Cindy Hunter radio interview re Haiti trip

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!

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

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

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