbers in childbirth, and lose their children too often. Most of their complications are preventable with simple interventions such as malaria and anemia treatment as well as safe care during pregnancy and birth. When the earthquake came, there were 65,000 pregnant women in Haiti.

Midwives for Haiti is an organization dedicated to educating midwives in Haiti and providing health care teams to help keep these 65,000 women and their babies as safe as possible in Haiti’s difficult situation.

Please join Friends of the Birth Center in supporting Cindy to serve Haiti's women and children. Donate new or like-new items from the list below. Leave your donation at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center reception area at 1162 Willamette Street in Eugene by Wednesday April 20, 2010.

To make a tax-deductible donation towards Cindy’s approximately $1500 transportation costs, write a check to “Midwives for Haiti” and send to:

Cindy Hunter

86042 Drummond Drive

Eugene, Oregon 97405

541-554-4624

cindyhunter60@gmail.com

Sneak Peak Tours!

2010-03-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

The day is almost here when the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center will open on Deadmond Ferry Rd adjacent to RiverBend Hospital! PeaceHealth is offering sneak peak tours of the Birth Center beginning this Saturday. These tours are open to all who are interested. If you're a new family interested in birth services, a current birth center family, a birth center alumni family, a birth support person or educator, or simply an interested community member, this is a great opportunity to see the facility before it opens.

Tour Dates:
Saturday, March 20th, 10am-11am
Saturday April 3rd, 10am-11am
Friday, April 16, 10am-11am
Saturday, April 17th, 10am-11am
Thursday, April 22, 5:30-6:30

From PeaceHealth-

The new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center features:

2 dedicated birth suites with tubs for water births
2 dedicated prenatal / postpartum exam rooms
A healing garden and walking path for laboring mothers
2 areas for education and wellness programs
An additional 700 square feet of space all on one level
Projected Floor Plan
Projected Site Plan

PeaceHealth Midwifery Services has certified nurse midwives who work in collaboration with PeaceHealth obstetricians at both the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center and the Prenatal Clinic. They provide care during pregnancy, labor, and birth and help with breastfeeding in addition to well-woman care. Care is provided regardless of a woman's ability to pay. A recent piece penned by Birth Center Midwife Michele Peters-Carr for The Register-Guard provides additional information about services.

Birth Center Site Tour #2

2010-01-16T20:03:00.001-08:00

PeaceHealth hosted Lane County Friends of the Birth Center for a second tour of the new Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center on January 15. More than twenty people came out including expecting parents and returning parents with little ones in tow.

Much has been accomplished since our first tour in October and it shows in the beautiful, well-conceived details throughout the house.

The best news of all? Construction is on time and on budget, meaning a Mother’s Day 2010 opening is in sight. More good news? The Birth Center has a new Certified-Nurse Midwife, Hilary Prager, who we enjoyed meeting on the tour. Welcome Hilary!

Here's a slide show from the tour.....

Friends of the Birth Center thanks PeaceHealth for having us - we would love to come again.

During construction, Birth Center services are located on the second floor of the PeaceHealth Medical Group Downtown Eugene clinic. In addition to prenatal and birth services, the Birth Center provides women, babies and families with a drop-in well-baby clinic, extensive lactation support, childbirth education, centering groups and well-woman appointments.

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If you are unfamiliar with freestanding birth centers, you may find this FAQ helpful.

Too many Lane County babies dying

2009-12-26T12:38:00.001-08:00

Before Thanksgiving, the Register-Guard published Tracking infant mortality | Why is the rate so high in the United States? This editorial explores the connection between inadequate health care and the nation's high infant mortality rate. According to the CDC and as reported in the New York Times, the United States trails 29 nations, tying with Poland and Slovakia, in infant mortality.

Some of the reasons for high infant mortality in the United States include:

High rates of premature birth
Excessive use of cesarean section and labor-induction drug
Lack of health care and social support, particularly among poor and minority women
Infertility treatment practices

While the Register-Guard has covered Lane County’s unbelievably high rate of fetal-infant mortality in the past, no mention was made in this editorial. The following opinion piece was submitted by Katharine Gallagher, member of Lane County Friends of the Birth Center, and published on December 6th. The quoted rate of 9.5 deaths per 1,000 births should have been identified by Katharine as the fetal-infant mortality rate, which includes both fetal (24 weeks gestation and 500 grams) and infant deaths (through the first year of life). This rate was incorrectly identified as the infant mortality rate, which includes only infant deaths.

Too many Lane County babies dying | The infant mortality rate here is higher than it is statewide, nationwide and in Poland and Slovakia
By Katharine Gallagher
For The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Sunday, Dec 6, 2009

Readers of The Register-Guard’s Nov. 25 editorial “Tracking infant mortality: Why is the rate so high in the United States?” may have been surprised to learn that the United States ranks 29th among nations for infant mortality — tying with Poland and Slovakia, and trailing countries of considerably lesser means. These readers will be shocked to learn that Lane County’s most recent 2007 infant mortality rate (9.5 per 1,000 live births) is higher than the mediocre rates in Multnomah (7.4 per 1,000), Clackamas (6.7) and Washington (6.4) counties; higher than that of Oregon statewide (7.9), and higher even than U.S. rates (9.3).

Put another way, babies born in Lane County start life at greater risk than they would in Poland or Slovakia. Why is the infant mortality rate so high here? More importantly, what are we doing about it?

While national infant mortality rates are a compelling indicator of the health care system’s failures, limiting our consideration to the national context suggests we can wait for federal policymakers to make things better. This is shortsighted.

Infant mortality rates have long been accepted as the most sensitive indicator of a community’s overall health, as well as a barometer of social and economic well-being. The death of an infant is a seminal event demanding a ground-level examination of the resources available to local health and human service departments and their capacity to effectively deploy them. Equally important, it is a call for civic engagement.

After more than a decade of too-high avoidable fetal and infant mortality rates, we need a new approach. The Lane County Public Health Department recently established the Healthy Babies, Healthy Community Initiative to encourage a community-led response among public, private and nonprofit organizations, researchers and community members. Initiative participants support adopting a local Fetal Infant Mortality Review Program. FIMR is a national network of community-based, action-oriented programs with a record of success.

The goals of the FIMR program are to support grieving mothers and to prevent avoidable future mortalities. When a fetal or infant death occurs, FIMR is notified. If the mother is willing, she participates in an interview with qualified professionals. Mothers’ stories help renew local commitment to finding and solving community-specific problems contributing to infant mortality. Most importantly, FIMR puts mothers and families in touch with professionals able to provide bereavement support.

Once family needs are being met, prevention moves to the forefront. Information is collected and analyzed. Sources of data — stripped of information that identifies the family, health care providers and institutions — include the mother’s interview, medical records, birth and death certificates, coroner’s reports, and records from health and social service agencies. A qualified case review team identifies the most prevalent factors and makes recommendations for improvements. Participants in the Healthy Babies, Healthy Communities Initiative would then translate these recommendations into a transparent, systematic community action plan and implement it.

The initiative anticipates receiving results of the first data analysis of fetal and infant mortalities from the Lane County Public Health Department after the New Year.

Analyzed data is essential to understanding our current local context. Are the infants we lose born at term? Do they survive past the critical first month? What is the mother’s age? What kind of support did she receive before, during and after giving birth?

With this information, we can act to reduce fetal and infant mortality. Without it, we are operating in the dark, facing another decade of avoidable tragedy.

Lane County’s fetal and infant mortality rates are not set in stone. We can, we must, insist that avoidable mortalities occurring in our midst cease. The Healthy Babies, Healthy Community Initiative is a positive development. To meet its potential, it must have a funded, functioning FIMR program. Since 2007, the $150,000 FIMR funding request to facilitate data analysis and case review has gone unanswered.

