Jan 14, 2013

I have been practicing as a WHNP for 21 years now serving women of all ages.  I am currently in a CNM program at Shenandoah University with plans to graduate in August of this year.  My goal is to open a free-standing birth center in the Williamsburg area as this option is not available for the women living there.  I have spent the past few months visiting birth centers, am in contact with local child bearing aged women, and am registered to attend the American Association of Birth Center’s conference in Raleigh North Carolina this month on establishing a birth center.

What I have seen is that birth centers provide a cost effective, safe, family supportive option for low risk births and women’s health care.  They offer many services that help transition families such as lending libraries, parent support groups, exercise and other wellness classes in a comfortable environment.  I have also heard from the women who have their babies at birth centers, and they LOVE the experience!

I am worried that the current legislative actions that are being considered will greatly impact my ability to open a birth center and ultimately do away with an option that many women are seeking.   The new laws and regulations which would place CNMs under a physician leader are not only unnecessary as CNMs have been safely practicing in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the last 6 years, but they will also severely limit our practice.  For example:  if the physicians in a given community are threatened by the competition of a birth center, it would become impossible for me to practice.  Many physicians and midwives work beautifully together, and I hope that the future leads to even more successful partnerships; but this is not always the case and therefore families who would like to choose this model of care should not be penalized. 

Why are we looking at ways in which we reduce access to care for our population and not working together on ways to increase access to care?  This type of legislation goes directly against national health care goals!  The model of midwifery care in other countries with far less money than America is placing them in better status with regard to infant mortality rates and other measurable areas of public health.  Let’s do the right thing for our state.

Sincerely,

Cheryl L. Sharp, MSN, WHNP-C

Midwifery Candidate Shenandoah University-2013