Oregon - Where are Traditional Midwives Needed?

[crescentmoonmama]

We are seriously considering a move to Oregon - all of my family now live on or near the Westcoast.


I am studying midwifery, doubt I will license, though haven't ruled it out. I would be looking for an apprenticeship or preceptorship.

Where in Oregon is there a need for more midwives? I would live in a smaller town, suburb, rural area as long as its hopefully within an hour of a major metropolitan area, as well.

Communities that are more progressive, food co-ops and whole foods stores accessible, homeschool co-ops are desired.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Nikki

[pamamidwife]

well, the biggest need for midwives isn't the most crunchy or progressive. the areas that *are* crunchy or progressive typically have a large number of midwives available. (The biggest need is in Northeastern Oregon)

the only exception would be Corvallis, which has one practicing midwife. for the size of the city, another one would be welcome.

:)

[crescentmoonmama]

Thank You!!! That is helpful information :)

[thomatuttle]

The Southern Oregon Coast is seriously lacking in Midwives. I have only heard of one midwife south of Florence on the coast.

[whalemilk]

Near any of the Indian Reservations is a good idea, many of the women there are severely underserved in general and face prejudice from hospital staff and OBs. Warm Springs in E. OR is one, also the Siletz on the coast, there are a couple of other reservations but those are the two off the top of my head that could really use a midwife.

[crescentmoonmama]

Thanks Y'all :) That is really quite helpful! The trick, I think, will be finding a preceptor.....

Feel free to point any midwives who would be open or glad to have an extra pair of hands in my direction!

[1babysmom]

Eastern OR, absolutely. The closest MW's to me over here are like 5 hours away! There are some a few hours away in Idaho though.

[PapayaVagina]

Near any of the Indian Reservations is a good idea, many of the women there are severely underserved in general and face prejudice from hospital staff and OBs. Warm Springs in E. OR is one, also the Siletz on the coast, there are a couple of other reservations but those are the two off the top of my head that could really use a midwife.

Are there any midwives that serve the Siletz communities? If so, do you know their names? My grandmother and grandfather are Siletz :)

[firefly mama]

Pam suggested Corvallis, but living here and being pretty involved in the homebirth culture, I feel a new primary midwife would have a hard time getting enough clients to make a living. We have two (Lisa Lehrer and Missy Cheyney) who practice independently. Lisa has been here for 25+ years and is busy, but not busy enough to turn away clients. She currently has 2 apprentices and at least 1 more waiting in the wings. Missy is a full-time professor at the university as well, so she takes only a handful of clients and does have to turn people away. She has 1 apprentice and like 5 apprentice-wannabes. :) There are also a handful of other MWs from towns 10-45 minutes away that come here for births as well. Plus, we have an overload of apprentices/students right now, one of whom just started taking primaries too (Rachel Teadora...she's my MW). We actually did have a recently-certified MW (Nechama Wildanah) just move away because she couldn't get enough births.

If you came to Corvallis you would certainly be welcomed with open arms. We love more like-minded birth folks. But I'm just trying to be honest...it might be hard finding a job for the first several years.

[hsofia]

Ooh, this is a tall order ... Portland is the ONLY major metropolitan area between Olympia, WA and northern California - and it's six to seven hours to west to Idaho. An hour outside of Portland wouldn't get you too far. The only place I can think off the top of my head is maybe Astoria, Oregon, which is the northwestern coast.

I would look at southern or coastal oregon - the problem you might have there is population sizes and the ages of the residents. Much of the south is filled up with seniors.

You might want to consider the Bend and Madras areas (central Oregon). Lots of transplants in those areas, and I'm sure they've brought their free range coffee :D and progressive notions with them. I'm pretty sure there are midwives out there, but don't know how wrapped up the market is down there.

Southeastern Oregon and Northeastern Oregon probably have the least midwives - might want to look into the area near Walla, Walla WA (pop. 30,000 and home to several small colleges) - the towns on the Oregon side include Milton-Freewater. But we are talking about a four hour drive from Portland.