Elected officials, civic leaders, and community members have demonstrated the collaborative action necessary to build state-of-the-art courthouses, hospitals, stadiums and athlete learning centers. When we see this same level of commitment directed toward solving the problem of fetal and infant mortality, we will begin charting a better course for our most vulnerable babies and families. Financially, the funding requirements are a pittance compared to the costs of these new facilities. The return on investment, however, is beyond compare.

Giving thanks for the new PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center

2009-11-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

The Thanksgiving holiday is a good time for reflection. Lane County Friends of the Birth Center is thankful that out-of-hospital mother-baby and well-woman services will soon resume at the new PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center. We are grateful that newly pregnant women will have the option of giving birth at the new facility.

We appreciate PeaceHealth’s commitment to maintaining community access to a freestanding birth center. The Fall 2009 PeaceHealth Health Update includes a construction site report from the summer. Construction is humming along toward the anticipated Mother’s Day 2010 completion. Compare the Health Update photo and those taken during our September tour with the following shots taken last week to see how much has been done.

During construction, Birth Center services have temporarily relocated to the second floor of the PeaceHealth Medical Group Downtown Eugene clinic. In addition to prenatal and birth services, the Birth Center provides women, babies and families with a drop-in well-baby clinic, extensive lactation support, childbirth education, centering groups and well-woman appointments.

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If you are unfamiliar with freestanding birth centers, you may find this FAQ helpful.

Birth Center Site Photos & National Midwifery Week

2009-10-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

October 5th kicks off National Midwifery Week (see end of message), a time for celebrating the contributions midwives make to the health and wellbeing of women and families.

Here in Lane County it's especially fitting to observe this week through sharing news and photos from Friends of the Birth Center’s recent tour of the site of the future PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center. Knowing midwives, lactation consultants and support staff will soon be offering birth center-based services for women, babies and families is cause for celebration!

Since the June 30th groundbreaking, much has been done to put and keep construction on track for on-time completion in May 2010. This is great news as women and families are eagerly anticipating renewed access to this well-loved community resource!

Many thanks to PeaceHealth and especially to Phil Farrington, Director, Land Use Planning & Development, for offering last Friday’s site tour – we greatly appreciated the opportunity.

Here are a few photos from the tour…..

In honor of National Midwifery Week, feel free to leave a message of thanks for the Birth Center midwives and staff on our Facebook site. Click here.

100% reimbursement for Certified Nurse-Midwives in Health Care Legislation

2009-10-02T19:23:00.001-07:00

National Midwifery Week (October 4-10) is special this year. Not only are we preparing for the opening of the new PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center but the news out of Congress points to the likely passage of legislation guaranteeing equitable reimbursement for certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) under Medicare. As of last night, it is now included in both the House and Senate health care reform bills. CNMs currently receive 65% reimbursement for the same services provided by other healthcare providers.

Watch C-SPAN’s clip of Sen. Kent Conrad’s introduction of the provision last night:

It appears that the only thing between CNMs and 100% reimbursement under Medicare is President Obama’s signature. Let the National Midwifery Week celebrations begin!

Cozmic Pizza Benefit a great success

2009-08-24T15:50:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone for coming out for the Birth Center Benefit Concert Sunday evening! A good time was had by all and we raised $307. These funds have gone into the Birth Center Campaign Donation fund.

Many thanks to Kate Downing of the Low Tide Drifters for organizing the benefit!!!

Construction Update

2009-08-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, Friends of the Birth Center received a positive construction update from PeaceHealth. We are looking forward to a site tour in September. In the mean time, here are the highlights:

Major site work and building excavation are complete
On-site stormwater drainage facilities have mostly been installed
The foundation has been poured
Framing and the installation of underfloor plumbing and electrical systems are well underway

At this rate, babies conceived at the end of August
could be born at the new Birth Center!!!

Aug 23 Birth Ctr Benefit Concert at Cozmic Pizza

2009-08-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Come out for the Birth Center!

Sunday, August 23rd at Cozmic Pizza in Eugene

6pm bi-lingual children’s music with Bryan Reed

7pm The Low Tide Drifters

8pm Mollasses

$5 donation for adults, kids listen free.

Groundbreaking

2009-07-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

On June 30th, Friends of the Birth Center joined PeaceHealth for the much anticipated groundbreaking ceremony for the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. Following are photos from the ceremony.

Construction is underway and in ten months’ time, approximately the time it takes to gestate a baby, Friends of the Birth Center looks forward to joining PeaceHealth, donors and community supporters for very special spring (Mother’s Day?) 2010 grand opening.

Birth Center farewell party

2009-07-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

On June 21st, the Birth Center hosted a six-hour open house farewell party for families and friends.

With music by the Low Tide Drifters on the porch and dance from Luminessah, Birth Center staff, families and friends spanning its 28-year history in Eugene, visited and drifted through the house in which they welcomed children.

Special thanks to The Divine Cupcake, Capella Market and Liz Gibson for donating cupcakes, appetizers and gorgeous floral arrangements.

During construction of a new freestanding facility, nurse midwifery services are temporarily relocated to the second floor of the PeaceHealth Medical Group Downtown Eugene clinic.

If you were unable to attend or already miss the old Birth Center, here are some photos...

And, if you're already ready to stroll down memory lane, here are photos of the Birth Center as many of us will remember it for years to come..

Update on services and costs following June 10 Q&A meeting

2009-07-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

On June 22, PeaceHealth CEO Mel Pyne responded to concerns raised at the June 10 Q&A meeting about services during the interim construction period of the new Birth Center. Mr. Pyne made the following points.

Interim Services
Hospital leadership is working with Birth Center midwives to ensure an optimal experience for mothers and families on the Labor and Delivery unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Costs
PeaceHealth Patient Financial Services department will provide one-on-one consultations to Birth Center mothers and families. For eligible families, there are resources available to mitigate the financial impact of the higher cost of a hospital birth. (Patient Financial Services can be reached at (541) 686-7191.)

Friends of the Birth Center appreciates the ongoing communication as we embark on the short-term interim period.

June 10 Q&A Outcomes and Rec re Costs

2009-06-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

PeaceHealth hosted a June 10 Q&A meeting for pregnant women and families affected by the temporary relocation of Birth Center services during construction of a new facility at Sacred Heart, RiverBend.

With the exception of the pregnant families facing unexpected costs, the Q&A meeting paved the way for stakeholders –expecting women and their families, Friends of the Birth Center and community supporters, and PeaceHealth– to move forward through the interim period. Following are key take-away points and a recommendation for shielding expectant families from unexpected cost increases resulting from interim plans for services. Attendees also received a very helpful FAQ from PeaceHealth.

Facility update

PeaceHealth secured additional days at the current location. Services continue through July 8. Many thanks to PeaceHealth, as additional days mean some families will still be able to birth out of the hospital.
In light of the current economy, PeaceHealth is pursuing a rebid on the new facility. Incurred savings provide resources for restoring facility features previously trimmed.
Building permits are in place and construction could begin early to take advantage of summer weather.

Interim services
Birth Center and Labor & Delivery staff provided informative and reassuring descriptions of birth services inside the hospital. Mothers, many in their third trimester and anticipating out-of-hospital birth, appreciated hearing Birth Center and L&D staff talk about their decades-long relationship serving Birth Center mothers at the hospital.

