SUPPORT ACCESSIBLE COMMUNITY MIDWIFERY

 

In short, there is no real way to have a sustainable community midwifery practice in the communities that Midwife Michele (“Misha”) focuses on: Queer, Transgender, BIPOC, teen, and low-income AND remain accessible to those communities. Community Midwifery has different levels of accessibility in different cities and states.

 

In our city and state, financial accessibility is an issue. Because the state only recognises and grants licensure to certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), insurance companies will not allow non-licensed community midwives (certified professional midwives/CPMs, direct-entry midwives/DEMs, traditional midwives, grand midwives, Amish midwives, etc.) to bill them for services provided and there are no public or private programs at present that help offset the financial burden for vulnerable and marginalised community members. Pittsburgh Birth Project is working on providing a remedy for this obstacle to care.

 

While some clients have had luck submitting paperwork to get some of their out-of-pocket money reimbursed by their insurance company, this can be a long and frustrating process, reimbursement amounts vary wildly from a few hundred dollars to about three quarters of their out-of-pocket costs (minus required co-pays & deductibles), but it still is not an option for those who have no insurance or who have state provided medical assistance. 

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This is where community support comes in to help sustain community midwifery care and the families that benefit from personalised, inclusive, and culturally appropriate care.

 

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT & SUBSIDISED CARE

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Pay for other people's care. If volunteerism, mutual aid, reparations, tzedakah, or socialism are part of your value set, then please add to the collective pot of money that Midwife Misha uses to help subsidise care when clients can not meet minimum payment amounts. You can add to this fund via cash, check, Cash App, Venmo, or Paypal (put BIRTH FUND in your payment memo/comment). Alternatively, you can pay for all or part of someone else's costs for care; please get their permission first and then have them contact Midwife Misha to arrange the payment. 

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BUY A BIRTH KIT/DONATE SUPPLIES

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If you have had or attended a homebirth, you know that there are certain disposable supplies that are used. It can be a financial hardship for families to try to cover $35-$65 for a birth kit + an additional $250+ for a birthing pool and pool supplies if they are planning to labour or give birth in water. One of the things Midwife Misha tries to do is provide all their clients with a basic birth kit so that they do not have to gather up the supplies themselves or purchase a pre-assembled kit. However, the cost to stock all of the supplies to assemble kits for clients is a lot. You can purchase a kit for someone via cash, check, Cash App, Venmo, or Paypal (put BIRTH KIT in your payment memo/comment). Alternatively, you can donate any unused supplies from your homebirth or postpartum supplies from your birth centre or hospital birth. 

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TIP THE MIDWIFE

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Midwife Misha is a member of the communities that they provide care for and faces some of the same obstacles to accessing appropriate and respectful care, as well as the typical life hurdles of feeding, clothing, and housing themself and their children. It is greatly appreciated when people pay gratitude for casual advice Misha's given, care provided at the free clinic, informational or emotionally satisfying blog posts they've written, and for them just existing in the world. Monetary tips via Cash App or Venmo are appreciated, as is dark chocolate, coffee/tea dates, and lunch dates at Pan-Asian joints. 

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DONATION/TIP LINKS

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VENMO: @amethystmidwitchery

venmo.com/amethystmidwitchery 

 

CASH APP: $midwitchery

cash.me/midwitchery 

 

PATREON: patreon.com/midwitchery

 

PAYPAL: amethystmidwitchery @ gmail [dot] com