Ms. Mary
Kingston
Chief
Executive Officer
Peace
Health Oregon Network
May 16,
2019
Dear Ms.
Kingston,
We are members
of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center (LaneCoFBC), the volunteer-led
consumer advisory panel for the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center. We are writing to you to introduce our
organization and to schedule an appointment for our board members to meet with
you in person to discuss the future of our Birth Center.
We are
deeply concerned by your decision to close the Nurse Midwifery Birth
Center. We share your stated goal of
“keeping the patient at the center of all we do.” However, in order to ensure
that is achieved, PeaceHealth would have needed to engage directly with the birth
center community and our consumer group, before proceeding toward a decision,
to understand and confirm needs, concerns and priorities. We represent that community of stakeholders,
and this decision was made without any feedback from or recent collaboration
with us.
In your
announcement last week, you announced plans for the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery
Birth Center to become integrated within the Labor & Deliver unit at
Riverbend. We would like to remind you
that the PeaceHealth Birth Center’s Certified Nurse Midwives are already
integrated into the PeaceHealth Labor & Delivery Unit. In fact, last year they delivered 388 babies
at Riverbend. We also recognize,
however, that Women’s Care represents a much larger market share. Pacific Women’s Care, on the other hand,
represents a very small fraction. We are
concerned that by transitioning our local Certified Nurse Midwife capacity from
PeaceHealth over to Women’s Care you are further empowering Women’s Care to
dominate, dictate and essentially limit the autonomy of midwives to practice
their profession and also impacting the access to and options for women and
families in our community. It is a fact
that Women’s Care has imposed additional restrictions over the past 9 years on
what risk factors require transfer to hospital for delivery. Two examples, are the “41 week rule” and the
reduction of the PROM (premature rupture of membranes) window from 24 hours to
12 hours. Together they have resulted in
a significant increase (nearly 30%) in women who have “risked out” of
delivering at our Birth Center.
We also fear
that the most vulnerable members of our population will be impacted the
most. Indeed, for women on OHP who
cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket, the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth
Center is the only option they have for an out-of-hospital birth. Today, there are women who come from as far
away as, Medford, Redmond, and Salem to see the differentiated services
prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum wrap-around services such as 24/7
lactation support, birth control and well-woman services.
We would
like to clarify that our community is not seeking “midwifery experiences” but
rather we seek the internationally respected midwifery model of care. This model provides high-quality services without
sacrificing a recognition, respect and honor for the inherent strength in every
woman and for her right to have a choice in the location and type of provider –
the ultimate flexibility- when seeking prenatal and childbirth services.
We
are delighted that you are so proud of the care and service delivered by your
hospital’s Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.
Indeed, the staff’s commitment to and their impact on the wellbeing of
our community is impressive and far reaching.
However, we are concerned because it sounds as if PeaceHealth has
forgotten its own public commitment.
PeaceHealth made a commitment to the community to protect and promote the
birth center model. This commitment was made in partnership with many in our
community, including donors who were asked by PeaceHealth to invest $774,000 in
this long-term vision and partnership.
It
is nice to hear that you recognize the vital role our community played in the
construction of our current birth center home.
However, we would like to clarify that we did not develop the “birthing
center model.” This is a
long-established and internationally respected model of care (see attachment regarding
2013 National Birth Center II study.)
We
hear constantly from birth center clients whose lives have been forever changed
by the knowledge of themselves, their bodies, and their innate strength that
results from a labor and birth attended by birth center midwives and staff. We also hear about the impact of the
holistic, wrap-around postpartum services they provide. We also, of course, can each speak from our
own first-hand experiences. Each of us has been fortunate to be able to experience
a satisfying and empowering childbirth experience thanks to the high-quality
and personal support of birth center midwives and staff. The birth center model of care is a valuable
asset to the PeaceHealth network of caregiving institutions, and we — and
countless others — are committed to seeing its role and impact in our community
continue.
We
look forward to meeting with you soon, and look forward to hearing of your
availability.
Sincerely,
Lynn
Kane, Co-Chair
Mother of
two birth center babies (born 2010, 2012)
Ann Carney
Nelson, Co-Chair
Mother of
two birth center babies (born 2012, 2015)
Matt Huston
Father
of two birth center babies (born 2011 and 2016)
Heather
LeCompte,
Mother of
one birth center baby (born 2015)
Jennifer
Noyce
Mother of
two birth center babies (born 2012, 2014)
Jacob
Siegel
Father
of two birth center babies (2017, due 2019)
Emeritus
Board
Eleanor
Vandegrift
Karen
Guillemin
Kathy Lynn
Renee
Bailey
Katharine
Gallagher
Anna
Chorlton
Maria Blum
Jennifer
Rinner
Sara
Starlin
cc: Dr.
Scott Foster
Mike
Metcalf
Kelly
Rickman
encl.: American College of Nurse Midwives, "Birth Matters: Understanding
how physiologic, healthy birth benefits hospitals and organizations."
(midwife.org)
National
Birth Center Study II Executive Summary
What a respectful and professional letter. I look forward to hearing about the meeting. Thank you!
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