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Midwifery Services Open At McKenzie-Willamette Hospital

Tiffany Eckert

Five of the nurse midwives who were fired when Peacehealth closed its birth center—have new jobs. McKenzie Willamette hospital has hired them to run a midwifery service in Springfield.

 

McKenzie Midwives and Lactation Services opened Monday and has already supported three births and counting. Dana Cummings is the lead certified nurse midwife at the new center.

“We deliver and catch babies over at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center--it’s all hospital deliveries,” says Cummings.

Cummings says rebuilding a midwifery practice at this hospital was easy.

“The way McKenzie-Willamette feels, it has a smaller community feel, you do your labor, delivery, recovery, post-partum all in the same room,” Cummings said.

Credit Tiffany Eckert
Dana Cummings is lead certified nurse midwife at the new McKenzie Midwifery & Lactation Services in Springfield.

Cummings herself is pregnant and will have a midwife assisted birth in May. In the days since they opened, the midwives have welcomed 20 patients. They also provide delivery services for low-income moms at Lane County Prenatal Clinic.

Credit Tiffany Eckert
Patient Access Representative Terri Heisler (seated) and Dana Cummings, CNM, in the front office of McKenzie Midwifery & Lactation Services. Both women formerly worked at PeaceHealth's Birth Center until it closed last August.

All the certified midwives are advanced practice nurses, with a minimum of a master’s degree.

Credit Tiffany Eckert
McKenzie Midwifery & Lactation Services is located in the McKenzie Medical Center building on the hospital campus.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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