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Name: Jeremy
Country: United States
State: Ohio
Metro: Findlay
Birthday: 2/7/1986
Gender: Male
Interests: Something simple and witty should go here.
Expertise: absolutely nothing.
Industry: lab
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/5/2003
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| I accepted a job offer today. It's another lab position. Except this time it's for a company that is potentially working towards the kingdom of God instead of being diametrically opposed to anything that's good. You should check out the values and the recycling program that first solar has going for them. I'm pretty excited to be a part of it.
Also, one should understand the circumstances of this hire. I didn't apply. I didn't even search for it. In fact, our fast for this lenten period has been to not dream/think/plan about the future. Mostly because I'm an incessant dreamer with sooo many big plans that really don't amount to anything because their of my own fruition. So we have been trying to live in the present. However, we have been talking with a few different families about moving into the lower-north-east side of Toledo, specifically Birmingham. It's an old ethnic neighborhood with a lot of Hungarian widows. We actually looked at houses last night. And then I get this job offer for the Toledo area without applying or seeking it out. I just went to the interview and answered the questions as honestly as I could. Anyway, I'm pretty happy about it.
Signs of the coming King anyone? | | |
| A video worth watching. Obama speaking at Sojourners on the topic of faith and pluralism. | | |
| Our midwives are friends with this lady. They're afraid they might be next.
News:
Legalizing Birth
Ohio criminalizes midwives wanting to help women deliver at home
Cincinnati City Beat
BY Renea Frey | Posted 02/13/2008
Jerren Helwig of Fairfield Township in Butler County is a certified
professional midwife (CPM) with 10 years experience attending more than
200 births. In October 2007 her life and profession were abruptly
disrupted.
"On Oct. 6 police came with an enforcement officer from the (Ohio) Board
of Medicine with a search warrant," she says. "They took my computer,
my
husband's computer, all my supplies and equipment -- even the drawers
from my file cabinet. They took everything but the birth stool, only
because they didn't know what it was."
The "raid" resulted from a complaint filed in May 2007 by a doctor to
whom Helwig had transferred a laboring mother for medical care, she says.
The complaint led to an investigation and subsequent warrant.
"Ohio doesn't have a revised code that includes midwifery. ¸ There is no
licensure available in Ohio," she says. "There is no autonomy for
us."
Ohio law only recognizes nurse midwives, who are registered nurses with a
master's degree in midwifery, according to Stephanie Beck Borden, chair
of Ohio Families for Safe Birth.
"In Ohio, nurse midwives are not independent practitioners" but
rather
have a "written collaborative agreement with an obstetrician to
practice," she says.
But CPMs or direct-entry midwives like Helwig, who care for women giving
birth in their homes, lack official approval.
"Direct-entry midwives are at risk of legal prosecution for practicing
medicine," Beck Borden says. "In Ohio there is no protection, no
regulatory body for direct-entry midwives. (They can be) prosecuted for
practicing advanced-practice nursing without a license or practicing
medicine without a license, which is a felony."
Months have passed since the search, but that doesn't mean Helwig's
problems are over.
"No official charges have been filed," she says. "They can file
charges
for up to seven years. I've asked for my husband's computer back because
it's holding up his work. We've lost our family pictures. I can't file my
taxes -- my tax records are on there."
What has this meant to Helwig's life and practice?
"It's insanity," she says. "I've been serving the community for
10 years,
on call night and day, and my life has completely stopped. Now I'm
sitting and waiting for the state to decide if they're going to punish me
or give me back my stuff and send me on my way."
Beck Borden recently gave birth to her second child at home.
"Direct-entry midwives' training is specific to birthing at home,"
she
says. "It is an amazing resource. The care I received while pregnant was
far superior in terms of time, care and resources. (Midwives are) trained
in a different type of birth setting than obstetricians."
A large-scale study published in the British Medical Journal in 2005
examined the outcomes of 5,418 home births planned in North America, 98
percent of them in the United States, in the year 2000.
"Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified
professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical
intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of
low risk hospital births in the United States," the study found.
The study noted, however, "Despite a wealth of evidence supporting
planned home birth as a safe option for women with low risk pregnancies,
the setting remains controversial in most high-resource countries."
If out-of-hospital births with a certified professional midwife have been
shown to be as safe as hospital birth -- and with a lower rate of medical
intervention -- then why does the practice "remain controversial"?
One reason might be the differing models of the birthing process in
midwifery, as opposed to obstetrics. The "Midwives Model of Care"
says
it's based on "the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life events
(and includes) minimizing technological interventions and identifying and
referring women who require obstetrical attention. ¸ The application of
this model has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury,
trauma and cesarean section."
"An obstetrician is not appropriate for (maternal) care," Helwig
says.
"Their concern is with complications. ¸ Midwifery care is necessary for
every woman."
Despite the proven safety of out-of-hospital births, Beck Borden contends
that "not everyone would make this choice (but) what's not right is
taking that choice away."
"Direct-entry midwifery is recognized in 22 other states," she says.
Ohio Families for Safe Birth (OFSB) hopes to soon have Ohio included
among those states.
Tracey Johnstone, a local midwife and legislative coordinator for OFSB,
says the time has come to legalize direct-entry midwifery.
"This has got to change," she says. "Nothing is going to change
if we
don't make change happen from the top down."
How are these changes happening?
The organization's Web site (www.safebirthohio.org)
says, "OFSB is a
consumer-driven effort to create a statewide coalition of families and
professionals promoting legislation and policies grounded in the Midwives
Model of Care, which support families' access to safe, appropriate,
evidence-based care during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum."
A new organization, the National Birth Policy Coalition, includes
representative organizations from more than 10 states, several national
midwifery counsels and notables such as Rikki Lake and Carrie-Anne Moss.
The group's Big Push For Midwives Campaign is "the cornerstone of
health-care reform," according to Steff Hedenkamp, one of the coalition's
organizers. Its goal is licensure of CPMs across the country. | | |
| I haven't really felt like updating for a little while now. Our computer has been funky lately as well. So no christmas pictures for now. Actually, I'm thinking about giving up on xanga. I don't really see the point. Amy, we were working on getting video for the computer so we can talk, but the whole computer just slowed down a ton so we're not sure what's gonna happen right now. | | |
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