Many birth center and hospital protocols are identical - mother’s preferences for monitoring and discharge can, in theory, be met.
Birth Center and L&D staff described the interim period as an opportunity to expand the number of Sacred Heart nurses trained to support midwifery-assisted birth. (Friends of the Birth Center has suggested PeaceHealth explore expanding its Baby Friendly designation to include Sacred Heart Medical Center. Many other top-rated hospitals have earned this prestigious designation.)
Birth Center staff are using and adding to prenatal education opportunities to work with women who had anticipated out-of-hospital birthing
Women and families are welcome to tour RiverBend’s birth suites. Online sign up: www.peacehealth.org/birthtours
Women and families are also encouraged to email feedback and questions to birthcenterphor@peacehealth.org

Hearing how Birth Center and L&D staff are collaborating to anticipate, reassure and support women who wanted an out-of-hospital option was one of the most positive outcomes of the open-format Q&A discussion. This was especially helpful for women who expressed concerns about being rushed through labor or viewed with irritation by hospital staff for wanting a non-interventionist approach.

Costs
Concerns over unanticipated costs were foremost among those in attendance. The majority of questions dealt with how and why costs for birth services would increase during the interim period. Expecting families asked that the original cost estimates be honored. PeaceHealth’s suggestion that each patient negotiate a payment plan for increased charges with Patient Financial Services was met not well received. As one pregnant woman soon to give birth stated: “I’m not asking for any handouts, I’m simply asking that I be charged the price I was quoted when I chose this service.”

Out-of-pocket payers are likely to be billed as much as $4,000 more than anticipated for a normal birth (See FAQ, page 2)
Women were directed to call Patient Financial Services at (541) 686-7191. Charity care and payment plans were suggested solutions to anticipated bills.

Recommendation
Friends of the Birth Center sincerely hopes PeaceHealth will find a way to honor cost estimates provided to expecting families who, in good faith, selected the Birth Center with the stated preference of an out-of-hospital birth. Births that would have occurred at the Birth Center, which result in low-risk, non-intervention, and early-discharge eligible outcomes would be extremely helpful. This would be a significant reciprocal good-faith act for the relatively small and finite number of families impacted by the strategic decision to preference sale of the current facility over informing them of the potential loss of the out-of-hospital birth option. Families, especially uninsured, out-of-pocket payers, would be protected from exorbitant, unanticipated medical bills.

Moving forward
Friends of the Birth Center takes seriously PeaceHealth’s description of us as a community partner and we believe that our contrasting perspectives are a valuable part of an ongoing, constructive relationship, cemented by shared long-term goals.

We appreciate CEO Mel Pyne’s continued accessibility and leadership and are hopeful that cost issues, especially for out-of-pocket payers, will be resolved.

Eugene Sustainability Commission supports PeaceHealth efforts to relocate Birth Center to RiverBend

2009-06-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

The City of Eugene Sustainability Commission recently sent a letter to PeaceHealth expressing appreciation for its efforts to relocate the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center to RiverBend.

The Sustainability Commission is a policy advisory group to the Eugene City Council and City Manager on the development of programs or actions to enhance sustainable practices within the community and city organization.

The future of the Birth Center aligns well with its mission and work:

The Sustainability Commission works to create a healthy community now and in the future by proposing measurable solutions to pressing environmental, social and economic concerns to the City of Eugene, its partners and its people.

Birth Center ahead of national efforts to effectively deliver preventive health care

2009-06-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Recent editions of Time and The New Yorker magazines explore the roles of cost, incentives, outcomes and the importance of preventive care within the health care delivery system.

The New Yorker: The Cost Conundrum

Time: This Doctor Does Not Want to See You

For 28 years, the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center has provided accessible, affordable and outstanding mother-baby care in line with current efforts to emphasize preventive health care. At the June 2nd news conference announcing construction of the new Birth Center at RiverBend, Friends of the Birth Center offered the following description:

Among the finest in the nation, the PeaceHealth Birth Center provides affordable, accessible services with phenomenal outcomes in line with national and international standards for excellence in mother-baby care and breastfeeding. Along with being a well-loved and valued part of our community, the Birth Center is ahead of national efforts to better deploy limited health care resources.

Unique for providing a continuum of services before, during and after birth, the Birth Center model of care provides need-blind service and an emphasis on client-provider partnerships, education and prevention. Its emphasis on normalcy and healthfulness yields fewer billable procedures than the medical care model. Families, employers and insurers including public programs funded by taxpayers, appreciate lower costs, especially today. Savings continue postpartum through the Birth Center’s 24-hour breastfeeding consultation service and a weekly well-baby drop-in clinic. This upfront investment means fewer visits to the doctor and missed days at work.

The foundation of Birth Center care is its out-of-hospital setting. This critical feature promotes and protects the non-medical space in which women who use it want to give birth and initiate breastfeeding. Because the Birth Center exists within the health care delivery system, many women believe they receive the best of both care models. Consumers describe it as an incomparably valuable and necessary option for establishing family.

PeaceHealth FAQ for Nurse Midwifer Birth Center

2009-06-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

PeaceHealth provided the following three-page FAQ to women and families attending the June 10 Consumer Q&A:

FAQ, page one

FAQ, page two

FAQ, page three

Consumer Q&A with PeaceHealth re Birth Center Services During Construction

2009-06-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Women and families affected by the upcoming temporary relocation of Birth Center services are invited by PeaceHealth to attend an information meeting on Wednesday, June 10 from 5p.m. to 7p.m. in the auditorium of Sacred Heart Medical Center University District located at 1255 Hilyard Street in Eugene.

The temporary relocation coincides with last week’s announcement by PeaceHealth that construction of the new Nurse Midwifery Birth Center at RiverBend begins July 13. During the 10-month construction phase, pre and post-partum services will be moved to the second floor of the PeaceHealth Medical Group’s Downtown Eugene clinic at 1162 Willamette. All midwife-assisted births will take place at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.

During a May 26 interim-planning meeting at which Friends of the Birth Center was invited to comment, PeaceHealth agreed to develop a FAQ sheet addressing the following concerns:

Communicate why the interim plan does not include out-of-hospital birth
Why there was a delay in communication with current clients
Acknowledge commitment to sustaining all services
Commit to securing full re-accreditation including the freestanding birth center accreditation and the UNICEF/WHO Baby Friendly designation
Describe plans to engage Birth Center moms, past and present, in developing interim practices

Friends of the Birth Center anticipates these concerns being addressed at the June 10 meeting. Per feedback from expectant mothers, we have also asked PeaceHealth to address questions about costs. Birth Center clients, especially out-of-pocket payers, are concerned about incurring unanticipated expenses as a result of the interim plan. We hope pricing estimates will be honored for women who, in good faith, have already initiated care.

Friends of the Birth Center appreciates PeaceHealth’s commitment to provide information about interim services. We believe the June 10 meeting will assist women, who until last week anticipated out-of-hospital birth and breastfeeding services, to determine the best course for their continued care.

In the months since Friends of the Birth Center formed and began working with PeaceHealth, much has been accomplished to secure the long-term future of the Birth Center. Despite and especially because of significant concerns about interim service delivery, we value and look forward to continuing the community/client-provider partnership with PeaceHealth.

PeaceHealth announces July 13 groundbreaking and 103% fundraising goal reached

2009-06-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

PeaceHealth hosted a news conference this morning. Two important pieces critical to relocating the Birth Center were announced: (1) groundbreaking will occur on July 13 and (2) the fundraising goal of $750,000 has been reached, in fact 103% of the goal has been raised. Fundraising efforts continue, allowing for features cut from the original proposal to be restored. Coverage: The Register-Guard, KEZI and KLCC.

Following topics include:

Friends of the Birth Center’s comments at this morning’s news conference
June events honoring the Birth Center
Coverage last week

Friends' comments at the news conference
I’d like to begin with words of thanks…
In January, the newly formed Friends of the Birth Center contacted PeaceHealth CEO Mel Pyne about the Birth Center’s behind-schedule relocation to RiverBend. Mr. Pyne responded with an invitation to meet.

