2018 Speakers & Topics
Over twelve years ago Amanda began to challenge the practice of immediate cord clamping after realizing that this common routine practice was not evidence based and deprived babies of their full blood volume causing iron deficiency anaemia. Amanda has been nominated and won several awards for this work including Midwife of the Year 2015, British Journal of Midwifery and Midwife of the Year 2012, Yorkshire Evening Post. Amanda is co-inventor of the Lifestart (bedside resuscitaire) trolley.
During this period of changing practice Amanda has often found herself the recipient of negative behaviours from some colleagues who opposed her “boat rocking” behavior and she found their behavior perplexing and very damaging. Dany Griffiths and Amanda are co-founders of #SaynotobullyinginMidwifery a facebook group which reaches out to Midwives who are recipients of bullying behavior and offers communal support and advice in an attempt to influence positive
John Walsh has worked in homeless health inclusion for over two decades. He is presently an OD Lead working on culture change and systems work. He has won a number of awards from NHS and non NHS organization. One of his most important awards was for compassion in healthcare from a family who created a series of health and care awards). John has worked closely with staff to develop caring supportive cultures. He has also worked with academics on this area and has taught internationally. John sits on the Yorkshire Faculty RCGP and the National Executive of the New NHS Alliance. He is presently writing the paper on social models and self care for West Yorkshire and Harrogate STP.
Bullying affects staff, patients and families. This presentation will address bullying within the Midwifery field, what it is and why it is a problem. We will discuss how bullying is related to culture, and why attempts to change culture often fail. Work to try to shape a new response to bullying must include an awareness of culture, but more importantly, efforts to reduce bullying should follow a Person Centered Approached (PCA). We will discuss what PAC approaches look like, their dynamics and potency.
Andrea Dixon is a Midwife and an Aquarian birth junky with a desire to make out of hospital birth an accepted, effective and safe option for all birthing persons. To this end, Andrea has attended more than 1200 births in numerous birth centers, home and hospital based practices. Her passion is training out of hospital practitioners in Birth Emergency Skills Training (B.E.S.T.), including CPR and NRP. To date more than 1300 practitioners have attended her traveling road show and earned B.E.S.T CEUs
All of us serving new and growing families, share a sixth sense of intense listening. In each client-provider conversation we are assessing every word, internal wheels turning all the while. Not that we go looking for problems, rather that we hope to identify and move to resolve them before they become life threatening. This presentation will hone our skills and offer professional tools for how best to obtain and process information, accurately assess developing problems and effectively seek consultation, collaboration or transfer of care.
Bonnie Urquhart Gruenberg, CNM, MSN, CRNP, is the award-winning author of Birth Emergency Skills Training; Manual for Out-of-Hospital Midwives, and co-developer of the workshop by the same name. In 2023, her long-awaited seminal work, Birth Emergencies for Community Midwives, will come to press. She has caught more than 2,100 babies to date in the home, in a free-standing birth center, and in the hospital. She currently works for Wellspan Health in Lancaster County, PA. Bonnie has written and illustrated 12 books on topics ranging from midwifery and maternity care to wild horse management. She enjoys painting, photography, and hobby farming.
The placenta is the only disposable vital organ. For all but the very beginning of gestation, the placenta is essential to the baby’s survival. Abnormalities and dysfunction of this organ and its associated structures such as the cord and membranes can have dire consequences to mother and/or baby. Placentas Behaving Badly is a lively look at some of the placental pathology that matters to a midwife. We will discuss abnormal cord insertions, alloimmunization, abruption, vasa previa, and placental infarction. Because the placenta is a diary of intrauterine life, we will discuss how to examine a placenta after birth, and consider how unusual findings relate to the health of the infant.
Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT has dedicated her professional life to supporting expectant and new families by promoting gentle aware birth. She has attended births as a doula and home birth midwife for over 35 years.
Carol has been a therapeutic bodyworker for over 27 years. She specializes in Craniosacral Therapy for mothers and infants. Carol has spent years developing hands-on techniques to enhance mobility in pregnant women’s bodies. The goal is to give babies more room to develop, grow and get born. She has recently retired from attending births in order to focus on teaching perinatal and infant Craniosacral Therapy to bodyworkers, birth attendants and other health professionals. She teaches from the midwifery model of care perspective.
