Our Non-Profit Organization:
THE ASSOCIATION FOR WHOLISTIC MATERNAL AND NEWBORN HEALTH
Mother-Baby Friendly Support and Education
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane”
-Martin Luther King, Jr. (25 March 1966)
A 501c3 non-profit educational corporation, founded in 1993, we are a training and and advocacy organization with a grassroots, community-based approach to support direct-service providers in promoting the health of mothers, infants, and families. The organization trains community perinatal health workers, designs community-based initiatives, engages and mobilizes diverse stakeholders to develop wholistically-oriented programs and policies that improve maternal and child health. Our purpose is to promote the availability and use of skilled maternity care including nurses, midwives, doulas and community health promoters, at all levels and in a variety of settings including clinics, private homes, hospitals and freestanding birth centers to promote evidence-based maternity and infant care and reduce perinatal health disparities.
WHO WE ARE
We are a dedicated group of public health professionals, childbirth educators, maternal-infant health advocates, midwives, doctors, mental health professionals and community members committed to improving the quality of maternity care and making an impact in reducing ethnic disparities in birth outcomes of mothers and infants in Los Angeles.
ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION
Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California is a 501c3 non-profit California educational corporation, DBA The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health, was founded in 1993 by Shelly Girard, a California Medical Board Licensed Midwife with a Masters in Public Health from UCLA, Lorri Walker, a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, owner of the the only accredited birth center in the region, and Cordelia Hanna-Cheruiyot, who has a Masters in Public Health in Health Education and Promotion/Maternal Child Health from Loma Linda University, is a childbirth educator, assistant midwife, doula and childbirth activist. In 2010, Lorri and Shelly turned over the leadership of the organization to Cordelia who now serves as the Executive Director, guiding the work of a dedicated group of paid consultants and volunteers, supported by a small team of professional advisors from various disciplines including nursing, public health, mental health, midwifery, non-profit management and others. In 2011, we established the DBA The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health.
FUNDING
We are currently funded by California Community Foundation and The Laurence H. Tribe Charitable Trust. We rely upon grant funding and the donations of citizens who believe in our important work of serving disadvantaged pregnant women and their infants. Considering making a tax-deductible donation, which you can earmark for any purpose you envision or a current project.
OUR PURPOSE
Our purpose is to promote the availability and use of skilled maternity care including nurses, midwives, doulas and community health promoters, at all levels and in a variety of settings, through the education and professional development of qualified practitioners to provide maternity care in varied settings including clinics, private homes, hospitals and freestanding birth centers and to promote evidence-based maternity and infant care and reduce perinatal health disparities. We are a training and and advocacy organization with a grass roots, community-based approach to support direct-service providers in promoting the health of mothers, infants, and families. The organization trains community perinatal health workers, designs community-based initiatives, engages and mobilizes diverse stakeholders in collaboration to develop wholistically-oriented programs and policies that improve maternal and child health.
WHAT WE DO
We train parents, midwives, nurses, doulas and perinatal community health workers to promote natural childbirth, the midwifery model of care, breastfeeding, and woman-centered, culturally competent childbirth education and support. We are striving to improve perinatal health outcomes such as infant mortality, low birth weight and maternal mortality through the revitalization of “traditional” birth attendants–midwives and doulas. We are developing and implementing innovative initiatives that aim to close the gap on health disparities, including breastfeeding peer counselor trainings, nurse-education trainings, community-based doula programs and more.
WHAT WE MEAN BY ”WHOLISTIC” MATERNITY CARE
Our intent is to mobilize the community to implement culturally appropriate wholistic approaches to perinatal health so as to improve outcomes and quality of maternity care in all settings: clinics, hospitals, birth centers and domiciliary settings. We promote an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to maternity care which encompasses the physiological, psychological, and socio-ecological determinants of health. Our vision is to work in harmony and collaboration with a variety of care providers, both conventional and alternative including hospitals, clinics, medical doctors, nurses, midwives, mental health specialists, health educators, nutritionists and paraprofessionals (such as doulas), community health promoters, breastfeeding peer counselors and perinatal case managers, as well as chiropractors and other allied health professionals with specialization in maternity and newborn health.
OUR VISION
urity and infant mortality. We are taking a global health approach to address urban health disparities in the U.S. by training skilled birth attendants (midwives and nurses) and paraprofessional community perinatal health promoters from disadvantaged urban communities where perinatal health disparities are greatest. Public health and midwifery are holistic models of care: they are collaborative, multi-disciplinary, rooted in the community, promoting the health of the community members. Our vision marries the midwifery model of care with public health promotion. Our approach to improve maternity care is to promote the midwifery model of care and forward the midwifery profession. We believe doing so will help us achieve public health objectives for maternal and infant health.