At this February meeting, he assured us of his personal commitment to continuing PeaceHealth’s birth center-based midwifery model of care. The other PeaceHealth leaders in the room also made assurances of their commitment for relocation.

Impressive strides in fundraising and progress toward selling the current facility were quickly made. At the May dedication of this uniquely beautiful site, PeaceHealth described Friends of the Birth Center as a valued community partner in the sacred purpose of serving women and children through relocating the Birth Center.

While we remain deeply concerned by the interim plan for Birth Center services during construction, we sincerely appreciate Mr. Pyne’s continued accessibility and responsiveness. Without his leadership, we would not be here today.

Now, I’d like to say a few words about the Birth Center…
Among the finest in the nation, the PeaceHealth Birth Center provides affordable, accessible services with phenomenal outcomes in line with national and international standards for excellence in mother-baby care and breastfeeding. Along with being a well-loved and valued part of our community, the Birth Center is ahead of national efforts to better deploy limited healthcare resources.

Unique for providing a continuum of services before, during and after birth, the Birth Center model of care provides need-blind service and an emphasis on client-provider partnerships, education and prevention. Its emphasis on normalcy and healthfulness yields fewer billable procedures than the medical care model. Families, employers and insurers including public programs funded by taxpayers, appreciate lower costs, especially today. Savings continue postpartum through the Birth Center’s 24-hour breastfeeding consultation service and a weekly well-baby drop-in clinic. This upfront investment means fewer visits to the doctor and missed days at work.

The foundation of Birth Center care is its out-of-hospital setting. This critical feature promotes and protects the non-medical space in which women who use it want to give birth and initiate breastfeeding. Because the Birth Center exists within the healthcare delivery system, many women believe they receive the best of both care models. Consumers describe it as an incomparably valuable and necessary option for establishing family.

I’d like to close with a few words about the interim period…
While Friends of the Birth Center acknowledges and genuinely appreciates the commitment PeaceHealth has made towards the new Birth Center facility, we remain concerned about the interim plan. We are concerned because it results in lost accreditations, cuts staff and reduces services while at the same time increasing costs for families. And, it brings women into a setting for birth and breastfeeding that they do not want.

We have been roundly assured this interim period will not serve as a pretext for keeping the Birth Center inside the hospital. PeaceHealth has also assured us staffing, services and accreditations will be restored once construction is complete in 10 months time.

During this period our organizing principles remain (1) preserving the integrity of the Birth Center model of care and (2) ensuring continuity of care for women currently served. Toward these ends, we appreciate PeaceHealth’s invitation of continued partnership toward developing the very best interim circumstances possible.

Ten months from July 2009 puts us at Mother’s Day 2010 – our greatest hope is to join PeaceHealth for a Mother’s Day grand opening of the new Birth Center where we now stand.

Thank you.

June events honoring the Birth Center
Come to the following events to learn about interim services, support the future Birth Center and celebrate / say goodbye to the current site of the PH Nurse Midwifery Birth Center

Consumer Q&A with PeaceHealth
When: Wednesday, June 10 5-7pm
Where: Auditorium of Sacred Heart Med Center University District at 1255 Hilyard St, Eugene
What: Opportunity for consumers to ask questions about services during the construction

Benefit for Nurse Midwifery Birth Center Facebook invite
When: Sunday, June 14, 1pm to Monday, June 15, 2am
Where: Diablo's Downtown Lounge (959 Pearl Street, Eugene)
What: All day benefit including BBQ, silent auction, bingo and karaoke, on into the evening with local bands and fire dancing by the always fabulous Tribe of Eve! Minors welcome til 9pm...
Cost:$5 suggested donation
Help: If you have items to donate for the silent auction, please contact Annie at annie@badmotivator.net

June 21 Birth Center "Farewell" Party Facebook invite
When: Sunday, June 21, 12pm to 6pm
Where:Current Nurse Midwifery Birth Center (511 E. 12th Avenue, Eugene)
What: Birth Center staff will host an open house to honor all of the families from the beginning of the Birth Center in the 80's to the present day!
Help: Donations from food providers are welcome and greatly appreciated! Please contact Emily at midwifeemily@gmail.com

Coverage last week:
Women unhappy about hospital’s plans to close nurse midwifery center

Interim birth center plan needed

Gap Ahead in Midwife Birthing Services?

Preserve services and continue care during construction

2009-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2009

Mr. Mel Pyne
Chief Executive Officer
PeaceHealth Oregon Region
P.O. Box 1479
Eugene, OR 97440

Dear Mel:

On behalf of the Friends of the Birth Center steering committee and the many women who have contacted our group, I am writing to express profound concern over the process and direction of interim planning for the Birth Center. The plan, as I understand it, fails to preserve the practice’s model of care and to maintain continuity of care, criteria critical to the Birth Center’s long-term viability.

With assurances of our involvement in interim planning, Friends of the Birth Center left the April 10 meeting with you confident of a process that would result in transparency and integrity. We indicated reluctant willingness to support a plan in which out-of-hospital birth services might cease temporarily so long as all other remaining services remained intact. Chris Miles told us to expect an invitation to join interim planning before May. We received no invitation or follow up. After the May 9 dedication, you responded to our follow up inquiry that Chris, Kitty and Kathy would soon be in touch to set up a meeting. No contact was made. Chris did attend the May 14 campaign meeting. There she made additional assurances of an upcoming meeting. While I learned of plans for this meeting, I received no invitation. When I followed up, the meeting was cancelled and pushed to next Tuesday.

June 30th, the date Birth Center staff are to vacate the current location, is fast approaching and interim planning no doubt continues internally without us. At the May 14 meeting, Chris briefly and with little follow-up detail described a scenario in which Birth Center births would move inside the hospital and a reduced staff would work out of the PHMG downtown clinic. Reduced staffing would be felt in diminished birth and postpartum lactation services for which the Birth Center is a respected, in-demand center of excellence. Such a plan undercuts the very long-term goals inherent in our recent, outstanding short-term efforts thus far to relocate the Birth Center.

Dismantlement, as an organizing principal, dramatically and significantly increases facility and provider costs born by families and insurers, including taxpayer funded OHP. The Birth Center facility fee is approximately $2,000 as compared to a hospital facility fee of $8,000. It would also appear that physicians would gain financially as they would collect a provider fee from women who are pushed to bring their births inside the hospital. How could this not create a disincentive for the hard work of reassembling a dismantled staff and rebuilding a scattered clientele at the end of construction? Accordingly, we see dismantlement as a catastrophic blow with the potential to fully undermine birth center-based midwifery, a model of care touted and much loved in this community for its affordability, access and truly excellent outcomes.

Pregnant women and new mothers using the Birth Center have no idea where their next prenatal appointment will be or where they will birth their babies, or where or if they will receive the stellar lactation services for which the Birth Center is revered. We should all try to imagine how upended a woman in her third trimester or newly breastfeeding must be feeling right now. All of us, regardless of the complexities involved, have an absolute obligation to these women who, in good faith, initiated care with the understanding that the Birth Center model of care would be there for them.

Please direct interim planning to serve women and families. A temporary out–of-hospital space in which the Birth Center model of care remains intact, ready to relocate post construction and in which women receive continuity of care is best. We are aware of a vacant, potentially code-appropriate building around the corner from the current Birth Center site. If this cannot work, we would like consideration of the SHMC Foundation’s RiverBend house.

At the May dedication, we joined PeaceHealth in commitment to the sacred purpose of serving women and children through relocating the Birth Center. Let us protect and preserve it with an effective interim plan. Otherwise, the community's opportunity to have the finest program of its type in the nation will slip through our fingers. We look forward to hearing from you and to participating in next week’s interim planning meeting.

