Personal Choice & Personal Risk

All services, education, information, materials, or items (“services & goods”) provided by the volunteer staff at the Perinatal Community Clinic (PCC) hosted by Ìyá Pittsburgh Project are provided to participants/clients/customers (or however “recipients” self-identify) of the clinic in good faith and after attaining consent and request for their provision.

 

All volunteer staff at the PCC value, support, and promote bodily and cognitive sovereignty/autonomy for all people; that all persons are capable (or are represented by a capable, legal guardian) and can exercise their free will to request, receive, and participate in alternative forms of health and wellness, educational opportunities, and informational sessions as they see fit; and that all said persons can choose who to receive “services & goods” from without gatekeeping or interventions from external influences, organisations, or governments.

​

Recipients of services & goods provided by the volunteer staff at the PCC seek out and request said services & goods voluntarily and AT THEIR OWN RISK, and they do not hold any PCC voluntary staff member liable or accountable for any physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual injury, complication, or general dissatisfaction.

​​

-----

​

Licensure and Malpractice Insurance

Community Herbalists, Holistic Health Consultants, Babywearing Educators, Doulas/Support Companions, Life Coaches, and Spiritual Advisors & Healers are not licensed, certified, or regulated in the state of Pennsylvania. Michele (“Misha”) James-Parham and Selena Eisenberg are NOT licensed, certified, or regulated medical physicians, nurses, counsellors, therapists, or other state-approved, professional medical healthcare or mental healthcare providers. Their care is meant to complement, not diagnose, treat, or cure physical/mental health concerns, nor replace the care of a client’s current healthcare provider’s treatment or advice. They do NOT carry malpractice insurance.

 

​In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is currently no means of licensure for or regulation of non-nurse midwives; Misha and Selena are NOT Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) nor are they licensed non-nurse midwives. Misha and Selena have chosen to not seek out Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) status through the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). This allows them to fulfil and honour the choices of the families that they serve without being bound to conduct their practice in any one particular manner. This also keeps them from being coerced into supporting an organisation that creates—instead of dismantling—barriers to certification for BIPOC and Queer/Trans midwives. Misha and Selena have no future plans to become certified or licensed in midwifery through any state, organisation, or agency.

​​

-----

​

​Traditional Midwifery Services

Traditional midwife-attended homebirths are offered to clients seeking a low-tech, physiological (“natural”), and non-medicalised birth. This means clients do not wish to have medical interventions performed before, during, or after birth. Services provided may not always align with the local medical-based standard of care of the community or city a person lives in. Services are offered for clients who are healthy, secure with their bodies and the birth process, and those clients who want to make their own healthcare decisions.

​

Clients who are seeking care from a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), Medical Physician or any other medically minded/licensed person who can and will perform obstetrical procedures (artificial rupturing of membranes, electronic monitoring of baby, etc.) and use obstetrical instruments/treatments (forceps, Rx drugs, etc.), should not contract for services through Ìyá Pittsburgh Project. We are happy, however, to offer parallel or co-care with such professionals. Clients wanting vanity ultrasound tests, complicated medical/diagnostic laboratory work-ups, and medical interventions such as pitocin induction, pain medication, or continuous foetal monitoring, should also not contract for services with us, as we are not licensed to practice medicine or perform medical diagnosis and treatments.

 

-----

​
What is a Traditional Midwife?

A TM is a direct-entry midwife who has been trained in the art of midwifery by way of the apprenticeship model; one or more senior midwives were involved in hand training a student midwife. The training includes traditional midwifery practices and knowledge, as well as more modern midwifery knowledge where it is most useful. For most TMs this means learning a lot about the use of herbs during the childbearing year and especially those needed to ensure a smooth and safer labour and birth for their clients. It can also include practices and knowledge that are culturally relevant when being trained by an indigenous midwife, midwife of colour, queer midwife, or (ethno)religious/spiritual midwife.

 

A TM’s educational pathway may have also included related college and/or the completion of a direct-entry midwife education programme. Some TMs will also have degrees or skills in related fields like massage therapy, yoga instruction, nutrition counselling, herbalism, and so on. It is important to ask your midwife what kind of training and experience they have when deciding if they are a good fit for your unique pregnancy and birthing needs.

​

A TM *might* not be certified or licensed for personal/political/religious reasons, but this does not mean that they are any less capable of providing excellent low-risk homebirth midwifery care to their clients.

​

-----

 

​Mandatory Reporting

Due to state laws, as a healthcare provider and someone who has frequent contact with children, Misha and various other voluntary staff members of the PCC are Mandatory Reporters for child abuse and report to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

​

-----

​

The consent form for the Perinatal Community Clinic can be downloaded here; please print, sign, and bring to the clinic on your first visit. Clinic Consent Form