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
We are now accepting applications for our Board of Advisors, who are professionals from various fields including nursing, midwifery, medicine, mental health, public health, social services, education, public administration, non-profit management, etc, who are willing to dedicate time, talent to ensure that our mission is realized. The Board meets via conference call once per year and as needed to provide support and guidance. Board members may also also participate in our fundraising and community awareness events, and committees. The commitment is for a minimum of 2 years, or more. If you are interested in joining our Board of Advisors please contact us.
PROJECTS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY
$12,000 Grant Received from California Community Foundation for Nursing Education and Hospital Improvements – “Hearts and Hands: The Art of Mother-Baby Friendly Nursing , A Proposal for High Quality Maternity Care”(a training for hospital labor and 
delivery nurses and administrators).
Our 501 c-3 non-profit organization Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California (DBA the Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health) received a $12,000 grant from California Community Foundation for Nursing Education and Hospital Improvements. Our scope of work for FY 2011-2012 is to develop and conduct a training on Mother-Baby Friendly maternity care for labor and delivery nurses and administrators at a Los Angeles hospital with the goal to help a local hospital or hospitals implement the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI), 10 evidenced based practices to improve maternal and infant care. The evidence supporting the MFCI was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Perinatal Education, and is available online at http://motherfriendly.org. “Hearts and Hands: The Art and Science of Mother-Baby Friendly Nursing, A Proposal for High Quality Maternity Care” will instruct nurses and administrators on evidence-based maternity and neonatal care practices which optimize maternal well being and mother-newborn attachment with the goal to lower rates of pain medication use, augmentation of labor and cesarean section and instrumental deliveries and improve breastfeeding success. Our collaborative partner is The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS). We will be offering a 3 day training in May 2012 in Los Angeles for hospital labor and delivery nurses and administrators.
Welcome Our Consultants and Collaborative Partner
We are thrilled to welcome two new consultants for this project,Vanessa Nicholas, CNM and Nicette Jukelevics, MA, ICCE. Our collaborating partner is The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services, and two consultants Jeanette Schwartz, MSN, ICCE, CD and Marilyn Hildreth, RN, FACCE, CD
Please attend our information and introduction session which will be held at California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities on February 23, 2012 from 2:00-5:30 pm. Our target audience are hospital administrators and nurse-managers from hospitals in Los Angeles County. At this introductory information session, the audience will learn more about The Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative, and receive an invitation to participate in our nurse-education training coming in May 2012. If you are a hospital labor and delivery nurse or a hospital administrator interested in attending the eventto learn more about this training opportunity, please contact us. or go to: http://mother-baby-friendly-nursing-training.eventbrite.com.
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
Spanish Community Doula Training Offered - Coming Fall 2012
Thanks to the generous donation of $2500 by The Laurence H. Tribe Charitible Foundation, Inc., we will be offering a Spanish speaking doula training and volunteer network serving the low income Latina population of Los Angeles. Within 20 years, Latinos are predicted to be 60% of the California population. 42% of teenage pregnancies are among Latina women, the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the U.S., at 90.5 per 100 among women 15-19 years of age. These women are vulnerable to poverty, inadequate health care and welfare dependence and lack o
f access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health education. 34% lack health insurance, the highest among all ethnic groups. In addition, there is a shortage of culturally competent health educators and misperceptions and myths abound among Latinas, especially among teenagers, regarding sexuality, contraception, childbearing and breastfeeding, and there are numerous language and cultural barriers to accessing information and services. Mexican-American women suffer disproportionately from diabetes, have higher rates of obesity than non-Hispanic Caucasians. Maternal overweight can lead to gestational diabetes in pregnancy, which is associated with childhood obesity and diabetes in their children. Puerto Ricans have the highest infant mortality of all Hispanic groups, suffer disproportionately from low birth weight, and Mexican Americans are 2.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic Caucasians to begin prenatal care in the third trimester, or receive none at all.
This project will train Spanish speaking birth and postpartum doulas to serve as a team of volunteer labor companions and postpartum care providers to low-income Latina pregnant women and mothers. Working with local agencies who provide case management and home visitation and prenatal care through the Medi-Cal CPSP program, we will form a network of educated, culturally and linguistically competent birth and postpartum doulas and breastfeeding peer counselors providing free birth and postpartum support services to and childbirth education to Latino families.