Sincerely,
Katharine Gallagher
Spokesperson

The Steering Committee of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center
Renee Bailey
Krystal Box
Eden Cronk
Brooke DeWitt-Boyer
Katherine Fisher
Katharine Gallagher
Karen Guillemin
April Hartley
Kirsten Hughes
Kathy Lynn
Jena Price
Eleanor Vandegrift

cc: Mel Pyne, CEO, PeaceHealth Oregon Region
Tom Ewing, PHMG Medical Director for PeaceHealth Internet Services
Phil Farrington, Director, Land Use Planning & Development
Liz Gibson, SHMC Foundation Campaign Chairperson
Chris Heritage, CNM, Birth Center Midwife, SHMC Foundation Campaign member
Cindy Hunter, CNM, Birth Center Midwife, SHMC Foundation Campaign member
Vern Katz, MD, SHMC Foundation Board Member
Rick Kincade, MD, PHMG and PeaceHealth Oregon Region Board Member
Kathi Levell, Executive Director of Planning for PeaceHealth Medical Group
Randy Lewis, MD, SHMC Foundation Campaign Physician Chairperson
Rueben Mayes, Executive Director of SHMC Foundation
Chris Miles, Chief Operating Officer
Michele Peters-Carr, CNM, Employee Campaign Co-Chair
Kitty Schiffer, Patient Care Executive for Sacred Heart Medical Center
PeaceHealth Oregon Region Board
SHMC Foundation Board
Lane County Friends of the Birth Center blog (http://www.lanecofbc.blogspot.com)

Birth Center interim planning - preservation and continuity of care are key

2009-05-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center appreciates and looks forward to joining PeaceHealth to develop an interim plan for the period in which Birth Center services will be affected by construction.

There are two organizing principles we believe essential to sustaining the integrity of the Birth Center in the short- and long-term. They are (1) preserving the practice and (2) ensuring continuity of care. We advocate an interim out-of-hospital arrangement; and yet we recognize that making this work poses significant challenges for PeaceHealth. Whatever the outcome of interim planning, utilizing the two organizing principles defined below will provide an outcome that truly serves PeaceHealth, the Birth Center practice and its clientele.

Preserving the Birth Center Practice

Affordability & Access
Facility fees at the Birth Center are one quarter of hospital facility fees.

Excellence
The Birth Center has earned and maintained prestigious licensure and accreditation. Both would be lost inside the hospital.

(1) Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC)
(2) Baby-Friendly designation from UNESCO and WHO

Outcomes
The Birth Center is a national leader in breastfeeding – possibly the nation’s top leader.

The CDC publishes national breastfeeding initiation rates. Recently, the Northwest and Hawaii had the highest rates; Oregon was tied for the highest rates in the Northwest; Lane County had the highest rates in Oregon and the Birth Center without a doubt has the highest rates in Lane County.

Transparency
Families will be most well served, if they understand how their care will be affected. Communicating clearly about the final interim plan will enable them to make informed decisions about their care. Transparency is key to the Birth Center maintaining and growing its clientele.

A timeline including groundbreaking, construction and a grand opening would be invaluable to clearly communicating the bright future everyone anticipates.

Ensuring continuity of care for mothers, babies and families

Prenatal
Prenatal appointments
Childbirth education classes
Breastfeeding classes

Birth
Midwives and nurses with expertise in non-medicalized / natural birth
Lactation consultants specially trained to assist in breastfeeding initiation
3-day home / hospital visit for breastfeeding and early mother-baby care
Midwives authorized to discharge mother and baby

Postpartum
Weekly drop-in well baby clinic and lactation support
24-hour lactation support service
6-week post-partum appointment

We genuinely appreciate the opportunity as community members and consumers to join interim planning. While the process is rife with considerable challenges, we remain confident that an excellent, workable plan is within reach.

Stay tuned and please continue to send your feedback at lanecofbc@gmail.com.

Birth Center Dedication

2009-05-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, May 9th PeaceHealth hosted a dedication ceremony for the new Birth Center.

As members of the community, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center's steering committee attended. For most of us, it was the first opportunity to fully appreciate the generosity PeaceHealth has shown in dedicating such a uniquely beautiful space. Mel Pyne, CEO, PeaceHealth Oregon Region was our host. His kind words conveyed a level of commitment in which we feel great confidence and appreciation. The morning was a true celebration of the future Birth Center, all the more special for falling on Mother’s Day weekend. Thank you!

Click here to watch the video online with the option of full-screen viewing.

The following comments were offered during the dedication by Katharine Gallagher on behalf of Lane County Friends of the Birth Center:

Strong and capable mothers are essential to our community. When women thrive, we all prosper. The Birth Center facilitates this connection between individual women and the well being of our community.

Thru respectful, humane partnership, Birth Center midwives, lactation consultants, nurses and support staff nurture and inspire women on their journey to motherhood.

Because so many of us, mothers and fathers, get our start away from the support and generational wisdom found within extended family, the Birth Center becomes our second home before, during and after our babies arrive. We learn early on that its door is always open and it’s just a phone call away, no matter the time, the day or the question at hand.

The Birth Center honors our community every day in every thing it does to cultivate and send strong mothers, empowered fathers and healthy, beautiful babies out into the world.

Friends of the Birth Center, comprised of community members, deeply appreciate Mel Pyne’s leadership and PeaceHealth’s commitment to the Birth Center.

Results from The Birth Survey offer consumer info on maternity service

2009-04-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

The CIMS Transparency in Maternity Care Project: The Birth Survey is the first ever consumer ratings website dedicated solely to providing feedback on obstetricians, midwives, hospitals, birth centers, and home birth services. The consumer reviews include overall ratings and recommendations for birth facilities and care providers, and also a seven-item set of questions on providers’ interpersonal and communication skills, facility intervention rates (select states only), and information on finding good care. A national average of ratings is also displayed to provide comparison with individual ratings. Click here to read CIMS’ press release.

Locally, the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center received 13 ratings, the most ratings for a birth services facility. The Birth Center received an average rating of 4.5 stars out of five. One Hundred percent of respondents would recommend the Birth Center to family and friends. View results for The Birth Survey at www.thebirthsurvey.com.

Birth Center Status Update - Things are looking good!

2009-04-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

On April 10th, Lane County Friends of the Birth Center steering committee members met with Mel Pyne, CEO of PeaceHealth’s Oregon Region. Last week, post-meeting communications continued. We are now able to offer an update. Please feel free to share feedback at lanecofbc@gmail.com.

Campaign Update
PeaceHealth continues to progress toward its two conditions for building the new Birth Center. The PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation has reached 90% of the $750,000 goal and the outlook for the sale of the current facility continues to be positive. Progress made since the beginning of the year reflects an extraordinary degree of energy and creativity on the part of PeaceHealth.

Celebrating Progress
During Mother’s Day weekend, PeaceHealth will host an intimate dedication or blessing at the site of the future Birth Center at RiverBend. A public groundbreaking will be scheduled to coincide with the start of construction, most likely in July. With Mel Pyne and other PeaceHealth leaders, donors, Birth Center staff and the LaneCoFBC steering committee in attendance, the May event is an important precursor to the public groundbreaking.

Interim Planning
As momentum builds for relocation, LaneCoFBC anticipates the possibility of the Birth Center becoming “homeless” at some point during construction. We brought this up during the April 10 meeting. While aware of our preference for a temporary freestanding facility, PeaceHealth views this as unrealistic due to difficulties in meeting the numerous code requirements including fire, safety and ADA.

