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California Nurse-Midwives Association
MAY 2019 | Newsletter
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lobby Day - May 7th, 2019
News from CNMA Leadership
CHCF Meeting to address Maternal Mental Health in California
Nurse-Midwifery Advisory Committee to the BRN seeking CNM from NorCal
AB 890 (Nurse Practitioner bill for full practice authority)
ACNM Annual Meeting
Membership
Save the Date: CNMA Annual Meeting is this October 5th!
Join the new CNMA Anti-Racism Committee and Workgroup
LGBTQ Advocacy Day- Sign Up
GO FUND (A MIDWIFE!)
UCSF ARCHIVES
Lobby Day Is May 7th, 2019
Lobby Day registration is now closed. But for those of you who will be attending, please note that registration starts at 8:30am. We will begin promptly at 9am after check-in is finished. We will be meeting Capitol Event Center, located at 1020 11th St, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Registrants will be sent a follow-up email with more details and agenda of the day’s events.
We look forward to seeing you there!
News from CNMA Leadership
A letter from Kathleen Belzer, CNMA President
On April 23rd, Holly and I drove to Sacramento to meet with a number of legislators to discuss current bills that affect CNMs and begin laying the foundation for future legislation to remove physician supervision. I have always known Holly is an extraordinary individual, but this time she set the bar even higher!! While I drove an hour and a half to Sacramento, she drove all the way up from Lancaster (6 hrs) with her 2 and 6 year old children! She also had her mother drive down from the CA/Oregon border and meet her in Sac and watch her kids while we spent the whole day at the Capitol meeting with legislators. I feel so blessed to be working with such an amazing individual.
We have many balls in the air right now as we try to position ourselves to be successful with removal of supervision. Although we have not been successful yet, it is clear that legislators now know who we are, what we do, and they are very supportive and positive when we engage with them. We have built great momentum and we will continue to build on it going forward. We also met with CNMA’s newly hired political strategist, Andrew Crutchfield, to discuss our plan and needs. One important goal we are working toward is setting up a 501c3 to begin a fundraising campaign to assist with many important priorities of CNMA.
I look forward to seeing many of you at Lobby Day next week!
Enjoy this picture of Holly with her children and her husband on March 29th, the day of her husband’s recent retirement from the Air Force. I thought you would all enjoy seeing another side of our wonderful Health Policy Chair!! Thank you Holly!!
Sincerely,
Kathleen Belzer, CNMA President
CHCF to address Maternal Mental Health in California
On April 25th, the California Health Care foundation (CHCF) held a meeting of invited guests to strategize on ways we can address maternal mental health issues in the State. There were important stakeholders from many organizations who came together to look at the current complex issues and how we can work together to address them and have a positive impact. It was an inspiring day and CNMA was able to network with many important individuals and organizations. CNMA looks forward to being involved in innovative policy-making changes surrounding this important issue.
Nurse-Midwifery Advisory Committee to the BRN seeking CNM from Northern California
The Nurse-midwifery Advisory Committee to the BRN (NMAC) is seeking a CNM in clinical practice in Northern California. The purpose of this committee is to advise the board on all matters pertaining to nurse-midwifery as established by the board, and, if necessary, to assist the board or its designated representatives in the evaluation of applications for nurse-midwifery certification. The NMAC is composed of direct practice nurse-midwives, one each from the northern and southern California, a nurse-midwife engaged in nurse-midwifery education, one public member who has been a consumer of nurse-midwifery practice, and an obstetrical physician with knowledge of nurse-midwifery practice. The terms are 2 years in length, and committee members may be appointed for a 2nd term. CNMA is actively seeking someone to fill this important role.
If interested please contact advocacy@cnma.org
AB 890 (Nurse Practitioner bill for full practice authority).
The nurse practitioner bill passed the Assembly Business and Professions Committee in April and is therefore moving forward in the bill process. NPs immediately eligible to practice without supervision must practice in one of the following settings or organizations in which one or more physicians and surgeons practice with the nurse practitioner: a clinic (as defined in Section 1200 of the Health and Safety Code), a health facility (as defined in Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code), a facility (as described in Chapter 2.5, commencing with Section 1440, of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code), or a medical group practice. NPs who desire to practice outside of these settings (solo practice) must complete 4600 hours of “transition to practice” (TTP) and must possess a DNP and have national certification, or have a masters degree and national certification, plus 2 years of practice. CANP is actively working to create a “grandfather” clause to account for those in solo practice who already meet the TTP hours.
