ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – A midwife is a specialized nurse who cares for women in several areas, including pregnancy, childbirth, newborn health, and postpartum care.
Originally focused on the New River Valley, Carilion Clinic will now offer referral-free midwife services across locations in Roanoke, Rocky Mount, and Christiansburg.
“There are lots of places where women can’t access care easily,” Tina Johnson, the director of midwifery services at Carilion, said. “Expanding midwifery services allows us to provide additional services for women across the lifespan, but with a focus on childbearing years, and that way people can get care where they’re at.”
The team consists of five certified nurse midwives (CNMs), with two more starting in the spring. They offer a variety of services, including gynecologic (GYN) and prenatal care, contraception options, and hospital-based births.
The group is committed to helping the community with the best midwifery service possible.
“We want to work,” Daniela Paul, a new CNM at Carilion, said. “We want to be a part of the community, and we want to better our community, and improve the health outcomes, which is what has been shown to be the effect when midwifery groups start in a new area.”
Paul left her previous CNM job where she worked the past decade to join the team at Carilion.
She appreciated Johnson’s vision to help bring a much-needed service to different communities.
“It’s highly evidence-based,” Johnson said. “We’ve got decades of research on the satisfactory care, excellent care, and high-quality value care that are provided by midwives, so we know this can be a real solution when there are needs in the community for access for women and families.”
Patients can call any of the four locations to schedule an appointment with a midwife.