Welcome to the Midwives' Association of Washington State COVID-19 response page.
MAWS worked in conjunction with other perinatal health professionals on the Washington State Midwifery COVID-19 Response Coalition (WSMCRC). This group has been working hard on many tasks related to Coronavirus and how it influences pregnant people, midwifery care, and community birth. A small and dedicated subset of the group has worked tirelessly to create the Interim Guidelines for Community-Based Midwives During the COVID-19 Pandemic. As stated in the first paragraph of these guidelines:
"This document is a compilation and adaptation of current information and evidence as of March 28, 2020. It is intended to be used as an interim practice guideline for community-based midwives with the goal of promoting quality care throughout the perinatal period, and increasing the safety for providers, clients and their families, as well as people at increased risk of serious complications from COVID-19. Each midwife should make the most appropriate care plan based on their own clinical experience, training, and collaboration and/or consultation with additional providers (MDs, OBs, MFMs, pediatricians, neonatologists, ARNPs, NDs, etc.) as indicated. Every effort will be made to update this guideline as more relevant information becomes available and practice evolves."
Washington State has not reached the need for crisis and contingency care around prenatal, birth, postpartum and newborn care and we hope it never does. However in the event that an area in or even outside of Washington State does find itself in a perinatal care crisis the WSMCRC has created this Crisis & Contingency Standards of Care: Community Midwifery Collective Policies, Procedures, & Protocols. To quote this document:
"The goal of this document is to create a collective framework by which community-based midwives can adhere to and operate from during a state of emergency that standardizes practice at a level that is context-driven, accounts for the particular demands and/or limitations of the crisis itself, and can be clearly shared and communicated with midwives and their assistants, midwifery clientele, government officials, referring and transferring providers, billers, insurers, and others involved in the provision of health care. This document also provides a framework should alternate care facilities and/or innovative models of midwifery care, or midwifery conscription into the Public Health Reserve Corps (or the like) occur. WSMCRC recognizes that this time may require extraordinary and unprecedented service by community-based midwives, atypical of models of care we or our clientele are used to. Crisis and contingency standards of care do not mean lower standards of care, but rather take into account the ways in which public health crises strain provider and patient autonomy, access to services and supplies, and that which is in our control to manage, mitigate, or prevent.
Below is a list of helpful tools created by other organizations:
Swedish Midwifery has committed to partnering with community midwives to receive direct midwife transfers. Please follow their protocol for midwife to midwife transfer requests.
Please reach out to us with questions or concerns or to get involved in the response effort, [email protected].
MAWS worked in conjunction with other perinatal health professionals on the Washington State Midwifery COVID-19 Response Coalition (WSMCRC). This group has been working hard on many tasks related to Coronavirus and how it influences pregnant people, midwifery care, and community birth. A small and dedicated subset of the group has worked tirelessly to create the Interim Guidelines for Community-Based Midwives During the COVID-19 Pandemic. As stated in the first paragraph of these guidelines:
"This document is a compilation and adaptation of current information and evidence as of March 28, 2020. It is intended to be used as an interim practice guideline for community-based midwives with the goal of promoting quality care throughout the perinatal period, and increasing the safety for providers, clients and their families, as well as people at increased risk of serious complications from COVID-19. Each midwife should make the most appropriate care plan based on their own clinical experience, training, and collaboration and/or consultation with additional providers (MDs, OBs, MFMs, pediatricians, neonatologists, ARNPs, NDs, etc.) as indicated. Every effort will be made to update this guideline as more relevant information becomes available and practice evolves."
Washington State has not reached the need for crisis and contingency care around prenatal, birth, postpartum and newborn care and we hope it never does. However in the event that an area in or even outside of Washington State does find itself in a perinatal care crisis the WSMCRC has created this Crisis & Contingency Standards of Care: Community Midwifery Collective Policies, Procedures, & Protocols. To quote this document:
"The goal of this document is to create a collective framework by which community-based midwives can adhere to and operate from during a state of emergency that standardizes practice at a level that is context-driven, accounts for the particular demands and/or limitations of the crisis itself, and can be clearly shared and communicated with midwives and their assistants, midwifery clientele, government officials, referring and transferring providers, billers, insurers, and others involved in the provision of health care. This document also provides a framework should alternate care facilities and/or innovative models of midwifery care, or midwifery conscription into the Public Health Reserve Corps (or the like) occur. WSMCRC recognizes that this time may require extraordinary and unprecedented service by community-based midwives, atypical of models of care we or our clientele are used to. Crisis and contingency standards of care do not mean lower standards of care, but rather take into account the ways in which public health crises strain provider and patient autonomy, access to services and supplies, and that which is in our control to manage, mitigate, or prevent.
Below is a list of helpful tools created by other organizations:
- The ACOG COVID-19 Algorithm
- Roanoke Birth Center Algorithm
- AAFP Office Preparation Checklist
- Informed Consent for Telemedicine
- King County COVID-19 Clinical Decision Guidance for Outpatient Settings
- Birth Center Cleaning Guidelines
- Report Coronavirus related discrimination crimes here
- This website has information about COVID-19 in 35 different languages
Swedish Midwifery has committed to partnering with community midwives to receive direct midwife transfers. Please follow their protocol for midwife to midwife transfer requests.
Please reach out to us with questions or concerns or to get involved in the response effort, [email protected].