Bill language can be found here.
FAQs on the most recent amendments can be found here.
For more information, email advocacy@cnma.org
ACNM Annual Meeting
Washington, DC
May 18- May 22
CNMA will be hosting an affiliate social gathering on 5/21 in the afternoon. We look forward to seeing many of you there!
ACNM/CNMA Membership
CNMA wants to take a moment to address your membership status with you.
Looking at our membership numbers statewide compared to the number of professional midwives in practice in California, CNMA currently has about a third of our professionals enrolled as part of its contributing membership. Our goal is to at least double this number. We know that midwives face a number of challenges in the professional workplace, and one of them is the struggle for competitive pay. Paying out of pocket for membership dues might seem like an unreasonable burden on top of your lower-than-deserved wages and high cost of living in California. We get that, we really do. One of the things that CNMA offers you, the hard working professional midwife, is a bigger voice in your community. Visibility for your profession at the state and even larger level. A bigger platform for you- for us- to stand on together to make our voices heard in California. Having a bigger voice in your workplace, community, and state means achieving competitive pay, receiving more comprehensive benefits, and improving practice laws for CNMs in California! So we ask you to start, continue, renew, your membership with us and help us help you. We all have the same goals. We are working tirelessly to help make your membership dollars go as far as they can, for you. We want to see you make better pay, get better benefits, be better represented, and do what you came here to do: deliver safe, cost-effective, excellent healthcare to your patients. CNMA is your professional membership organization, and we need your support!
You want to be the best midwife or student-midwife possible. After all, whether you’re a student, clinician, educator, or taking on another role, you’re putting yourself on the line every day. There’s one way to maximize your impact and experience: Membership in CNMA/ACNM!
Membership brings not only the many ACNM benefits, but the California Affiliate, CNMA, is working hard to make legislative changes in California that will have immediate and long term impact on midwifery in our state.
Restrictive supervision is limiting midwifery practice and the ability to provide care to many women that want midwifery care. Your membership to CNMA goes a long way in the difficult work of changing these regulations. Please join or renew your membership today, and for those that are already members, thank you very much for your commitment and dedication to midwifery. Please encourage your colleagues to become members because membership helps improve midwifery and the ability to care for the women and families that we serve.
Membership through ACNM enables your affiliate membership with CNMA. cnma.org/membership
Questions? Contact Monica Viera, CNMA Membership Chair. membership@cnma.org
Save the Date: CNMA Annual Meeting is this October 5th!
CNMA is excited to announce our ANNUAL MEETING will be held on October 5th, 2019 this year in Los Angeles at The Tom Bradley Tower Room (on the 27th floor) of Los Angeles City Hall. More information to follow! Sign up for the CNMA Annual Meeting on our website, cnma.org/events!
Join the new CNMA Anti-Racism Committee and Workgroup
The aim of this committee is to work towards addressing structural racism within CNMA and developing opportunities to redress the harm caused by racism within Midwifery and our larger community.
Members of the committee can be students, new-grads, practicing or retired CNMs. You do not need to have a current CNMA membership to join the workgroup. We encourage you to share this email with any midwives you know who are dedicated to anti-racism who may be interested in joining the committee.
We will meet monthly via zoom video with periodic opportunities for in person gatherings.
As this is an anti-racism working group, we ask that folks who plan to join have previous experience doing anti-racism work.
If you are interested in joining the group please indicate your interest by completing this google form.
Please also read the following ACNM documents related to anti-racism:
Please also, understand the following background: This group is very new. Everyone involved is new to this work together, but not new to the work of anti-racism. We are intentionally opening this group up in the hopes of developing our larger community of CNMs committed to dismantling white-supremacy. We humbly ask that you join us in this work, and have patience with us as we co-create our vision for addressing structural racism and redressing harm caused by racism.