Good luck to you!

We are seriously considering a move to Oregon - all of my family now live on or near the Westcoast.


I am studying midwifery, doubt I will license, though haven't ruled it out. I would be looking for an apprenticeship or preceptorship.

Where in Oregon is there a need for more midwives? I would live in a smaller town, suburb, rural area as long as its hopefully within an hour of a major metropolitan area, as well.

Communities that are more progressive, food co-ops and whole foods stores accessible, homeschool co-ops are desired.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Nikki

[Belle]

I know you didn't ask this, but there are no midwives in Vancouver, WA. Right across the border from Portland. There are a few who are willing to cross the border to attend births there, but not many. Not a one is licensed up here. Not that I blame them, but there is a definite need for midwives here.

[hsofia]

I live in Vancouver, but didn't know the midwifery status here. Thanks for commenting on this. My midwives are from Portland. There are no birth centers up in this area at all - according to one of my midwives, it's because the laws in Washington are much more challenging to overcome.

But I don't know if the laws are different for practicing midwifery outside of a birth center in Washington state.

I know you didn't ask this, but there are no midwives in Vancouver, WA. Right across the border from Portland. There are a few who are willing to cross the border to attend births there, but not many. Not a one is licensed up here. Not that I blame them, but there is a definite need for midwives here.

[milkybean]

But I don't know if the laws are different for practicing midwifery outside of a birth center in Washington state.

Not on the topic, but from my experience, it's much easier, restriction-wise, to be at home than at a birth center in WA. That said, it's easier to birth in OR than in WA, if you go outside the norms states set for pregnancies and women.


OK, back to the discussion. :) I don't have much to contribute, but I do know how hard it is to figure out where you want to practice, whatever your practice is. When I was in my chiropractic practice, I went to an island for awhile, but found that I didn't like being the "normal" one on an island of "out there" types, and preferred to be the "out there" one in a much bigger city. Since I closed my practice b/c I couldn't make a dime after a total of 5 years out of school, that might not have been the best decision, but it just shows that these decisions are hard! If you have a partner with a full time job that makes it a bit easier to live (though puts restrictions on where to live/practice of course), and that's something I didn't have during the chiro years.

Good luck!!!!!

[mwherbs]

I second the eastern Oregon recommendation- there are heath food buying groups as well as stores- in the Milton-Freewater area and a Seventh Day Adventist college in Walla Walla Washington-
there use to be 1 or 2 midwives in Hermeston, Ore. and a couple of midwives in the Tri-Cities Washington area
if you don't want to be that far east then there is Hood River, Oregon and it is near the Dalles -- when I lived in that area no other practicing midwives in the vicinity but many folks who are alternative enough- this area is on the foothills of the Cascade Mts and is fairly temperate as weather goes - folks who live in tree houses and Yurts, wind surfers and migrant workers (one of the women who worked at the migrant health clinic use to do home births, she may still be there)

[SwanMom]

I'm from Eastern Oregon, and I think midwives are needed there. My friend had a home birth in La Grande several years ago and the closest midwife lived in John Day (3-4 hour drive)...needless to say, she had her son before the midwife arrived.

I think there may be some weird politics with the hospitals or something, but the women need choices there!!

[niengolina]

I'm in Central Oregon (Bend area, though for some reason some refer to us as Eastern Oregon???) Anyway, we have some midwives here that serve the Redmond, bend areas, but I'm in Culver and we're a little underserved. We're an hour away from Bend and close to Madras and the Warm Springs res. I'm going to begin apprenticing with the fantabulous midwife that attended my birth and she mentioned wanting a third apprentice...

[AllisonK]

I live in Vancouver too and I know there are several MW here. I don't know them personally as I chose a PDX MW but I know there are at least 3 when I checked into it.

I know its a long way from OR but Central WA (specifically Wenatchee) has one MW who runs the local birth center (and does not take VBACs). There is one hosp which bans VBAC so there is not one MW who will do a VBAC in the areas of Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, etc. Moms are travelling to Spokane to get their VBACs :(