Grassroots Network: May 7th MOM Campaign Webinar Postponed

Dear Friends,

This message comes from the campaign steering committee.

The Webinar on Midwives and Health Care Reform previously announced for Thursday, May 7th at 8 p.m. EST has been postponed. (GNM 905023 included a “save the date” announcement.) Sorry for any inconvenience this postponement may have caused, but it couldn’t be helped. Keep your eyes open for a new webinar date and time.

Midwives & Mothers in Action (M.A.M.A) Campaign, previously Midwives Organizing for Mothers or M.O.M., is a new national campaign to secure federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives. The M.A.M.A. Campaign Steering Committee includes the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC), Citizens for Midwifery (CfM) and the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC). Mary Lawlor, of NACPM, and Susan Hodges, of CfM, are the co-leaders of the M.A.M.A Campaign.

We are seeking to work in cooperation with allies in the midwifery advocacy community. We hope you will help as well.

In the coming days and weeks, the M.A.M.A Campaign will be providing the midwifery and advocacy community with further information about the campaign and avenues to help raise awareness and secure a place for Certified Professional Midwives in the developing federal health care system.

Here are two things you can do now to help:

1. Encourage moms and other midwifery supporters to make posts on blogs, forums and social networking sites on Mother’s Day praising the wonderful care they received from their midwives.

2. Attend any local health care reform events and raise awareness of the importance of maternity care to the national health care system. Most officials do not realize that maternity care represents almost ¼ of hospital discharges- which makes it a critical part of the health care reform conversation. Midwives increase access to maternity care for mothers and babies. Praise the care CPMs provide and state the important role they play in providing high quality evidence based cost effective maternity care.

CfM’s President, Susan Hodges, and Vice President, Nasima Pfaffl, are the designated members of the M.A.M.A Campaign Steering Committee representing Citizens for Midwifery. The two of us just returned from a successful planning meeting in Washington DC. We (members of the Steering Committee) also met with various legislators and congressional committee members. Congress has laid out an ambitious timeline for achieving health care reform this year, and we are ready to be part of it!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”