Carol is also the founder of MamaSpace Yoga®. Her specially-designed yoga classes have grown naturally from the roots of bodywork and yoga. MamaSpace Yoga® supports and enhances Craniosacral Therapy techniques for pregnant women.
Carol is convinced that if women are appropriately supported in growing, birthing and nurturing their babies, their lives will improve. When women's lives improve their children's health improves. Healthy children grow up to be healthier adults who create healthier communities and a saner, more peaceful world.
In this session Carol Gray will make a compelling argument for an idea that is not mainstream – even among radical homebirth midwives. As a midwife she has long recognized that the baby who couldn't descend into mom's pelvis and get born presents a problem. Carol has since recognized that the baby who drops deeply into mom's pelvis and stays there long (days, weeks or months) before the onset of labor presents an even bigger problem. Babies know how to position themselves for birth. They ought to be able to bob in and out of mom's pelvis until labor begins. When they drop down and stay down it's because they are stuck. In this session Carol will show the anatomy and the biomechanics of this problem. She will describe the aftermath: things like torticollis, plagiocephaly, breastfeeding difficulties, scoliosis, cesarean birth, inductions, etc. Carol will also give some resources for how we can help.
Since graduating with a Masters Degree majoring in Maternal-Child Health from Columbia University in 1986, Debrah has worked in public and private practice midwifery in New York, Africa and Trinidad & Tobago.
She is a founder and current Executive Director of Mamatoto Resource & Birth Centre in Trinidad where she remains in active midwifery practice. She is on the Board of the North West Regional Health Authority; works with the Nursing Council; and serves as an independent consultant on midwifery matters. Debrah precepts students from the USA, Canada and Europe, and has presented extensively regionally and internationally, including a TEDx Talk on fathers.
She was the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Americas Board Member from 2005 – 2011 and Vice-President from 2011 - 2014; a founding member of the Trinidad & Tobago Association of Midwives; and spearheaded the formation of the Caribbean Regional Midwives Association in 2012.
Debrah is the recipient of several awards including the Dorothea M. Lang Pioneer Award and a National Award for The Development of Women – Gold – for her work in Community Service and Midwifery in Trinidad & Tobago.
Traditionally, health care services target mothers – and engaging fathers has generally been overlooked. As a result fathers feel excluded and unsupported.
However, there has been growing recognition of the importance of parenting partnerships and fathers’ contribution to children’s development. As a result services are becoming more conscious of this.
In a recent survey midwives agreed that including fathers is a part of their role but generally did not feel educated or well prepared to do this.
Individual providers and maternity care services must review the care they provide to assess their policies and resources, for example, and how they promote father and family inclusive care.
Professor Declan Devane is Professor of Midwifery at the National University of Ireland Galway (in the beautiful West of Ireland) and Director of the Health Research Board-Trial Methodology Research Network. He is an Editor with the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group, an Associate Senior Lecturer with the UK Cochrane Centre and an author of numerous Cochrane systematic reviews predominantly in the field of fetal assessment. He has led a number of clinical trials recruiting from 100 to over 3000 participants and serves on a number of Trial Steering Committees and Data Monitoring Boards. He is a past member of the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee and the Midwives Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. He was a member of the Department of Health National Maternity Care Strategy Group (Ireland) and the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Maternity Standards Advisory Group (Ireland).
Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) was introduced into widespread clinical practice in the 1970-80s on the premise that it would help detect abnormal fetal heart rate patterns thought to be associated with fetal hypoxia, and thereby allow earlier intervention to prevent fetal neurological damage or death. Despite the recognised limitations of EFM, it’s use has become ubiquitous particularly in high-income countries. In this presentation, Declan will be address the evidence underpinning the use of EFM and in particular the use of cardiotocography. His presentation will focus largely on findings from Cochrane systematic reviews related to aspects of fetal monitoring including how to read and interpret forest plots, which are a common means of presenting the findings of meta analyses of the effects of interventions on outcomes. Within his talk, Declan will highlight examples of discordance between evidence, practice and practice guidelines.
