The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Florida Governor Supports Midwives

I thought that some of you may enjoy reading a copy of a letter from our Governor that is being mailed to all Florida hospitals. It's kind of long, but nice.

Office of the Governor
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32300-0001

Dear Sir/Madam:

As you now, the health of Floridians has been a high priority of our administration. Through combined efforts of people like you in health care throughout the state, we have instituted many initiatives in the last six years to improve health services in Florida. Among these is the Healthy Start maternal and child program. This program provides screening for all pregnant women and seeks to utilize our state's excellent health care system most efficiently by encouraging appropriate use of technology and intervention. To this end, the Healthy Start initiative includes the goal that 50% of low risk pregnant women in Florida receive care by midwives by the year 2000.

To accomplish this goal midwives must practice as part of the maternity health care team to provide quality care to normal, healthy women, and to consult, refer, collaborate with, or transfer care to community obstetrical and hospital services as appropriate.

Florida's Licensed Midwives provide maternity care in a variety of settings to low risk women. Current law provides a mechanism to license direct-entry midwives following completion of a three-year educational program specializing in midwifery and passage of the state licensing examination. The "direct-entry" paradigm of midwifery is patterned after the European model where midwives can enter directly into midwifery education, and nursing licensure is not a pre-requisite. Traditional "nursing" (health care) skills are part of Licensed Midwifery educational programs.

We encourage your hospital, associated physicians and obstetrical practitioners to provide a consumer-friendly environment in which clients of Licensed Midwives can receive appropriate backup care when needed. We also encourage your facility to work with students and preceptors affiliated with approved licensed midwifery educational programs to incorporate in-hospital experiences into the midwifery student's clinical education. This will enable Licensed Midwives to better function as part of the maternity health care team to best meet the needs of Florida consumers.

Thank you for your assistance. For further information please contact the Council of Licensed Midwifery at (904) 487-4940

Sincerely,