Should the Birth Center become homeless, PeaceHealth would most likely move its services and staff inside the hospital. LaneCoFBC expressed deep, heartily felt concerns that any moves inside not become pretext for staying inside. We were roundly reassured that this would be a short-term plan necessitated only by construction of the new Birth Center. We were further assured the Birth Center services that families anticipate receiving before, during and after a baby’s arrival would continue. The one exception would be out-of-hospital birth. Once the new Birth Center is ready, all services will move to the new facility.
LaneCoFBC asked to participate in the interim planning process and appreciates the positive manner in which we have been welcomed. Following are two items we hope to see included:

Designated Birthing Rooms. Designated Birth Center birthing rooms would significantly improve the difficult situation of temporarily interrupting out-of-hospital birth services. This space, through its furnishings and staffing, could come as close as possible to providing the setting and model of care women anticipate receiving at the Birth Center.

Informational Meeting. Should it become necessary to execute the interim plan, it would be extremely helpful to present it to the families using the Birth Center. This kind of meeting would let them know what to anticipate as they plan for a baby’s arrival.

If you have ideas or concerns, especially if you are currently using Birth Center services, please do not hesitate to share them with LaneCoFBC at lanecofbc@gmail.com!

Recap of April 10 Meeting with Mel Pyne, PeaceHealth CEO

2009-04-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

Steering committee members of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center met with Mel Pyne, PeaceHealth Oregon Region CEO and members of his executive management team on Friday, April 10th. The meeting was productive and positive. Perhaps the best news was learning that fundraising efforts have secured 90% of the total $750,000 goal. PeaceHealth is confident of reaching 100%. A decision has not been made about a Mother’s Day groundbreaking.

Members of the steering committee feel good about the direction of the campaign and the positive manner in which our desire to collaborate on the Birth Center’s relocation to RiverBend has been received.

April Newsletter

2009-04-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Birth Center Campaign Update
Mother’s Day Groundbreaking
PeaceHealth is within reach of meeting its two conditions for building the new Birth Center in time for a Mother’s Day groundbreaking. The conditions are completion of fundraising and sale of the current building.

More than 87% of the $750,000 fundraising goal has been reached.

The current building is listed and enjoys interest.

When recently contacted by Lane County Friends of the Birth Center (LaneCoFBC), Mr. Mel Pyne, CEO of PeaceHealth’s Oregon Region, concurred that a Mother’s Day groundbreaking looks promising. Members of the LaneCoFBC steering committee will meet with Mr. Pyne on Friday, April 10th. Stay tuned.

WineStyles Birth Center Benefit
PeaceHealth’s Foundation hosted two successful benefit receptions for the Birth Center in March. Birth Center families, friends and supporters especially enjoyed seeing the midwives and staff in attendance. Many thanks to the Foundation’s Rueben Mayes, Matt Favreault and Linda Starr!

Outreach
Do you know community leaders with whom Lane County Friends of the Birth Center should be in touch? Please contact lanecofbc@gmail.com with suggested introductions.

Because local leaders having varying degrees of familiarity with the Birth Center, LaneCoFBC seeks to have them understand the Birth Center’s key public health role as a cost effective, evidence-based and accessible model for care. In addition to offering a much-in demand form of maternity care, its services are critical to Lane County’s ongoing efforts to lower the local infant mortality rate – above the national average and Oregon’s highest.

Recent Blog Entries

CDC releases staggering 31.8% c-section statistic

Birth Center helps families gracefully clear hurdles to breastfeeding

April is cesarean awareness month

Local Events & Good News
Breastfeeding Presentation: Encouraging Words are Not Enough
Sunday, April 19 from 2 to 4pm
If you read The Atlantic Monthly’s recent piece “The Case Against Breastfeeding,” you won’t want to miss this advance preview of a presentation for the upcoming 2009 Healthy Start Statewide Training conferences. Join Lane County Friends of the Birth Center to learn about and discuss the following breastfeeding-related issues:

Preventable problems influencing earlier-than-planned weaning
Contributing factors and potential solutions
CDC recommendations for evidence based breastfeeding care
Baby Friendly, a gold-standard designation from UNICEF and the World Health Organization
How the Birth Center’s Baby Friendly practices effectively support women

Presenters:
Debbie Jensen, RNC, IBCLC
Desiree Nelson, RN, IBCLC.

Sacred Heart at RiverBend, Conference Room C/D
From the main hospital lobby, take stairs up to the second floor; go left at stairs, then left along the balcony. Conference Room C/D is at end of this hall.

Follow up questions:
Desiree at desiree.ann.nelson@gmail.com

Lane County’s First Annual Healthy Babies Award
The Public Health Department’s Healthy Babies, Healthy Communities Initiative has established the Healthy Babies Award. This award will be given annually to recognize efforts in Lane County that help reduce fetal-infant mortality and increase infant health in our community. Any agency, organization, medical professional or individual from Lane County is eligible. Nominations are due no later than April 17, 2009. Click here for nomination information, including access to the form.

Oregon Breastfeeding Coalition
Announcing the launch of the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon website: www.breastfeedingOR.org

African Birth Collective’s Red Tent Event
April 19 from 10am to 5pm
EWEB Conference Room, 500 E. 4th Avenue

Suggested donation: $10 to 15

Silent Auction. Gift Certificates and artwork for local artists
Slideshow about African Birth Collective’s work in Africa
Red Tent Story Sharing of birth and transformation to be documented for the BOLDACTION.ORG oral history library

You are also invited to donate any of the following items for "Mama Baby Packs" going to clinics in Senegal:

Onesies
Receiving blankets
Toothbrushes
Soap
Socks
Hats

Follow up questions:
Kaya Skye at 541.951.9995

Support the Birth Center:
Watch the Birth Center Tribute video - more than 500 people have viewed it online so far!

Join the more than 850 people who have signed our online petition

Make a contribution to the Birth Center campaign

Find us on Facebook

Join our email distribution list – send an email to lanecofbc@gmail.com

Thank you!

April is Cesarean Awareness Month

2009-04-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Observers of Cesarean Awareness Month seek to shed light on the impact of cesarean surgery on mothers, babies, and families worldwide. Used appropriately, cesarean section can be a lifesaving surgery. US rates, however, are at least 31.8%, more than double the 15% maximum recommended by the World Health Organization and double the rates in 1996.

To learn more about cesarean awareness, support, and education:
• Visit the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) website

Additionally, following are two interesting pieces exploring implications for the skyrocketing rates of cesarean birth:

• Sarasota Memorial can help reduce high C-section rates

• Need for transparency increases as Cesarean section rates rise

Birth Center Helps Families Gracefully Clear Hurdles to Breastfeeding

2009-03-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic Monthly recently published “The Case Against Breastfeeding” which The Today Show covered. While incorrect (see below), the article’s assertions that scientific evidence barely supports breastfeeding is important because it reveals the often disheartening challenges many women and families in our society face when trying to breastfeed. Given the article’s tone and the ensuing coverage and online discussion, the need for compassionate and sensitive discourse could not be greater or more obvious. It is also important to take stock of our local options and, once again, we have much to be grateful for in the unique services found at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.

Disheartening Hurdles to Breastfeeding
Whatever one’s feelings about breastfeeding, most people can agree on one thing: breastfeeding in the United States is a challenge for most women. Here are a few of the institutional and cultural hurdles women and families must clear to establish breastfeeding:

The US, alone among industrial nations, provides no paid maternity leave.
Most expecting women, who themselves were unlikely to have been breastfed, are encouraged to breastfeed but given no pre-baby lactation education. The majority are unaware that “most hospitals perform poorly on breastfeeding support.”
Before their milk fully comes in, mothers and babies leave the hospital with no routine follow-up breastfeeding support.
Unnecessary breastfeeding complications often ensue requiring the aid of a lactation consultant, a service generally not covered by health insurance.
Neither the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists nor the American Academy of Pediatrics requires doctors to be trained in basic breastfeeding support including referring patients to lactation consultants or support groups.