Hannah Dahlen is a Professor of Midwifery in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). She is also the Higher Degree Research Director. Hannah has had national and international success with grants. Hannah has published more than 120 papers and has given papers at over 500 conferences and seminars with half of these being invited keynote addresses. Hannah has strong international collaborations. She is co-founder of the international research collaboration EPIC (Epigenetic Impact of Childbirth). In November 2012 she was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better”. She was named as one of the leading “science and knowledge thinkers” for 2012 due to her research and public profile. Hannah has a strong profile in the profession of midwifery. She is a past National President of the Australian College of Midwives and she sits on several peak National and State committees. Hannah currently supervises 11 higher degree students, mostly investigating women’s birth choices. Hannah is an endorsed Eligible Midwife working in a private midwifery group practice Midwives@Sydney and Beyond in NSW.
In this presentation the current state of normal birth around the world will be described and the backlash and politics around the issue explored. The long and short term benefits will be reported along with new emerging research on the issue. Key strategies for optimizing normal birth both in a practical and political sense will be discussed.
My formal training as a midwife was obtained at Columbia University in 1979, however it was the hundreds of women and families who taught me the art, compassion and knowing that is required to be “ a midwife” Over the years, I provided care to women in variety of clinical settings. I have taught and precepted midwifery students in association with several educational programs, most recently Frontier nursing university. Throughout years of academia and clinical practice, I was driven to understand why some women developed life threatening obstetrical complications while others with risky life styles had problem free pregnancies and good outcomes. My doctoral focus on pre and perinatal psychology and the associated disciplines of epigenetics, embryology, neurobiology and intergenerational hereditary transmission has led me to understand the importance of a holistic approach to improve maternal wellbeing as means to improve perinatal outcomes during the preconception period. This presentation will share this science and protocols with my audience.
Traditionally, obstetrics has failed to regard the unborn child (prenate) as a conscious being with the ability to feel or be influenced by its perinatal experiences. The field of pre and perinatal psychology dates back to 1981 with Dr. Otto Frank, an assistant to Dr. Sigmund Freud published his book on the trauma of birth” Since that time, the sciences of embryology, hypnosis, neurobiology and epigenetics have provided evidence to show that from as early as conception, the prenate is influenced psychologically and physiologically by events which occur in the womb. Through implicit or cellular memory, a newborn traumatized during the perinatal period, may develop dysfunctional behavioral patterns to cope with unresolved emotional triggers.. The earlier in life the unresolved issues were first experienced, and the response, can prompt epigenetic changes beginning as early as in utero. These intrauterine epigenetic changes can manifest as mental and/or physical disease in adulthood. By understanding theories of pre and perinatal psychology, clinicians can introduce practices and protocols to help their clients avoid, resolve or mitigate the impact of perinatal trauma.
Heather is a Registered Midwife and Physiotherapist, passionate about improving women’s health. She is completing PhD studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS): her research focus is women’s ‘pelvic floor health’ in the workforce. Heather’s study forms part of an Australian Research Council and NSW Nurses and Midwives Association funded project: Fit for the Future, investigating the health of nurses and midwives. She has been awarded funding from the Australian Bladder Foundation and has authored several peer-reviewed publications: https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/heather.pierce
Heather lectured at UTS in the Bachelor of Midwifery program (2007- 2016) and worked with the Continence Foundation of Australia and the Australian College of Midwives on the ELearning course: Continence promotion: the importance of the midwife. She is current Chief Australian Delegate to the International Organization for Physiotherapists in Women’s Health, and immediate past National Chair of Continence and Women’s Health Physiotherapy Australia (2014 - 2016).
Knowledge of pelvic floor health is important for the optimal care of women during pregnancy, birth and in the postpartum period, and for nurses’ and midwives’ self-care. This presentation will outline what pelvic floor health is, the major risk factors for dysfunction and evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and management of symptoms.
Jennie Joseph, a British-trained midwife and women’s health advocate, moved to the United States in 1989 and began a journey which has culminated in the formation of an innovative maternal child healthcare system, The JJWay®
She is the Executive Director of her own non-profit corporation Commonsense Childbirth Inc. which operates two health centers in Orlando, Florida.
Due to the poor birth outcomes experienced by low income and uninsured women she has established outreach clinics for women who are at risk of not receiving prenatal or gynecological care. Her ‘Easy Access’ Prenatal Care Clinics offer quality maternity healthcare for all, regardless of their choice of delivery site or ability to pay and have successfully reduced perinatal disparities
Jennie’s school, Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery, trains and certifies midwives, doulas and perinatal paraprofessionals emphasizing culturally competent and community focused care. Her midwifery model of care can be implemented by any willing provider.
