Project Birth Center Pensacola Promotes Maternal Choices
The Global Big Latch On, a worldwide, coordinated event in which women gather to normalize breastfeeding by nursing their babies en masse in the supportive company of family, friends and community, will be taking place August 5. Locally, a major participant in this event is Project Birth Center Pensacola (PBCP), a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to bringing a maternity-focused health center to the Pensacola area.
With cesarean rates rising and more education on safe birth alternatives available, more families are choosing out-of-hospital birth. There’s increasing demand for more childbirth choices in the Pensacola area too, and so PBCP’s mission is to rally the community to expand local access to midwifery care as well as safe locations for birth outside the hospital.
“For the past several years, families have struggled to locate midwives able to provide any out-of-hospital birth choices in Pensacola. This is something this project commits to changing,” says PBCP Vice President Jen Chendea.
This year, PBCP is working on several community outreach events, including participation in free clinics offering women’s health care, and the Global Big Latch On, in an effort to expand not only exposure of the project, but awareness of the project’s goals, which are not directed only at birth.
“Since birth starts with pregnancy, it is vital that women are healthy and strong before pregnancy, to reduce pregnancy risk factors,” Chendea says. “Women may be unable to access or afford well-woman care prior to pregnancy, increasing their risk factors for prematurity and other pregnancy- and birth-related complications. Improving access to women’s health care will improve birth outcomes for moms and babies. So this project is not just about birth, but about healthy women and families.”
With cesarean rates rising and more education on safe birth alternatives available, more families are choosing out-of-hospital birth. There’s increasing demand for more childbirth choices in the Pensacola area too, and so PBCP’s mission is to rally the community to expand local access to midwifery care as well as safe locations for birth outside the hospital.
“For the past several years, families have struggled to locate midwives able to provide any out-of-hospital birth choices in Pensacola. This is something this project commits to changing,” says PBCP Vice President Jen Chendea.
This year, PBCP is working on several community outreach events, including participation in free clinics offering women’s health care, and the Global Big Latch On, in an effort to expand not only exposure of the project, but awareness of the project’s goals, which are not directed only at birth.
“Since birth starts with pregnancy, it is vital that women are healthy and strong before pregnancy, to reduce pregnancy risk factors,” Chendea says. “Women may be unable to access or afford well-woman care prior to pregnancy, increasing their risk factors for prematurity and other pregnancy- and birth-related complications. Improving access to women’s health care will improve birth outcomes for moms and babies. So this project is not just about birth, but about healthy women and families.”
For more information or to help, visit PBCP on Facebook or PensacolaBirth Center.org.