Doula support is associated with fewer cesarean sections, decreased rates of induction and pain medication use, and decreased postpartum depression and improved maternal-infant interaction and breastfeeding initiation.
The doula training will be offered in Fall, 2012. Please contact us for further information. Scholarships and work study are available.
Wholistic Midwifery School Family Birth and Resource Center
We are gathering community support and evoking the commitment of the Los Angeles midwifery and public health sectors to implement an out of hospital childbearing and family resource center and school of midwifery in a disadvantaged community of Los Angeles. A Family Centered Birth Center and School of Midwifery is currently in development in a disadvantaged community of Los Angeles (exact location yet to be determined). Check back later for updates and progress, or join us to help implement this project. Contact us to volunteer your time and talents and to participate in our community engagement events. We are all volunteers who believe in this vision and want to make this dream a reality, if you believe in this vision: join us!
In addition to the freestanding birth center, we will establish a prenatal clinic (accepting Medi-Cal and PPO insurance), a pediatric clinic and a family resource center for health education offering perinatal health education classes, prenatal yoga, infant massage, hypnosis, a reading and resource room, and the like. Maternity care at the prenatal clinic and birth center will be provided by Certified Nurse Midwives, Licensed Midwives, midwifery students, and Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. In addition, we will offer support by birth and postpartum doulas, breastfeeding peer counselors and community health outreach workers and health promoters. We are establishing a school of professional midwifery where student midwives pursuing either the Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credential, California Licensed Midwife (LM) credential or Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) credential will learn side-by-side in the classroom taught by experienced Certified Nurse-Midwives and Licensed Midwives and other allied health professionals. Our students will receive supervised clinical training in community clinics, homebirth practices, hospitals and the freestanding birth center, guided by experienced licensed healthcare professionals.
OUR MISSION
We are committed to improving access to quality care for all pregnant women
In 2000, 189 countries pledged to end extreme poverty worldwide through the achievement of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 5 was set to improve maternal health with the goal to reduce maternal mortality by three-fourths by 2015 (Target 5.A). As Americans, we seem to think that maternal and infant deaths occur “over there” in lesser developed regions who do not have our wealth, advanced technology and highly trained medical experts. Many believe that here in America where the majority of births occur in hospitals with obstetrical doctors and nurses, maternal death is a phenomenon of the past. However, maternal mortality ratios in the United States are higher than those of many other industrialized nations. Moreover, these ratios have not changed in the past 20 years, and large racial disparities persist in measures of both maternal mortality and morbidity. In an affluent developed country, maternal deaths should serve as rare sentinel events, highlighting opportunities for prevention and reduction of morbidities. However, existing surveillance efforts are poorly developed, and pregnancy-related deaths and illnesses tend to be under-reported. AmnestyPromoting Mother Badly Care
International has stated in their report on maternal mortality in the United States, Deadly Delivery, maternal health is a human right. Even in America today, women die of childbirth related causes all too often.
This is especially true in communities of color. According to the American Public Health Association, maternal mortality is the leading perinatal health disparity between blacks and whites in America. African-American women die of pregnancy-related causes at 4- 5 times the rate of Caucasian women– a startling statistic which has not changed in over 4 decades. Maternal death rates are also higher for Hispanic and Native American women. Maternal mortality ratios have increased from 6.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 13.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006. While some of the recorded increase is due to improved data collection, the fact remains that maternal mortality ratios have risen significantly. The USA spends more than any other country on health care, and more on maternal health than any other type of hospital care. Despite this, women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than those in 49 other countries. Maternal deaths are only the tip of the iceberg. During 2004 and 2005, more than 68,000 women nearly died in childbirth in the USA. Each year, 1.7 million women suffer a complication that has an adverse effect on their health. According to Amnesty International, “This is not just a public health emergency – it is a human rights crisis. Women in the USA face a range of obstacles in obtaining the services they need. The health care system suffers from multiple failures: discrimination; financial, bureaucratic and language barriers to care; lack of information about maternal care and family planning options; lack of active participation in care decisions; inadequate staffing and quality protocols; and a lack of accountability and oversight.” (from Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Crisis in the USA).
The consequences of maternal deaths are far reaching, leaving a void in the a family and the society she would have contributed to. A crucial solution to preventing avoidable maternal deaths and injuries is quality and accessible care to all women. The leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have determined that there are several factors contributing to maternal deaths. One of them is lack of access to skilled birth attendants at birth. Many leading organizations have recommended skilled midwifery care as a solution to reduce maternal deaths.