The impact of poor perinatal outcomes and racial disparities on women, their families and the community at large. What are the causes and who suffers disproportionately?
The JJ Way ®
How has the JJ Way® model of prenatal care made a difference? The 2007, 2014, 2017 Study –evaluation results What is lacking in ‘Materno-toxic Areas’ and maternity healthcare? What do we need now?
Kristin Kali, LM CPM is a midwife, teacher, writer, speaker, trainer and consultant specializing in LGBTQ family building and gender inclusivity. Kristin is a warm and engaging presence, delivering professionalism and expertise with a down-to-earth, personable style. Kristin is an authoritative resource on LGBTQ healthcare during conception and pregnancy, functional approaches to fertility, and midwifery model preconception care.
Kristin is the owner of MAIA Midwifery and Fertility Services, internationally renowned for LGBTQ family building expertise. In addition to providing preconception care via telemedicine to families across the globe, Kristin provides midwifery care, home insemination, classes and support groups in Seattle, WA. You can read more about MAIA services, download webinars, access professional training, and purchase fertility related products at MAIA Midwifery & Fertility.
This workshop will provide an evidence-based framework for engaging with LGBTQ2S clients in midwifery care. Learn what constitutes a truly welcoming space for this unique and often marginalized client population. Review considerations for providing sensitive and specialized care, including issues unique to lesbian families and transgender parents. Understand what you can do to bridge gaps in midwifery care for LGBTQ2S people becoming parents via pregnancy.
Nancy Wainer is a Certified Professional Midwife who attends home births and who has been present at over 2100 births. She trains student midwives, teaches childbirth classes, is the author of two (soon to be three) books on Birth in the USA. She coined the term VBAC ( vaginal birrh after cesarean) which is now used internationally. Her work is being archived at Harvard University’s Schlessinger Womens’ History Library. She was selected as one of Mothering Magazines “Living Treasures. She is a preceptor for several midwifery schools and has had women from all over the world who have come to the United States to birth with her.She is an internationally known and sought-after childbirth speaker. She was the first midwife in the U.S. to teach HypnoBirthing and in 2013 became the first childbirth educator in Massachusetts to teach Blissborn Childbirth classes. She has written two books on cesarean prevention. “Silent Knife” won an award for The Best Book in the Field of Health and Medicine by the American Library Association the year it was written. She is currently writing her third book “Birthquake: A Pre and Post Childbirth Book for Strong Women and Women Who Want To Be Strong” ( co-author Raquel Lazar-Paley) which, hopefully, will be out by the end of this year!
Increasingly, Birth in the USA is taking place in operating rooms. Cesarean sections are commonplace and accepted as "the best route of entry" in far too many settings. What's wrong with having a cesarean? Plenty. What's so important about avoiding the first one and helping those women who have had them to have subsequent vaginal/natural birt as their babies arrive into the world? What are the ramifications of a culture where babies are surgically delivered? How do we educated and enlighten pregnant women/couples and help them to overcome the fear, take better of themselves, find experienced, caring and naturally-oriented care providers and have a birth that lifts them and helps them to begin mother/parenthood with an intact body in a place of confidence and joy rather than having to recover from a slash on their abdomen and on their uterus?
Nell Tharpe, CNM, CRNFA, MS, FACNM began her journey to midwifery after the birth of her first child. She attended births as a nurse and with home birth midwives, and then obtained her Certificate in Nurse-Midwifery from the State University of New York in 1986. She began active clinical practice in Maine, offering women holistic health care, attending births in small community hospitals, and working in the operating room as a surgical first assistant which is where she honed her suturing skills.
A committed life-long learner, Nell received her Master of Science degree in Midwifery from Philadelphia University in 2003. Nell’s passion is bridging the gap between clinical practice and emerging evidence. Her focus is on teaching midwifery skills to foster excellence in midwifery and women’s health care in every practice setting.
Nell is the original author of the widely used midwifery text Clinical Practice Guidelines for Midwifery and Women’s Health, now in its 5th edition, and sold in over 24 counties. She is an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia and provides workshops as an independent Perinatal and Women’s Health Consultant.
