I am a birth doula, birth assistant to a CPM, and an aspiring midwife. I have experienced and witnesses many births attended by amazing CPMs and how they are changing the health and well-being of mothers and their families. Please consider the below comment and change the regulation to allow these trained professionals to fully practice in the scope they are trained for. This is especially helpful when many of the mothers we serve are at least an hour drive from the nearest hospital with a labor and delivery unit. I have witnessed a hospital transfer that would have otherwise been unnecessary if the midwife would have been permitted to administer the medications the mother needed in the moment. Due to the transfer, the mother and father needed to worry about what would happen with their baby, the EMS staff was rude to everyone, and their peaceful birth was interrupted with a 30-minute ambulance ride, delaying being with their new family. 

The medications these midwives are trained and nationally certified to use includes:

Allowing to administer:

-antihemorrhagics

-local anesthetic

-newborn eye ointment

-rhogam

-IV fluids and antibiotics

-oxygen

-Vitamin K

A flaw in our regulations prevents Virginia midwives from serving the public health and safety of Virginians to the best of their training, skills, and abilities. Training at a national level for the Certified Professional Midwives includes the carrying and administering of certain medications, which are often needed or requested at the time of birth. Furthermore, state laws require that a newborn be administered certain drugs within 24 hours of birth. Every Licensed Midwife is certified at the national level to carry and administer these medications, but the current midwifery laws prevent them from carrying or administering them.

Situations that are low risk and manageable within the home or community are, as a result, made into ordeals that at best inconvenience and at the worst endanger the wellbeing of mothers and babies. Unnecessary exposure of infants to the public and further overburdening of our healthcare systems, means that this inconsistency negatively affects the entire community. However, if the barrier to the resources for which they are trained is removed, midwives could relieve the maternity care desert status affecting nearly half of Virginians, who live outside a reasonable driving distance from a well-stocked medical facility. 

Prioritizing public safety means allowing trained health professionals to use all their resources and skills. The demand for midwifery care will increase as uncertainty rises. Strong, self-reliant communities are built on skilled individuals like our midwives. To reiterate, our LMs are already trained and certified to administer these medications, only the law prevents their acting on it.