A Brief History Of Our Journey So Far

On August 3, 2010 , a patient of the Heartland Midwives (who is due at the end of October) was informed that the midwives would no longer be in practice as of October 29, 2010.  Union Hospital (their employer) was terminating their contract at that point.  As news of this spread, their was widespread disbelief among families in Terre Haute and throughout the Wabash Valley.  We wanted to know - WHY?  What was really happening?  Is there anything we can do?

From these initial questions, a group called the Friends of Wabash Valley Midwifery was formed.  Seeing similarities with a situation that occurred in North Carolina (see http://www.wheresmymidwife.org), we got in touch with the women there and became the Terre Haute Chapter of Where's My Midwife?

Things rapidly took off.

On August 14, 2010, the Tribune Star newspaper in Terre Haute had a story about the situation.  Here is the story:   
Article #1 -  http://tribstar.com/news/x1316176442/Union-Hospital-ending-midwife-nurse-services

A petition was created to show support for keeping midwives in Terre Haute.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/terrehautemidwives/.

We created a FaceBook page to gain support:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142794109077400

We had our first meeting of "Friends of Wabash Valley Midwifery", which was covered by the local Tribune Star 
Article #2 - http://tribstar.com/news/x239934446/Group-eyes-support-for-midwives-in-Terre-Haute



We got together and created a letter, which we sent to Union Hospital, as well as local media and government: 
Our letter to the hospital - https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B__E7-XSVQ1cOGU3NWNkMTktNGYwYi00NzMwLTlkMGYtMzM3NDQ2MTRlNWUx&hl=en
 
We awaited their response.  In the meantime, one of our local tv stations did an interview with us about our group, and the response from Union Hospital (which we received right as the interview took place. 
TV Interview - http://mywabashvalley.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=139845


We read their response...which raised a lot of new questions as well as not answering a lot of our original questions...

Their Response - https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1eJjqeo0Mp2aKSRgvYiTUftB-c_U9jOIATeWHT_4u-94&hl=en
(note the use of "midwiFes" - makes us wonder about a place that does not even know the correct term ("midwiVes"))


We got together and crafted our response to Union Hospital, once again asking them to respond within 2 business days. 
Our second letter:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B__E7-XSVQ1cOTU0ZDY5YTktMjNkMS00MWUzLWIyY2QtZWY3NmE5MGVhY2Ex&hl=en


We have not heard from Union Hospital since.  


Our next step is to picket Union Hospital.  
sign up to help us:
 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q3HZ3PZ

We want to let Union Hospital know that this is not just about the Heartland Midwives.  It is about choice - women deserve the right to choose their healthcare provider:  for pregnancy, postnatal, well-women checks.  It is not about income or insurance.  Midwives cannot simply be replaced by OBs or residents.   The care is not the same.

Please join us on our journey.