In addition, infant mortality is a grave problem in the United States, affecting a disproportionate number of African-American babies. Premature births are associated with higher infant mortality and African-American women are 2-1/2 times more likely to give birth to a baby too soon and too small than Caucasian women, even after adjusting for socioeconomic status. This means even affluent, well-educated African-American women are more likely to deliver her baby too early. Infants left behind after a mother’s death often fare poorly and often die as well. Also, infants born too small and too soon often die or if they survive, have lifelong disabilities. In many places in the world, women give birth with only a friend or relative to help. In the US, minority women from disadvantaged communities far too often receive an inferior quality of care — this is called health inequity. Skilled Midwives, Doulas and community health promoters are crucial to improving the quality of care provided to mothers and preventing avoidable deaths and injuries.
We are committed to ensuring skilled attendants at all births
This is considered to be the single most critical intervention for ensuring safe motherhood. When women have access to quality prenatal care they can have healthier pregnancies. While undisturbed birth proceeds normally for the vast majority of women who are in good health, all women deserve to have a skilled attendant present to recognize problems early and to intervene and manage complications should they occur.
We are committed to developing an opportunity for women’s economic empowerment and vocational development in communities of color
We will be located in a region of Los Angeles where birth outcomes are the poorest and provide an opportunity for urban renewal and vocational training by establishing a midwifery training birthing center in the region.
We intend to create a compassionate, harmonic birthing environment for families
In the form of a birth center that embraces cultural diversity and a holistic model of care and promotes mother/infant bonding and secure attachment.
We are ensuring linkages and solid collaboration
We are working with existing hospitals, clinics, birth outcomes focused programs, and community based organizations.
We support increased integration of midwifery and doula care
We support the integration of these qualified professionals into standard prenatal and postnatal care.
Birth and Family Resource Center
Our freestanding birth and family resource center will be located in a community of Los Angeles (yet 
to be determined) where birth outcomes are poorest so as to achieve public health goals for maternal and infant health improvement. We are creating a community center for families offering a variety of classes and services for expectant parents and families.
We will offer Centering Pregnancy, an innovative model of group prenatal care which empowers clients to take responsibility for their health and well being while providing social support for participants.
We will also offer our clientele community health promoters/promatoras who provide home visitation, doula labor and postpartum support, and breastfeeding peer counselors.
We will accept Medi-Cal and PPO Insurance.
We will have an arrangement with a hospital to provide obstetrical and pediatric emergency services.
School of Midwifery
Our school will be a 3 year Midwifery Education Accredidtation Council (MEAC) accredited program offering supervised clinical training in an out of hospital setting plus academic 
instruction. Students will be prepared for the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) Exam. eligible to become Certified Professional Midwives. Graduates will also be eligible to take the licensing examination offered by the California Medical Board. We will meet Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) standards, and California Medical Board Division of Midwifery Licensing standards. Nurse-Midwifery students who desire clinical training experience in out-of-hospital birth settings will also have an opportunity to receive supervised clinical instruction in a variety of settings including clinics, birth centers, hospitals and homes. While the school will not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation, our emphasis is on recruiting aspiring midwives of color from communities where birth outcomes are poorest and midwives are least represented.
We will also train doulas, community health promoters and breastfeeding peer counselors from communities where the health disparities are poorest.
Our Clinical Educators and Academic Advisors
Our midwifery school instructors and parent educators are professionals in the midwifery, public health, and maternal infant health field including Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs), Licensed Midwives (LMs),Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), Physicians (MDs), Nurse-Practitioners (NPs), Nurse-Educators, Public Health Nurses (PHNs), Health Educators, Certified Childbirth Educators (CCE’s), Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs), Clinical Psychologists (Psy.Ds), Certified Lactation Educators (CLEs), doula trainers etc. If you are a professional and would like to become one of our instructors, please contact us.
When will we open our doors?
We are a few years away from implementation; we’re currently in the “community needs assessment” phase of this project. For now, our “school” is society at large: our purpose to promote wholistic perinatal health care and a multi-disciplinary approach to maternity care in a variety of settings.
“The question should not be is it possible. Rather, the question should be is it worth trying to do.”- Allard Lowenstein
Please stay tuned for further updates and progress!
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Contact Information:
Email: inquiry@LA-Birth-Center-Midwifery-School.org
626-388-2191
Download a PDF Fact Sheet: LA Birth Center Midwifery School
Get Involved: Join our cause on Facebook!
Music: “Motherless Children” Performed by Roseanne Cash
From soundtrack to “No Woman, No Cry” a Film about maternal mortality by Christy Turlington Burns.
For more information, go to Every Mother Counts.