For a more thorough explication of these challenges and the misplaced resentment they understandably spark, read "Case Against Breastfeeding" Overlooks Big Dirty Secret."

Birth Center Helps Families Gracefully Clear Hurdles to Breastfeeding
The PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center is among the 3% of 3,000 maternity centers in the US to earn the "Baby-Friendly" designation, the gold-standard protocol proven to result in breastfeeding success. After mom, dad and baby go home from the Birth Center, they receive an in-home visit where questions and concerns about breastfeeding, infant care and post-partum recovery are addressed. Families are then encouraged to use the free, weekly drop-in Baby Clinic to see lactation consultants, weigh their baby and connect with other parents. Not only does breastfeeding get off to a good start but life-long friendships are also nurtured right along with babies!

The extraordinary value of Birth Center’s “Baby Friendly” designation shines brightly in the Birth Center Tribute video as well as in the 28 heart-felt testimonials offered by Birth Center moms, dads, grandparents and supporters. These letters were written recently to convey to PeaceHealth the importance of ensuring the Birth Center’s future by relocating it adjacent to the new hospital at RiverBend.

Evidence for Breastfeeding is Scientific
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine issued a press release detailing the evidence basis for breastfeeding.

President of the American Academy of Pediatrics also submitted the following letter via email to the editor of The Atlantic Monthly.

In the article, "The Case Against Breast-Feeding" by Hanna Rosin, the author skims the literature and has omitted many recent statements including the 2005 statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics which supports the value of breastfeeding for most infants. This policy references every statement with scientific evidence from over 200 articles which meet scientific standards for accuracy and rigor. The statement was meticulously reviewed by the Section on Breastfeeding, the Committee on Nutrition and numerous other committees and approved by the Board of Directors of the Academy. Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries, a study released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (the AHRQ Report) strongly supports the evidence of benefits demonstrated in the breastfeeding research. The evidence for the value of breastfeeding is scientific, it is strong, and it is continually being reaffirmed by new research work.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages women to make an informed decision about feeding their infants based on scientifically established information from credible resources.

David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP
President
American Academy of Pediatrics

CDC releases staggering 31.8% c-section statistic

2009-03-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

As research continues to illustrate the risks of unnecessary cesarean surgery, the Center for Disease Control released “Births: Preliminary Data for 2007.” The 2007 birth rate is the highest it’s ever been and so is the cesarean section rate:

The cesarean delivery rate rose 2 percent in 2007, to 31.8 percent, marking the 11th consecutive year of increase and another record high for the United States.

The cesarean section rate has doubled since 1996 and is more than twice the 15% rate recommended by the World Health Organization. It is also well above the federal government’s Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing cesarean section among low-risk women giving birth for the first time to 15%.

Cesarean rates vary widely across the nation, across hospitals and among providers. Variations are said to reflect practices and policies of individual hospitals and providers more than they reflect the health of pregnant women and their babies.

Access to hospital- and provider-level data on cesarean rates would provide women with important information for selecting a birth setting and provider. Toward this end, The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services launched the Transparency in Maternity Care Project: The Birth Survey. Women who have given birth within the past three years can share their provider and birth setting experience via The Birth Survey.

While local-level maternity care data is not yet available, Lane County women do have access to at least one provider and setting within the health care delivery system with a cesarean section rate consistent with national and international standards for healthy mother-baby outcomes: the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.

PeaceHealth’s commitment to relocate the Birth Center adjacent to its RiverBend campus is all the more important given the recent news about cesarean section rates. Simply put, it's the right thing to do.

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To learn more about why transparency in maternity care matters, read:

Amy Romano's "Transparency in Maternity Care"
CIMS press release in response to news that c-sections are going up, not down

2009-03-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Following is an update from Lane County Friends of the Birth Center. Please share it with anyone interested in local birth options for women and families. Join our email distribution list by sending an email to lanecofbc@gmail.com.

PeaceHealth plans Mother's Day groundbreaking
Last month, The Register-Guard reported the following positive news:

PeaceHealth plans to begin construction on its new midwifery birth center near Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend on Mother’s Day, provided it can meet its fund-raising goals and reach agreement to sell the existing birth center in Eugene.

Mel Pyne, CEO of PeaceHealth’s Oregon region, agreed to set May 10 as a groundbreaking goal during a meeting Friday with representatives of Lane County Friends of the Birth Center, a group that’s been lobbying PeaceHealth to make the new birth center a priority, according to PeaceHealth spokeswoman Andrea Ash and Katharine Gallagher of the birth center group.

Watch the Birth Center Tribute video to see sketches and photos of its future home. It's sure to attract even more women and families. We've heard recent coverage, letters to the editor and a terrific guest viewpoint about the Birth Center have lead women to seek out its services.

As of March 11th, $636,000 or 85% of the fund-raising goal of $750,000 has been reached! These funds will be combined with proceeds from the sale of the present Birth Center building. Community support is essential to reaching the total goal - click here to make a donation to the Birth Center Campaign. We are proud to report that 100% of the LaneCoFBC steering committee has contributed and we hear from family, friends and supporters that they have done so, too. Every gift is significant - even more so in tough times.

Recent blog entries:

• PeaceHealth commits resources in the midst of cuts
• TIME magazine: The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans
• National group recognizes LaneCoFBC's consumer activism

In addition to blogging, LaneCoFBC posts up-to-date info for the following areas in the right-side margin:

Coverage of PeaceHealth Birth Center and Related Issues
Local Resources
Goings-on in the Birth Community
National Resourcres
Birth in the News (newspaper and magazine articles)
Recent Studies, Reports, Books

UO journalism student hopes to shadow Birth Center moms
Leslie Rutberg is a graduate student at the UO School of Journalism interested in observing pre- and post-natal care at the Birth Center. If you are interested, please contact her at leslieru@gmail.com. Following is a description of her project.

I am working on a narrative journalistic piece about the birth center for a graduate school course (though eventually I would like for it to be published locally to bring attention to the birth center and it's value to the community). Those of you involved in the birth center know that they are involved in much more than just the day(s) of the birth and so I'd like to be able to convey the experience of post and pre-natal care. Seeing this care first hand would help me understand and describe it. I would be grateful if anyone felt comfortable allowing me to tag along on a visit with a midwife or lactation consultant. I would be strictly an observer. Feel free to contact me about this, or anything else about my project, at leslieru@gmail.com. Thanks so much. - Leslie

Local Events & News
"Nurturing a Better Future through Birth"
Following is a description of the upcoming Midwifery Week conference here in Eugene:

Please join us for this very important conference. We are incorporating many subject areas critical to the practices of midwives, doulas and counselors. In addition to a rich offering of how-to classes, we will have classes on skills development, massage and sexual abuse issues. There is truly something for every practitioner who works with mothers. Learn to be the best practitioner you can be while being supported in your calling—and having fun too!

Click here to read Midwifery Today's Jan Tritten's recent blog post about the conference. She also blogged about recently dropping by the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center where she learned about its "Centering Pregnancy" form of prenatal care.

March is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month
Oregon House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing March as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month. The resolution coincides with House Bill 2666 seeking to establish a workgroup to report on existing services, gaps and funding strategies for prenatal health. According to Representative Carolyn Tomei,

There is a lack of provider education, public awareness, and access to affordable care for women suffering from these common, yet underreported issues… One in eight pregnant or postpartum women will develop significant depression or a panic disorder. Early recognition of risk factors and symptoms reduces adverse health outcomes for both the mother and child ultimately making Oregon families stronger.

The Birth Center provides the kind of affordable care called for in HB 2666. It does so while offering pre- and post-natal care sensitive to the multiple dimensions of a woman’s wellbeing before, during and after birth.

