BAC President Meets with St. John's New CEO

On Tuesday, August 3rd at 10:00 am, I met with Ms. Laurie Eberst CEO and Mr. John Bibby Director of Human Resources for St. John's Regional Medical Center. We met at Pleasant Valley Hospital in the Administrative Board Room. I so appreciated Ms. Eberst taking the time to meet with me, as it was just her second day on the job. I was so pleased to be joined by two expecting moms who will be giving birth in the month of August, and both of them hoped to deliver at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. But there's a problem. Both moms want their midwife, Lynn Olsen CNM of The Women's Place to catch their baby. While they do have the option of having an OB attend their birth at Pleasant Valley, due to a policy change earlier this year no midwives can deliver at Pleasant Valley. Prior to this policy change, CNM's (Certified Nurse Midwives) had been delivering at Pleasant Valley Hospital for over 15 years. At our meeting the option of having the midwife attend as a "visitor" was offered, but for both women this was a reduction in the quality of care that they planned for. One of the moms has opted to give birth at St. John's Hospital in Oxnard so that she can be assured that her midwife will catch her baby, this will mean a longer travel time for her, and a big change in the environment. The other mom has actually decided to give birth out of the hospital at a local birth center to assure her of the ideal environment and preferred care provider for the type of birth she wants. Both of these women recognize the high quality of midwifery care, and do not feel that administrators at St. John's are acting in the interest of women like them.

During the meeting both Eberst and Bibby indicated that they are "moving in the direction" of having midwives back at Pleasant Valley. While they seem to understand the skill and quality provided by the midwifes affected (Lynn Olsen CNM and Joyce Weckyl CNM), I don't think that they truly understand the difference and safety provided by a skilled midwife. Skilled midwives are experts in normal, low risk, minimal intervention birth. To their credit Eberst and Bibby asked the Birth Action Coalition to provide them with information on the safety of midwifery of care to present to their Chief of Staff as they move toward getting the midwives reinstated at Pleasant Valley Hospital. We look forward to assisting the hospital in any way that we can in order to improve birthing options for the women served at these hospitals.

Stay Tuned.
Kimberly Rivers, President, Birth Action Coalition