Midwifery Spotlight - March 2010

This month the spotlight is on the women at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. I had a chance to talk with Bliss Castellano and Wendy Stone—who are also up for a position in the local ACNM chapter. Did you vote? Are you a member of the local ACNM?

Bliss Castellano

Bliss is from Seattle and graduated from the midwifery program at the University of Washington in 2006. She earned her MPH in 2007. She has been involved in international health for years, working in Ecuador, Belize, Guatemala, and Ghana. She has worked at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic since 2007.

Bliss is fluent in Spanish and gets to use it a lot at YVFWC, since the majority of her patients are Spanish speakers from Mexico. In her practice, she has her own patient panel, so she follows the same group of patients from beginning to end. She describes this as an incredible opportunity to get to know them and their families, to see the development and miracle of pregnancy and birth. She is passionate about her role in empowering women to better care for themselves and their babies. Another aspect of her job that she enjoys is providing care to women throughout their lifespan, and assisting physicians in the group with GYN surgeries and c-sections.

She is proud of her professional growth and is thankful for the support of her colleagues and the opportunities a smaller town provides: more intimate relationships and participation in various community activities. “I’ve been here barely over two years and already having return clients. It’s amazing to see a two-year-old running around in the exam room that I delivered!”

Wendy Stone

Wendy graduated from the midwifery program at the University of Southern California in 1999. She worked in Tacoma and Minnesota before coming to Yakima. She has worked at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (YVFWC) for over 2½ years. Her husband of 39 years has been very supportive and happily followed her whenever she changed jobs. Her family also consists of 4 grown sons.

Originally, Wendy wanted to be a teacher, but that changed after the birth of her first son. The hospital where she delivered was under construction and the nurse left her all alone. She was told that her doctor didn’t want her to push, but he did want her to get an epidural. She did and her doctor used forceps to deliver her son. During her postpartum recovery in the hospital, her roommate had postpartum blues, and Wendy took care of her. After that experience, Wendy felt compelled to work so that other women could have a better birth experience.

She is committed to her patients, and does whatever she can so that they can have the birth experience they desire. When asked if she had anything she would like to say to other midwives, she made a call to action. She stressed that these are important times for midwives to protect their state license and what laws enable us to do our work. “I think that institutions try to limit our practice and try to put us in a supervised role instead of a consulting position with doctors. That’s why it’s important to be active in the ACNM. We need to protect a woman’s right to have midwives in the hospital or any other facility”.

If you know of a midwife who deserves to be in the spotlight, please email Kristina Chamberlain at kristinacnm@yahoo.com.