As experts in normal birth -- comfortable and skilled at attending a birth outside of a standard delivery room -- midwives are uniquely well prepared to care for childbearing women in a disaster situation.  Midwives have honed well the skill of triage of childbearing women; knowing which women are likely to safely give birth without medical intervention, and which women should be prioritized when access to high-tech care is limited.

All Hazards Preparedness is a high priority for the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM).  We are particulary concerned that the needs of women and infants be adequately addressed when disaster plans are made.

Although most ACNM members attend births in hospitals, we see all hazards preparedness planning as an opportunity to educate the public and health care providers about the safety of planned home births for healthy women, and a time to assess the surge capacity of birth centers.  The following links provide more detailed information for policy makers, our members, and the general public.

• ACNM Committee on Disaster Preparedness

• How Midwives Can Prepare Their Practices for Disaster

• ACNM QuickInfo on Disaster Preparedness - This document provides an overview of resources and links to important agencies and resource materials.

• Quickening article by Katherine Camacho Carr, CNM, PhD, FACNM, Former ACNM President

• Quickening article by Dr. Lisa Summers, Former ACNM Director of Professional Services

• ACNM Giving Birth in Place - Instructions for family-attended home birth in emergency situations, designed to provide reassurance and advice for childbearing families.
  

• Subscribe to USAID Influenza Announcements by sending a blank email with the word "subscribe" in the subject line to aiunit@aimglobalheath.org.

ACNM staff and volunteer leaders are actively engaged with a number of other groups working on this issue.

• White Ribbon Alliance Working Group - Read the final version of the Women and Infants Service Package (WISP), guidelines that provide the framework for the minimum and initial actions needed to respond to the essential health care needs of pregnant women, mothers, newborns and infants in an emergency.

• Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP)
  

• Pandemic flu--State Summits Planned:  All 50 states and the District of Columbia are receiving grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to intensify planning efforts for pandemic flu. To coordinate planning, state summits are being held with public health, emergency management, and response leaders. Does your chapter know what plans are being made for childbearing women?   Find information about your state's plan!

For more information, please contact Mary Curran, Chairman of the ACNM Disaster Preparedness Committee.  You may also contact Monica Greenfield, Coordinator for the ACNM Department of Professional Practice & Health Policy, via email, or at (240) 485-1844.