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Press Release: New Birth Center Launches Capital Fundraising Campaign

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November 13, 2019

Our Community Birth Center, a developing freestanding birth center in Lane County, just launched a capital fundraising campaign. The birth center plans to fill the gap in care left by the recent closure of PeaceHealth’s Nurse Midwifery Birth Center in Springfield. Lane County has been home to a nurse-midwifery birth center since the late 1970s, and the Eugene and Springfield communities have made clear that there is a strong demand for birth center care, most recently with the campaign to #SaveTheNurseMidwiferyBirthCenter led by the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center and recorded here

AlexAnn Westlake (Certified Nurse Midwife - CNM), the Birth Center’s Executive Director, explains that “Statistically, birth centers make for healthier moms and babies - they improve health outcomes and lower the cost of health care. Take, for example, the study Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns, published in 2018, which tracked 45000 babies and included the former local Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.” 

“We believe childbearing families should have the choice of giving birth in an accredited freestanding birth center, access to out of hospital birth that is covered by health insurance, and empowering and informative support through their journey to parenthood. Our goal is to restore the full suite of wrap-around birth center services including pregnancy, birth, postpartum, newborn, lactation, health education, preventative health care, women’s health, and family planning services that our community has accessed through the birth center for over 40 years,” stated Westlake on behalf of Our Community Birth Center. 

“The United States is experiencing a maternal mortality crisis - and midwifery care and birth center care are an evidence-based way to reduce cesarean birth rates and improve health outcomes,” noted Westlake. This is borne out by research cited in news sources including CBS News, ProPublica, The Lund Report, New York Times, ScienceDaily. Westlake continued, “Our Community Birth Center is willing to take on the challenge of making birth safer for moms and babies and continuing the decades-long legacy of high-quality nurse-midwifery birth center care for Lane County.” 

Westlake said, “Our Community Birth Center is not yet providing services but will begin doing so as soon as the organization raises adequate funds and secures a facility.” Our Community Birth Center is actively receiving contributions to support this cause and information on how to donate is available on their website: www.ourcommunitybirthcenter.org.

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