Call to Action
Posted over 3 years ago by Michelle Wade
Hi Everyone,
Our CNM colleagues have asked for help: Posting for Elisa Vandervort, MSN, FNP, CNM and Lucy Chapin CNM - Thanks Michelle
Hello Vermont NPs!
I am writing to seek your support in some quick and easy ways. As some of you may know, there is currently a bill (S..204, recently introduced to the Senate) to provide licensure for free standing birthing centers (FSBC) in Vermont. This is not a new idea to have a free-standing birth center. 41 states have free-standing birthing centers, including neighboring New Hampshire, which has 5.
As midwives & NPs, I hope we can all rally around this cause! One of the tenets of midwifery care is to support families choices and decisions surrounding where, how, and with whom they give birth.
What can you do to help?
Email your senators in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee (where the bill currently is). Ask your friends, clients, or colleagues to do the same. Have a goal of reaching out to three people. The more emails, the more there will be an understanding that this is a true community need. Please only e-mail the Senators in the county where you (or others who are contacting them) live.
Contact information –
Sen. Virginia ‘Ginny’ Lyons
Chittenden County
Sen. Ruth Hardy, Vice-Chair
Addison County
(802) 989-5278
Sen. Joshua Terenzini
(802) 353-7749
Sen. Ann Cummings
Washington County
(802) 223-6043
Sen. Cheryl Hooker
Rutland County
What should I email them?
You can simply write you feel this bill is important, that you support it, and that you hope the senate will take up this bill. Please limit the e-mail to a few sentences – one short paragraph.
Simple as that.
Talking Points
Below are some suggested talking points, but It would be best for people to write in their own words why freestanding birthing centers should be available in Vermont. Please keep to one or two paragraphs.
- As of 2017, there are 345 birth centers in 37 states plus DC.
- Freestanding birth centers are recognized by statute, legislation, or Medicaid in 41 states
- Numerous studies have shown that having a baby in a birth center is at least as safe as having a baby in a hospital for low risk women.
- Care by midwives in birth centers is exceptionally affordable to the healthcare system. One study estimated that more than $30 million was saved over 3 years because of the 15,574 women in their study who chose to give birth in birth centers.
- Every person has the right to make an informed choice about their reproductive healthcare and the place of birth that best fits their needs, and clearly birth centers are in demand.
- Licensure of birth centers provides for patient safety
When should I email them?
TODAY! (Timing is crucial right now, so within the next week)
THANK YOU, in advance, for your support. And thank you to midwife Elina Koumjian for catalyzing this bill; Laurie Foster for guiding this campaign of support; and for our wonderful lobbyists at Zatz and Renfrew Consulting, who have long been champions of midwifery care.
Feel free to contact me directly with any questions!
-Lucy
(Midwife from UVM)
Elisa Vandervort, MSN, FNP, CNM
US Cell & What's App: +1-802-223-4660