While most midwives are diligent about maintaining pelvic floor integrity during birth, genital tract trauma occurs in up to 70% of women during vaginal birth. Birthing women expect midwives to be skilled and confident in their ability to perform perineal repair. This complex skill set requires multiple learning opportunities to develop both competence and the ability to suture with confidence. Perineal repair skills require manual dexterity and the ability to visually identify and approximate anatomic structures. The ability to perform an effective wound closure requires midwives actively master the skills required for systematic wound evaluation and anatomic re-‐approximation of tissues. Supportive mentoring and intentional self-‐directed practice are critical to the learning process. This session focuses on the equipment, supplies, and technical skills used during suturing of the pelvic floor after birth, and recommendations for simulation and practice.
Professor Suellen Miller is Director of the Safe Motherhood Program and Professor, UCSF Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Professor Miller has been practicing as a certified nurse-midwife since l977, and is the author of the Hesperian Foundations’ “A Book for Midwives”. She conducts both qualitative and quantitative research, mainly in lower resourced settings, primarily focused on maternal survival and maternal health. Her studies include contraceptive research in Africa and Asia, misoprostol clinical trials in Tibet and India, the clinical trials of the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG), and the continuum of maternal care in Peru, Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Timor Leste, and Tanzania, among other reproductive and sexual health projects and programs.. The author of over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, Professor Miller is co-author of “Beyond Too Little Too Late, Too Much Too Soon,” in the Lancet 2016 Maternal Health Series.
Despite some advances in individual technologies and strategies, hemorrhage remains one of the major killers of pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum women, especially in lower resourced settings. Maternal mortalities and morbidities have actually risen in many of these places, including in some higher resourced settings, such as the US. In this presentation we will review some of the newer innovations in hemorrhage prevention, recognition, and management, such as the improvised, low cost uterine balloon tamponade, non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, use of standardized blood mats, community distribution of oral/sublingual misoprostol, a uterine balloon that releases Tranexamic Acid, drones for blood delivery in remote areas, and more. We will discuss the influence on Ministries of Health and program managers of the World Health Organization’s recommendations on technologies for PPH. We will then describe and discuss why PPH bundles may be a more efficient way to package and train on technologies and strategies.
Suzanne Colson, PhD, MSc, BA, is a midwife and a nurse. Her thesis introduced a new breastfeeding paradigm called Biological Nurturing and won the prestigious English Royal College of Nursing Inaugural Akinsanya Award for originality and scholarship in doctoral studies. Suzanne is an Akinsanya scholar 2007, and a Visiting Principal Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University. She is an honorary member and a founding mother/leader of La Leche League France. She is also on the professional advisory board of La Leche League of Great Britain. She has more than 40 years clinical experience supporting breastfeeding mothers in both hospital and community settings. Suzanne is the author of numerous articles, research papers, a book, translated into 4 languages and three DVDs. Retired from active midwifery practice, she organizes 5-day biological nurturing certification workshops, remains available for clinical consultation, and lectures widely across the world.
Biological nurturing (BN), a mother-led approach, promotes body contact even when the baby is asleep. BN theories link hormonal continuity from pregnancy to postpartum and reflex continuity from womb to world. During the last weeks of pregnancy, oxytocin levels rise, peaking immediately following birth. Early baby gazing and eye-to-eye contact help maintain this high oxytocin pulsatility associated with increased breastfeeding duration. Experts in Body-Mind Centering suggest that fetal reflexes radiate from the navel--- the core, thus preparing neonatal movement. Whilst suckling in BN positions, pressure radiates from navel to limbs triggering neonatal reflexes facilitating latch and sustaining milk transfer. During BN, mothers and babies are often lightly dressed challenging the current emphasis on skin-to-skin as the only early intervention aiding breastfeeding initiation. Importantly, BN research suggests that ventral pressure is the neonatal behavioral releaser for both interventions, not dress state. Attend this presentation to clarify continuity theory and discover some unexpected breastfeeding “myths”.
Dr. Speakers Full Name
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Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization and in 2008 sat for and passed the exam administered by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, she now
Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization text text text text more name mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became.
Dr. Speakers Full Name
Speaker Credentials