Midwives Celebrate 50th Anniversary at Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. June 10 to June 16

News Advisory:

WHAT: The 50th Annual Meeting of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), the nation’s oldest women’s health organization

WHEN: June 10 to June 16

WHERE: Marriott Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008

Nearly 2000 certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives will converge on Washington, DC this week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). ACNM will hold its Annual Meeting and Exhibit from June 10 to June 16 at the Marriott Wardman Park.

During the Annual Meeting, midwives will gather to honor the 50th Anniversary at a Gala Celebration and lobby Congress for equitable Medicare reimbursement. The College will hold its annual business meetings to discuss the state of the profession today and will hold dozens of educational sessions and workshops on a wide range of topics. A complete schedule of events and speakers is available online at http://www.midwife.org.

“This is a moment of critical importance to women’s health, and while it is an important time to honor those that came before us, our Annual Meeting this year will be about addressing the challenges and opportunities facing healthcare providers and patients in the next fifty years,” said Katherine Camacho Carr, CNM, PhD, president of ACNM. “Workshops on how to deal with the liability crisis and expand nurse-midwifery practices into federally-qualified health centers are designed to help midwives face the day-to-day issues of delivering quality health care in today’s environment. And the combination of business meetings and exposure to the latest research in women’s health will assist meeting attendees stay in touch with current events.”

Attendees will meet and share cutting-edge ideas, network and get the latest trends and women’s health challenges from expert speakers in dozens of workshops, panel sessions, and symposia. This year’s program features such presenters as:

-- Wanda Jones, DrPH, director of the Office on Women’s Health, and Vivian W. Pinn, the director of the Division of Women’s Health Policy and Leadership at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will be featured at a session titled “Gender Equity in Women’s Health and Research: 20th Century Accomplishments and 21st Century Challenges.” (Tuesday, 6/14 at 8:15 a.m.)

-- Leslie Cragin, CNM, PhD will present a premier session on “Midwifery Practice at the Borders of Normalcy: Midwives Stories of Supporting and Encouraging Normalcy in ’Not Quite Normal’ Situations.” (Sunday, 6/12 at 8:15 a.m.)

-- Pediatrician and author Harvey Karp, MD will discuss his advice to healthcare providers and parents in a session titled “The Fourth Trimester: A New Framework for Making Fussy Babies Calm and Calm Babies Serene.” (Tuesday, 6/14 at 8:15 a.m.)

-- Other session topics will include the troubling rise in cesarean sections, pain during childbirth, breastfeeding, midwifery care for women with multiple sclerosis, menopause and other women’s health matters.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

-- Midwives from dozens of communities across the country will be meeting with their legislators on Capitol Hill in support of an increase in their Medicare reimbursement rate-certified nurse- midwives receive only 65 percent of the physician reimbursement rate for comparable services. Legislation introduced would wipe out a reimbursement inequity that denies access to midwifery providers for women with disabilities, according to ACNM.

-- Companies such as the makers of the Today’s Sponge and the publishers of the recently-updated Our Bodies, Ourselves, along with dozens of other makers of women’s health care products and services will be featured in ACNM’s Exhibit Hall. Vendors include contraceptive and fertility test makers, breast pump manufacturers, devices such as hand-held ultrasound Doppler devices and laboring pools, as well as medical publishers, childbirth educators and midwifery education programs from across the country.

MEDIA/PRESS PASSES:

-- All covered journalists are welcome to attend the events but must check in at the Information Desk at the ACNM Registration area for admittance to the Annual Meeting. Please have press credentials available. Press badges and other press materials will be available during normal registration hours. Please contact Tim Clarke, ACNM Communications Manager at 240-485-1821 (prior to 6/08) and via mobile phone 301-814-2678 (after 6/08) if you are interested in arranging interviews with speakers or participants.

Visit ACNM’s Web site at http://www.midwife.org for more information.

Contact Information

Tim Clarke, Jr.

Media Contact

American College of Nurse-Midwives

Contact via E-mail