We'll keep you posted on future developments related to the Birth Center's relocation. In the mean time, any of the following actions would be helpful and greatly appreciated!

Sign our online petiton supporting the Birth Center
Make a donation
Join our Facebook group
Follow our blog - click the RSS feed buttons underneath "Subscribe"
Add your name to our email distribution list - send an email to lanecofbc@gmail

With an eye toward the future, PeaceHealth commits resources in the midst of cuts

2009-03-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

As PeaceHealth cuts $10 million in expenses, it keeps a steady eye on post-recession operations. Recently, The Register-Guard reported PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Foundation pledged $1.875 million toward Lane Community College’s campaign for a new health careers building. The Eugene Weekly reports PeaceHealth also remains committed to spending $20 million toward a new hospital in Friday Harbor, Washington.

Relocating the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center adjacent to RiverBend is fully in sync with PeaceHealth’s long view. Its practices and outcomes are fully aligned with its mission, core values and vision. Of equal importance, ensuring the Birth Center’s future by relocating it demonstrates sensitivity to the importance of being in step with national healthcare reforms of increased access, lower costs and excellent outcomes. The Birth Center is a model in each of these areas:

Regardless of insurance status or ability to pay, women may initiate prenatal care at the Birth Center.

According to government data cited by ChildbirthConnection.org, birth center births, on average, are one-fourth the cost of hospital births ($1,624 as compared to $6,239).

Anecdotal and evidence-based research demonstrates excellent mother-baby outcomes for women receiving birth center care.

Birth Center supporters deeply appreciate PeaceHealth ’s commitment to a Mother’s Day groundbreaking.

TIME magazine: The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans

2009-03-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

TIME Magazine recently published “The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans” which explores the difficulties women interested in vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) encounter. The article coincides with the release by the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) of its results for the 2009 Survey of Hospital and VBAC Bans. The survey reveals a fast-paced trend toward banning VBAC:

The survey shows a near triple increase (174%) from November 2004, when ICAN conducted the first count of hospitals forbidding women from having a VBAC. In 2004, banning hospitals numbered 300. The latest survey, conducted in January 2009, counted 821 hospitals formally banning VBAC and 612 with "de facto" ban. Full results of the research can be seen in the VBAC Ban Database.

Formal and de facto hospital VBAC bans are enormous barriers to women seeking to avoid repeat cesareans. Women served by hospitals with bans are left to choose between a surgery they do not want and traveling long distances to hospitals supportive of VBAC. Some women opt out of hospital care and have their babies at home.

Sacred Heart Medical Center is among the nation’s hospitals supportive of VBAC. Two of the mothers featured in the Birth Center Tribute video had VBACs there with Birth Center midwives attending.

Click here to see a companion piece to the TIME articled published by The Huffington Post.

National group recognizes LaneCoFBC's consumer activism

2009-02-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

The current issue of AABC News, published by the American Association of Birth Centers, focuses on Lane County Friends of the Birth Center as a model for consumer activism. AABC describes its use of Internet technology as effective in organizing supporters to collectively communicate with health care systems, insurance companies, legislators, media outlets and community members. (For a copy of the article, send a request to lanecofbc@gmail.com.)

Fueled by the Birth Center's history of outstanding, family-centered outcomes, LaneCoFBC reflects tremendous community support for its relocation adjacent to Sacred Heart Medical Center campus at RiverBend. While its record speaks for itself, it's important to note that local demand corresponds with the national health care reform goals of:

providing evidence-based, cost-effective care
expanding coverage
improving public health outcomes

By a quarter of a century, the Birth Center predates directions in national health care.

PeaceHealth's plans for a Mother's Day groundbreaking ensures this local "crown jewel" will continue charting a course worthy of national emulation.

Peace-Health to Prioritize Mother’s Day Groundbreaking

2009-02-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Peace-Health to Prioritize Mother’s Day Groundbreaking for the New Birth Center at RiverBend

Eugene, OR – February 13, 2009 – Eight Birth Center moms, members of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center Steering Committee, met with Mel Pyne, Oregon Region PeaceHealth CEO, and his Executive Team this morning. Pyne invited Lane Co FBC to discuss concerns about delays in the Birth Center’s relocation adjacent to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. He assured Lane Co FBC of his personal support for the Birth Center, as did members of his Executive Team.

Pyne committed to mobilize the necessary resources for a Mother’s Day groundbreaking. This milestone remains contingent on reaching the remaining fundraising goal of approximately $250,000 and the sale of the current facility. Pyne’s Executive Team identified these goals as achievable. A timeline incorporating the continued involvement of Pyne’s Executive Team will be developed.

Lane Co FBC emphasized the importance of Foundation Director Rueben Mayes’ continuing leadership for the fundraising committee’s success in the next six weeks. The group looks forward to partnering with the SHMC Foundation for an upcoming public fundraiser.

Evidenced by more than 800 online petition signatures, the Birth Center enjoys broad community support. Always steady, the demand for Birth Center care increased 75% last year. Births attended by certified nurse-midwives far exceed the national average – 20% in comparison to 11%. Reasons for this growth include preference for the midwifery model of care, affordability and a desire to be in a home-like setting within the healthcare delivery system.

In an effort to draw attention to and humanize the importance of continued access to Birth Center services, local families collaborated on an online video tribute. It can be viewed on the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center’s blog:

www.viddler.com/explore/LaneCoFBC/videos/1/

Online Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/birthctr/petition.html

Blog: http://www.lanecofbc.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=40048856835

Contact:

Katharine Gallagher

Communications Officer

Lane County Friends of the Birth Center

(---) --- ----

lanecofbc@gmail.com

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Birth Center Tribute video

2009-02-12T07:12:00.000-08:00

Concerned about delays in the PeaceHealth Nurse-Midwifery Birth Center's relocation adjacent to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, families created this online video tribute to put a human face on the importance of its relocation and to raise public awareness in our community.

Community member & grandmother encourages PeaceHealth to move Birth Center adjacent to RiverBend

2009-02-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

Click here to see 26 more letters encouraging PeaceHealth to relocate the Birth Center adjacent to RiverBend.

February 1, 2009

Dear PeaceHealth Board of Directors and other concerned parties:

I am writing as a long time community member and grandmother to ask that you make it a top priority to move the PeaceHealth Midwifery Birth Center to the RiverBend area.

I had my own children while living in Eugene. That was many years ago. Birth rooms and attention to the birthing environment or emotional needs of the mother/father were just beginning to be considered by hospitals. My deliveries were both hard and took some time for me to sort through, thus affecting me as a new mother.

A year ago my daughter had her first baby. While the stages of the actual delivery paralleled mine, her whole experience was totally different; it was positive. The Birth Center is what made the difference. The staff there is amazing. Throughout the pregnancy, my daughter had easy access to people who were very supportive, available at all times, and, most important, very knowledgeable.

The follow up by the Birth Center after my granddaughter’s birth has been more than I could have ever dreamed of having. I have gone with my daughter and granddaughter for a weekly “check in” at Baby Clinic. You can’t put a price tag on how important that kind of support is for a new mother. In the waiting room are mothers, fathers, and babies of all sizes. The orientation of the Birth Center promotes interaction, support, and community. These are all so critical to the health of both the child and family.

Are you going to make decisions for your hospital just based on numbers and ledgers? What the Birth Center offers is not quantifiable by numbers. And, the Birth Center is not redundant. It has a unique role and fills an important need in the community. If you do not understand that, then you have not taken the time to sit in the waiting room and talk to the parents there, or to talk with a pregnant woman who has used its services.

It is extremely important for the health of new families that the Birth Center moves, as has been planned, to the River Bend location.

Sincerely,
Anne McRae