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Spring 2008

• Winter is heading out, with spring bringing LOTS of activity! Here are some recaps of what we did during the winter and activity’s coming up. The following are highlights of our program, alums, and current students!

• Program Growth! January, an administrative team of the KUSON met to discuss returning the Nurse Midwifery core courses back to an every year cycle. We have noted a significant increase in interest and applicants to the KU Graduate Midwifery program, and were beginning to project students starting in 2012. With this demand in hand, formal approval was granted to allow the program to accept students into an every spring cycle when Midwifery courses begin with Primary Care of Women! We now have 3 cohorts of nurse midwifery students. At this time 6 are in common core classes that will begin midwifery in January 2009 and graduate in 2010, and seven students that are in course work preparing them to begin in January 2010. You can see we are growing more midwives than ever before! Thanks to ALL our preceptors who support our clinical placements, as this education is a true partnership from a large community of CNMs, physicians, and health care settings.

• Program Re-Accreditation! KUSON Nurse Midwifery program was granted a full, 10-year re-accreditation by the American College of Nurse Midwives Division of Accreditation in February, 2008. Our next site visit will not be until 2017! YEAH…. Thanks to all those alum, current students, and report readers who assisted Judie Wika and I through this thorough review of DOA criterion describing our KU program.

• Introducing the Class of 2008/2009 We have ten students in this class, our largest since program inception. Please welcome: Rachel Israel, Heather Harper, Kara Higgins, Amanda Winrow, Lauren Repine, Leslie Arnold, Kimberly Blassingame, Michaela Galimba (UMKC student), Sheila Toon, and Katie Willey (both post-masters students). See class photo below!

• New Faculty! Also in January, Terrah Stroda, CNM, MSN and alum of KUSON was hired as faculty for the Nurse Midwifery program. Terrah brings a wealth of experience in starting a new midwifery practice in Junction City, KS, and now employed by Women’s Care in Overland Park, KS. Her youthful energy also brings a balance to the “old guard” model of maternity care today. We are thrilled to have Terrah on board and running. (See her bio and picture on Midwifery Faculty page)

• February Birth brought a new baby to our extended family. Maxwell Truman Busenhart was born on February 28th, 2008 weighing in at 8lb. 8oz., and 19” long. Both mom and baby are healthy! (See Max’s birth photo below!) Congratulations Cara (KU/CNM alum and Chapter V-18 President) and Tim!

• March conference brought the community of midwives together for the 13th Annual Region V-18 Midwife Means with Woman conference on the Research Medical center campus. The evening event featured Ricki Lake’s documentary, The Business of Being Born. Clinical presentations followed all day on Saturday, with a great turnout. Thanks to our KU students for staffing and assisting at this significant conference for our region! (See photo’s of conference below) March also included surveying all the CNMs and SNMs in KS (63) to query interest in forming a new Kansas Chapter, conducted by Heather Harper, KUSON, SNM for her research project. Results of the survey, with a response rate of >50%, will be discussed in May at Chapter meetings. Thanks Heather!

• International midwives and faculty from Kanazawa University, Japan were hosted by KUSON Midwifery faculty March 24-26th. Masayo Awano, RN, CNM, MS, IBCLC, Certified in Oketani Lactation Breast Massage, presented to the 2008/2009 SNM groups a collaborative project with their university and Dr. Jan Riordan from Wichita State University a breastfeeding education video for midwives. They were thrilled with the hospitality of our university, and their tours of Stormont-Vail in Topeka, KS and the Birthing Center in Topeka, KS. (See photos of this educational exchange below)

• May Walk/March for Babies sponsored by the March of Dimes! Please think about joining the KS/MO Midwife Chapters at your local walk this year, or if you are in the Greater KC area, come down to the KCP&L district on May 4th for the Kansas City walk. A CNM Team was created to raise funds for MOD research on behalf of midwives in our region. You can support/sponsor our team if you can not participate by simply donating at the following secure link: www.marchforbabies.org/gbreedlove

• ACNM Annual Meeting is May 23rd – May 29th in Boston, MA. Rachel Israel, SNM will be going to represent KUSON. We hope other SNMs and alums will be joining us as well! See the ACNM website for more conference information at www.midwife.org

Please keep in touch and let us know about new events, jobs, births, and other items of interest!

Ginger Breedlove, PhD, CNM, FACNM

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Please send any news and updates to Ginger Breedlove, CNM, PhD, FACNM, Education Program Director.