Parkland nurse-midwives celebrate 30 years, 420,000 deliveries
“We love our mothers and babies!”
Safely guiding women through one of the most vulnerable, physically demanding and emotional experiences of their lives is a daily duty for the 36 certified nurse-midwives (CNM) practicing at Parkland Health & Hospital System. But it’s far more than a job for this team of dedicated advanced practice nurses who hold master and doctorate degrees in nursing and have logged more than 500 combined years of service at Parkland.
“It’s a calling, a heartfelt commitment and a privilege to be with a woman at such an important moment in her life,” said Carol Graham, MSN, RN, CNM.
“We love our patients, understand the struggles many of them face and we recognize that birth and new babies bring joy into the lives of all,” Karen Zelman, MSN, RN, CNM, added.
Little Yaseen Gadelmola was born at 10:22 p.m. on Oct. 22 two weeks ahead of his due date. His parents, Mona Khalil and Kareem Gadelmola, MD, a neurology fellow in training at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland, wanted a natural childbirth. A nurse-midwife coached Khalil throughout her labor. But when the baby’s heart rate decelerated and there was difficulty getting him through the birth canal, the midwife called for physicians to assist. Yaseen was safely delivered soon afterwards.
“I was worried about my wife and baby, but the nurse-midwives were very knowledgeable and knew when to call for physician back-up,” said Dr. Gadelmola.
“If the nurse-midwife hadn’t been with me throughout the delivery, it would have been overwhelming when we had problems. She was so comforting and coached me through everything,” Khalil said. “Until you actually have the experience you don’t know what might happen. I’m grateful that the midwives were with me at every step.”
Certified nurse-midwives at Parkland play a pivotal role in of one of the busiest labor and delivery departments in the nation, which tallied more than 12,000 births in FY 2017. Parkland nurse-midwives deliver 40 percent of the all vaginal deliveries and deliver approximately 300 births a month.
In addition to seeing women during pregnancy, birth and newborn care, they work in women’s primary healthcare, provide family planning, collaborate with physicians for moderate to high-risk pregnancy, are first assistants in the OR during cesarean birth, perform colposcopy, circumcisions and ultrasonography, and work in education and public health. They also work alongside residents, faculty physicians and nurse practitioners in the Maternal Fetal Medicine Complications Clinic, the OB/GYN emergency room and the OB Triage emergency room.
Nurse-midwives have been delivering babies at Parkland since 1987, when obstetrician Kenneth Leveno, MD, recruited midwives across the U.S. and even abroad to launch Parkland’s program, now one of the largest and most respected Certified Nurse-Midwives services in the U.S.
One of Parkland’s longest serving nurse-midwives, Susan Chew, MSN, RN, CNM, began her career in her native England. “Nurse-midwives are used very commonly in the U.K., Europe and other parts of the world, but the U.S. traditionally focused on physicians to provide care during labor and delivery. Changing the culture here took time,” she said. Now, 30 years after she arrived at Parkland, she added, “I wouldn’t want to practice anywhere else. Nurse-midwives stay at Parkland for a lifetime.”
“In 1987, there were only a handful of nurse-midwives helping out in Labor & Delivery,” recalled Brian Casey, MD, Chief of Obstetrics at Parkland and Professor of Obstetrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “The development of this program at Parkland is a tremendous story of accomplishment. Dr. Leveno launched the service in response to the enormous number of deliveries at Parkland. Today our nurse-midwives provide invaluable patient care and are involved in teaching medical students, interns, family practice physicians and emergency room residents about the labor and delivery process. We couldn’t do it without them,” Dr. Casey stated.
“People become certified nurse-midwives because they love the art of birth and believe that birth is a beautiful and natural process,” said Janice Lankford, DNP, RN, CNM, Parkland’s Nurse Midwife Manager.
Lankford said that while some people may not be familiar with the use of midwives in a modern setting, many patients come from countries where midwives are the rule, rather than the exception. There are more than 11,000 nurse midwives in the U.S.
For Sarah Jensen, DNP, RN, CNM, the newest nurse-midwife on the service, that diversity of cultures “is a beautiful thing. Learning how to respect, understand and accommodate a family’s cultural and religious practices and deliver babies in a calm, safe environment is a blessing.”
Jensen added that collaboration with Parkland’s highly-trained nurse-midwives provides both guidance and inspiration. “As a newer midwife only a year into my career, there’s a safety net working with an experienced group of strong and dedicated women. They are so committed to caring for our patients and make me feel part of a team that is building the community.”
To learn more about services at Parkland, visit www.parklandhospital.com
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