2009 Award Nominees!

The Nominations are in and it is time to start passing the word about who our nominees are and begin the voting for our two winners.  We would like to congratulate each of one you who have been nominated; you all deserve this recognition.
Every BMV member is allowed two votes and we will base the winners on the highest numbers received.  Remember you must be a member to vote! Join now!

Voting: Please email your 2 votes to Therese privately, not on the group email. Include your first and last name for verification of your membership.

The deadline for voting is midnight October 11th and the winners will be announced no later than October 18.
As a reminder, purchase your tickets now  for this wonderful event, Sunday November 8th, 2009 1PM -5PM. Come celebrate our award winners, listen to Robbie Davis-Floyd speak, participate in our silent auction full of excellent items & services,  as well as giving your support to Birth Matters Virginia 
Please feel free to forward this email posting

The Nominees Are ....

Terri Svendson-Hewitt, CPM, Virginia Beach

 Terri started attending births in 1994 alongside a licensed midwife as her assistant and apprentice.  That same year, she became a DONA certified doula.  She attended numerous births, including quite a few as a volunteer for Operation Special Delivery.  Since October of 2008, Terri has been a CPM, working alongside Jennifer Derugen.  They provide homebirth services to the Hampton Roads area as Seven Cities Midwifery.   She has attended over 550 births in various settings.  She is also a certified Hypnobirthing Childbirth Educator, co-founding member of Hampton Roads Partners in Birth, as well as a member of the Tidewater chapter of Birth Matters Virginia. Terri has a spirit that shines; she truly illuminates the room!  Her optimism is matched only be her never-ending willingness to help mothers.  She helps bring information to the community, makes opportunities for further education known to birth professionals, and is always there as a listening ear.  She is a wealth of information and a truly generous spirit.  Terri is k ind, warm, and seemingly always available to help.  Terri is fabulous!

 

 Blair Conger, CNM, Virginia Beach

 Blair Conger is a CNM working at The Midwifery Center at DePaul.   Along with 2 other women, she provides women and families with a chance to have the birth they have always dreamed of.  She has been a midwife for 13 years, and just started her tenth year at DePaul. 

Blair is nothing short of awe-inspiring.  She is passive and encouraging when she needs to be, but capable of being authoritative and commanding if the need arises.  She is a wealth of information, particularly with dietary concerns during pregnancy.  She never made me feel as though my births were any less special from my first to my third.  It sounds so cheesy, but when I think about the still, small voice I need to find in labor, I think about Blair.  She has that perfect labor voice.  Finally, Blair is a welcoming, warm spirit.  She's inviting and capable of putting people at ease instantly.  Blair is awesome!

Patience Salgado, Richmond
Patience is focusing her photography on labor & delivery work. Her pictures are so powerful and they show the true strength of women during birth. She has personally touched my life with her photos of the birth of my son.  I share those photos with women and it sparks conversation about evidence-based maternity and unmedicated childbirth. In turn, I truly believe she is contributing to women becoming informed about their rights.

Nadene Brunk, Mechanicsville

Nadene has been a midwife for about 14 years. She initially worked in Fredicksburg in a very Ob/Gyn practice.  She came to the Richmond area about 9 years ago.  Prior to being a midwife, Nadene was an educator, teaching nursing students and teaching childbirth classes. Nadene has been an advocate for normal20birth.  Even in a busy medical practice, Nadene has been the light of advocacy.  Nadene’s focus has always been woman centered care. Nadene has worked quietly and tirelessly to promote and maintain midwifery in Virginia. She has worked as an educator and as a clinician promoting natural birth.  Nadene has been able to maintain midwifery in the midst of upheaval at her current practice. In addition, Nadene has worked on an internationally level to promote safe motherhood in Haiti.  Nadene founded Midwives for Haiti to educate/train local Haitian women in safe birthing practices.  She has gone above and beyond to make this a reality. Many times it seemed training women in Haiti in midwifery skills couldn’t happen. There was no money. There were no teachers. The government would not approve the program.  On and on the obstacles presented themselves.  She has garnered support through any aspect possible.  She has spoken publically across the country. She found midwives throughout the country to volunteer with Midwives for Haiti to provide the education in Haiti.  Nadene’s steadfastness and faith in midwifery is an inspiration.  Many would have quit.  Many would not have been able to see a solution, both for the women in Mechanicsville and those in Haiti.  Nadene has vision and hope

Sara Fariss Krivanec, Richmond
I met Sara Krivanec in 2001 when she first sponsored a doula workshop that I was teaching. She was a young mom with a baby on her hip and a thought in her head that reverberated deep into her heart that just would not go away. She had had a cesarean section with her son TJ yet she felt that it was not medically necessary. She wanted to understand the why of it and what she could do to help herself so that she could avoid repeating the experience if possible. She wanted to be better educated and to have clarity of what options existed. But she was not satisfied with just her own self healing; she wanted to support and pass on this education in order to encourage other women to feel their strength. The birth of TJ, as “traumatic” as it seemed to be, began a journey for Sara that has not just benefited her but so many women and families in her community and throughout the state. Her passion is educating others about natural childbirth with a special interest in supporting those in the community who want a VBAC. She is past leader and avid supporter of ICAN of Richmond, a cesarean and VBAC support group. Sara is a certified birth doula, as well as, a postpartum doula. She has attended dozens of births, helping women and their partners to be active participants in their birth experiences as she informed them of the options, choices and alternatives that exist so that they could make truly informed decisions. Many, many women, men and babies have benefited from having known Sara’s care. As President of Virginia Friends of Midwives, she worked tirelessly to help get passage of the legislation that finally recognized Certified Professional Midwives in Virginia. She currently chairs the VABirthPAC; a group that works to impact evidence-based Maternal/Child health policies for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Throughout all of this work she continued her academic studies, recently receiving her B.A. in Women's Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. Sara is mother to three wonderful kids; Thomas, Mia a successful hospital VBAC and Aidan, born at home. Sam has been her supportive partner and husband.
It has been my privilege to walk with Sara on this amazing path and see the personal and professional growth she has achieved.

Leslie Fehan, CNM , Richmond

Leslie Fehan is a graduate of Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and trained as a certified nurse-midwife at Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. She obtained her master's degree as a women's health nurse practitioner from Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia, where she later20became adjunct faculty and practiced nurse-midwifery and as a women's health nurse practitioner.Ms. Fehan is well-known in Richmond, where she has participated in community, nursing and medical education, as well as direct care for hundreds of new families. For the past four years, Leslie has worked as a CNM at St. Francis Hospital in Richmond. With fellow midwife, Nicole Carlson, she has made hospital-based midwifery care available to countless families in our community. She and Nicole work tirelessly to support women in birthing with less intervention, and in receiving evidenced-based maternity care. Leslie's commitment to midwifery care for women birthing in the hospital is truly inspiring. Here in Richmond, when we talk about "the midwives at St. Francis" it is easy to forget that there are only two of them, constantly available to their clients, around the clock, advocating for the normalcy of birth in a hospital environment which does not always see birth as normal. Her spirit of support and encouragement has seen innumerable women through the trials and triumphs of labor and birth. Her practice, with Nicole Carlson, has created a haven for women desiring hospital midwifery care in the Richmond area.Despite hardship in the past, Leslie has worked tirelessly, refusing to abandon her dream of making supportive midwifery care a reality for Richmond parents-to-be.As a community, we are deeply grateful for her willingness to stand on the line again and again and again, in the face of doubt, disbelief, and adversity saying, "Yes. Birth is normal. And you can do it!"