REGION UPDATES
Region V Update
AZ, CO, IA, IHS/Tribal, KS, MN, MO, MT, NE, NM, ND, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY
Region VI Update
AK, AS, CA, Guam, HI, ID, NV, OR, Uniformed Services, WA
by Lynne Himmelreich, CNM, MPH, FACNM
by Michelle Grandy, CNM, MN
I
just returned home from the Annual Meeting in Nashville and all I can say is: WOW! We Region V members proudly celebrated winning the regional benchmarking challenge with a ribbon on our name badges and flowers passed out at the region meeting. Many members from other regions have already stated their aim to challenge our title next year, so start planning now to encourage your practice to benchmark next spring. (Learn more at www.midwife. org/benchmarking). The Region V Meeting had a record turnout in terms of number of affiliates represented, including our states and the IHS/Tribal Affiliate. North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, and Arizona are working on fully operationalizing their affiliates. Several affiliates are in the process of working on legislative affairs, including South Dakota and Kansas embarking on the process of eliminating supervisory language and Oklahoma working to get the Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance underwriter to reimburse CNMs. Nebraska is continuing to work on legalizing home birth with a CNM. Other affiliates have already had legislative victories, including Kansas having attained 100% reimbursement in Medicaid this year and success in Texas in fighting off expansion of supervision and legislation that would effectively eliminate birth centers. Three affiliates have been focused on meetings: Colorado, working hard on making next year’s Annual Meeting in Denver the best ever; Minnesota, following up their very successful interdisciplinary Education Day last fall with plans for another education day in fall of 2014; and Utah, holding a very successful education conference this spring. In Arizona, the Tucson birth center celebrated its 30th year and 10,000th birth. The New Mexico Affiliate has a yearly successful educational meeting in collaboration with the ACOG Section and is always legislatively active and successful in their state. New Mexico’s big news is CNM Julie Gorwoda’s retirement as program director of the University of New Mexico’s nurse-midwifery education program. Though space does not allow me to enumerate her many accomplishments at that program and throughout the state, I hope you will join me in wishing her well in her retirement. As always, please contact me if I can be of assistance. I am happy to attend affiliate meetings electronically.?
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hat an energizing ACNM 58th Annual Meeting in Nashville! With extraordinary attendance by ACNM members, we also had excellent representation from Region VI. The affiliate officers had several opportunities to connect with each other and ACNM national leaders: a leadership workshop, affiliate leaders luncheon, and ACNM leadership meeting. Connect with your affiliate officers to learn more about the work accomplished at these events. Look them up at http://bit.ly/12ATS4C. I am proud to announce that several of our members were honored with awards this year. From California, Tekoa King, CNM, was honored with the Hattie Hemschemeyer award, one of the most prestigious ACNM awards, for her unrelenting dedication ??\? ??\??[???[H]K?K ?\??]?[? H?X?H]?\???\?YX?][? ? ??[?[??X[ ?X?H[??[Y???XK????H?\?[???X]\???Y?? ?K ?\??]?[? H?Y\?[X[ ?X?H]?\???\??] ?[?[???? ?X?][?[??X][??H ?X??\??[ ?X??[?ZY ?]?\?T?]X?[X?[???[Z] YK?]\?H?[?\????H] H[?]?\??] H??\?[??? ?\??]?[??\???\?]?\? [? H?\?[???Y??[X]H ?? HP?H?Y[???\? ?H \?X?? ?\?H ?] [??H\?X?H X?\??\??K??YH H??\]H ?Y[?] ???[?] X?K???K?X?]?X??H?[?H?[ ?\??H?[?]?\??] H??\?[???[??[??Y?\??\?? ?H??X] H[?]?\??] K ?\?H[[?? H ? Y[? ? ?? ?\?[?Y H ? Y[? ?\?[? HP?H?\?[?\??YY][??H?H\?H ?? ??Y??\? ? Y[? ? ???H] [?[??H?[X?\?Y?X?H ]? ?]?[?\?[??X[YY][???HH^ [?Y\?]] YH ? ????[ZX?[H][???K?K??\?YX?]Y ?\??X?H ? H[?Y??YY?\??X?\?Y??[X]H?\? H \? ? YX\??[? ?[??YH??? ?\?[?H\????K\? H?]? ?\?Y[? ?H?\? M? ] \?? ?\?H ?[? ? HY?\?]??[??]?YK?? ?X?][?? ? ?]???[?? \?X?X[? ?\\??\?[???T???[?? Y[???\??H H \??Y?H?P? M? ????] [][?? ?[?? [?\?\? ]?? ?X??K?H?Y?? ?[?? Z\? ?[[Y\?YY][??[?\?[???[ H L???X?? HX[?H
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