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President’s Message

 Kendra Scarlett, IMC president, is off on her winter adventure, this year in Australia.  She diligently wrote her report for this newsletter before she left and even boasted about having gotten it in before she left.  Alas, it seems to have been lost in cyberspace and I was unable to access her computer to resend it.  Please know that all is well, the Idaho Midwifery Council is thriving, and all the news is available elsewhere in this newsletter.

Barbara Rawlings - outgoing President

 Suturing for Midwives

Pharmacology for Midwives

The Treatment of Shock/IV Therapy

Neonatal Resuscitation

These courses are required for obtaining an Idaho Midwifery license

Pharmacology for Midwives will be held at Treasure Valley Midwives in Boise, Idaho on April 8^th from 9am-5pm.  The cost is $25, payable at the beginning of class.  Please contact Paula for more information and to register (paulawiens@earthlink.net).

The Treatment of Shock and IV Therapy will be held at Treasure Valley Midwives in Boise, Idaho on April 9th from 9am-6 pm. The cost is $200, payable at the beginning of class.  Please contact Paula for more information and to register (paulawiens@earthlink.net or 208.880.5122)

Suturing for Midwives will be held at Treasure Valley Midwives in Boise on April 10^th from 8:30am-6:30pm.  The cost is $100, payable at the beginning of class.  Please contact Annette for more information and to register (annettelewis81@yahoo.com).  This course will also be held at Dayspring Midwifery in Hayden, Idaho on April 20^th.  Please contact Denise for more information and to register (dmidstokke@hotmail.com)

Neonatal Resuscitation will be held at The Baby Place in Meridian, Idaho on April 24^th.  It will be an 8-hour course.  The cost is $100.  Please contact Coleen for more information and to register at (208) 884-1223.

Legislative Report

Dear Friends & Sisters,

 I am happy to report that the rules and regulations have been approved by both houses of the legislature. The approved rules provide clarity to the law. When looking at our new midwifery law, it is important to have a set of the rules and regulations nearby for a complete understanding of the intent.

There has been a group working on an amendment to make licensure voluntary.  This group is made up of consumers & a few midwives that are opposed to licensure. They have already tried to get a public hearing for an amendment in the State Affairs committee. They did not get approval.  Our lobbyists Kris Ellis & Larry Benton have been keeping the legislators informed of the IMC’s position on this issue. The IMC currently does not have a position.

Applications for licensure should be ready as soon as the 2010 legislature adjourns.  It is estimated that about 30 midwives, give or take, will be ready to license by the July 1, 2010 deadline.  We should all be very excited about this.

The Ellis & Benton scholarship fund has given out money to some midwives for education.  The Idaho Midwifery Council is currently exploring other ideas for the scholarship fund. We have had some suggest that the fund could/should be used to help midwives in need pay for their licensure fees.

The IMC is also in the process of updating our website and other ways in which the organization can become more professional, transparent, and accountable to membership. Your input is greatly appreciated.

On a side note, I have been helping Wyoming with a CPM licensure law. In 2003, a legislator amended the medical practice act, which basically made midwifery care illegal. By the time you read this, I am hopeful that Wyoming will be the 27^th legal state in the US.

If you ever need any help or a clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me or someone from the board.

Sincerely,

Michelle Bartlett

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Update on the Licensing Progress

The statute is in place, the rules have been approved, and the application form is ready to be published as soon as this 2010 Legislative Session adjourns (maybe late March/early April).  It will be posted at www.ibol.idaho.gov (click on Midwives on the left side of the page) AND at www.idahomidwives.org as soon as it is available.  You can download it, print it, and fill it out.  The bureau staff will review application packets for completeness.  When complete they will be sent on to the Board of Midwifery, which will review each application and grant a midwifery license.  So be ready - July 1, 2010 will be here before we know it!  We are making history.

 
For Certified Professional Midwives, requirements for licensing include:

·         Proof of Current Certification as CPM from NARM

·         Documentation of successful completion of board approved MEAC approved courses in Pharmacology for Midwives, the Treatment of Shock/IV Therapy and Suturing for Midwives

·         Completed application

·         Application fee ($50) and initial license fee ($550)

For "Grandmothering IN" candidates,

I am writing this to make sure you are well on the path to getting your paperwork together in preparation to apply for a midwifery license.  You can access the NARM Report of Clinical Experience Form 121 that has been designated to document your 75 births in the last 10 years (10 in the last 2 years) at NARM.org/application. Click ‘Experienced Midwife PEP’.   Form 121 is there. 

Ignore the following instructions on page 1:   I., A., 1-4, B, C, D.  All other instructions apply.

Begin on page 2 and list births in chronological order with most recent ones first.

Obviously the box that asks if you were present at the birth MUST be yes - otherwise it doesn't count.

Yes, Do document # of prenatal visits, newborn exams, pp exams (since you have the chart in front of you).

On the last page you will see where it needs to be notarized.  Draw a line through the sentence "that I utilize the practice guidelines, informed consent document and emergency care form submitted with this application" as that part does no apply.  Have the form notarized and make a copy for yourself.

You will also need to complete practice data for all births in the last 2 years.  The form is finalized by the Board of Midwifery and will be available when the legislative session adjourns, probably in April.  In the meantime, I recommend you go to the Rules (which have now been approved) and look at Rule 200, 04. a-h.  Everything you need to document is there; you will be able to transfer this information to the correct form when it becomes available.  Rules can be found at www.ibol.idaho.gov, click  ‘Midwives’ in the left column, and the Board of Midwifery page will come up.  Click on ‘Proposed Rules’ and you've got them.  You may as well be collecting this information while you have the charts out and are documenting the 75 births.

 The other requirements include: 

• Current certification in adult, infant & child CPR
• Current certification in Neonatal Resuscitation
• Successful completion of MEAC approved courses in The Treatment of Shock/IV therapy, Pharmacology for Midwives and Suturing for Midwives
• Completed application form
• Application fee ($50) and initial license fee ($550)

 I know it seems like a lot and that is why I am encouraging you now, to make sure you are working on it, understand what you need to be doing and have what you need to get the job done.  July 1 is fast approaching for us all.

 I hope this is helpful.  I hope you are all well on your way.  If I can answer questions or help you in any way, please let me know.

Barbara Rawlings

Consents, Forms, Practice Documents Wanted

The IMC wants to post examples of practice documents, consents and other forms we are required to give our clients.  We hope you will share what you use.  We feel we can all benefit from helping each other in this way.  Sometimes it is difficult to think of all we have to cover, for some of us this is new territory, for others we have to revise/update our old forms to comply with the new licensing regulations.  So there is no need to reinvent the wheel when many of us already have paperwork in place.  

The IMC website committee will create a section where we can submit & or share.  We invite you to participate and welcome everyone to use it as needed. Please send your documents to Merrilyn at midwife8269@aol.com.

Website Update

Because website maintenance is an ongoing assignment, the IMC now boasts a website committee:  webmistress Merrilyn Reeves, Jill Henggeler, Carrie Blake and Michelle Bartlett.   We are working on updating the site.  Look for these additions in the near future:  ability to pay IMC dues by PayPal, documents for midwives and more info on the Ellis & Benton Scholarship Fund.  We would also like to add mom and baby/family/birth photos.   Do you have any you would be willing to share?  Please forward to photos, suggestions, corrections and the like Merrilyn Reeves at midwife8269@aol.com.   Please get permission to use any photos you send. 

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