Ruth  Wingeier CNM
 CentraCare Clinic
 24 - 9th Street SE
 Long Prairie MN   56347
 320-732-2131
partner:  Jodie McCracken CNM
email
We do hospital births at Long Prairie Memorial Hospital with home-like birthing rooms and waterbirths in Jacuzzi tubs.  We also do home births in the area.

 Our philosophy of care:  "This is your baby and your birth and we are not here to tell you how to have your baby.  We are here to provide information, to discuss what is recommended and what the options are, and to support you in your choices." 

The midwifery-licensing bill was passed in May 1999 and signed into law in July 1999, and the Midwifery Advisory Council was appointed in August 1999. This Council consists of three "traditionalí (direct entry) midwives, one homebirth consumer and one OB doc. This Council advises the Board of Medical Practice (BMP) about "traditional" midwifery and is the first to see and process each application for licensure. The Council makes a  recommendation to the BMP, where a five-member BMP "licensure committee" reviews it. If passed, it then goes to the full BMP for their approval/denial -- a three-stage process before a license is granted. 

There are no plans to write 'rules and regs.' In the statute our protocols and scope of practice are taken directly from a Standards of Care document that was authored by a collective of midwives in the Minnesota Midwives Guild. 

The whole ordeal has gone very slowly. There have been delays and stall tactics, but we have persisted and pushed and prodded and FINALLY the first of hopefully many more have been granted a license!
Submitted by Jill Kent/CPM/LM, (218) 861-6172.