Feel free to reach to the group or any of us as individuals with any comments, questions or concerns. You can email our group at arrj@cnma.org.
Warmly,
Lisa Davis, CNM,
Chair of CNMA Anti-Racism Committee
Mar Schupp, SNM,
Student Representative to CNMA BOD
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
Jillian Cauley
Northern California Rep on CNMA BOD
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
Liz Donnelly
Vice-Chair CNMA Health Policy Committee
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
LGBTQ Advocacy Day- Sign Up
CNMA is an official sponsor of the Equity California LGBTQ Advocacy Day but We need 5 members to sign up to attend!!
Equality California is hosting LGBTQ Advocacy Day 2019 at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, May 14th and will be bringing hundreds of LGBTQ community leaders, activists, and partners to the State Capitol to advocate for priority LGBTQ legislation. They will be holding a rally and potential press conference with speeches from number of elected leaders, including members of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus and bill authors to ensure our voices are heard!
Participants can register for free here: http://action.eqca.org/advocacy2019partner
Current Partner Organizations include: ACLU, AIDS Project East Bay, APAIT, Gender Health Center, California LGBTQ Health & Human Services Network, LA Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Lambda Legal, Long Beach LGBT Center, NorCal Mental Health America, #Out4MentalHealth, Sacramento LGBT Center, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco LGBT Center, Solano Pride, and the Trevor Project.
LGBTQ Advocacy Day 2019
Tuesday, May 14
9:00am to 4:30pm
West Steps, State Capitol Building
Reception: 4:30 to 6:00pm (Location upon RSVP). Hors d'oeuvres will be provided
GO FUND (A MIDWIFE!)
Rebecca Garrett-Brown, a Southern California midwife who is not only the most recent past President of CNMA but also the current Southern California Representative for CNMA, got a very troubling phone call from her husband last week. She was on call overnight at UCSD when her house caught fire- and burned to the ground. Completely. Her husband and son are safe, but they lost everything. Rebecca is the kind of positive thinker and nurturer who is calling her friends to make sure they are okay after hearing her shocking news. We got wind that her high school alumni had created a Go Fund Me campaign and so we wanted to share it with our membership. Many of you know Rebecca because she was the recent President of CNMA, or have been trained by her as a midwife student, or have had the pleasure of working alongside of her in your own career. She is an incredibly patient and giving person who has touched so many lives both professionally and personally.
This is an unfortunate event but it is giving us the chance to give back to Rebecca and her family as they try to rebuild their lives from scratch!
Here is the link to Rebecca’s Go Fund Me page, which we have also posted on our website(cnma.org) and our CNMA Facebook Page.
We love you, Rebecca! From the ashes, you will rebirth your future!
UCSF ARCHIVES
Fresh off the press from UCSF!
Last January the UCSF Archives & Special Collections and the California Nurse Midwife Association (CNMA) signed an agreement to transfer historical CNMA records to UCSF where they will be preserved in a climate controlled space and become publicly accessible in the archives reading room. This collection complements existing archival holdings related to women’s health. It documents CNMA history and activities and includes articles of incorporation, by-laws, membership rosters, correspondence, subject files, conference files, publicity materials, reports, photographs, and audio cassettes. It also contains files related to the Nurse Obstetric Assistant (NOA) project in Madera, CA in the 1960s.
The CNMA materials were added to the UCSF library catalog to facilitate their discovery: http://ucsfcat.library.ucsf.edu/record=b2565619~S0
This collections is open for research Monday through Wednesday from 9 am to 4 pm, please use this calendar to schedule an appointment: https://calendars.library.ucsf.edu/booking/archives .
The archives reading room in located on the 5th floor of the UCSF Library on Parnassus campus: https://www.library.ucsf.edu/about/directions/
Please direct your question about these records to the archives staff via this form: https://www.library.ucsf.edu/archives/ask-an-archivist/ .
The archives are looking forward to continue growing this collection.
Questions? News? Want to get involved?
Email us at info@cnma.org
That's all for this month's issue. Catch you next time!
-CNMA MEDIA TEAM
Visit us at cnma.org