Teaching the Next Generation of Healthcare Workers about the Midwifery Model of Care

Education and outreach have always been major components of Lifecycle WomanCare’s mission. Education at LWC not only embodies informing and empowering our clients and the local community through comprehensive class curriculum, it also encompasses community engagement through support groups that are free and open to the public, observation and internship opportunities for local students, and professional education and training for nurses, midwives, and nurse practitioners.

In 2019, over 200 students from local universities including Villanova, Gwynedd Mercy, Jefferson, Penn, Haverford, and West Chester attended an informational seminar and tour of our facilities. Exposure to our unique clinical setting and model of care is something their professors feel is crucial to their training. Since March, we have had to move our seminar online, but are still ecstatic to be able to share our model of care with local students.

Here is what some of the students have had to say about their experience here at LWC:

“I thought the presentation was great, very informative and interesting. I learned a lot, especially about what makes The Birth Center different from a hospital.”

“I really enjoyed the presentation and more specifically the way the presentation mapped out a woman’s journey through birth at The Birth Center. I also liked to hear about how LWC handles potential complications and has plans and options for these scenarios.”

“I really enjoyed learning more about the midwifery model! I thought it was especially helpful to learn about alternative pain management techniques.”

“I enjoyed the video where I got to see births that took place at The Birth Center. The midwifery model was very interesting to learn about because it is not well taught in our curriculum.”

“I thought this presentation was super awesome. It actually made me think about going into midwifery and going through the process during my own pregnancies. I learned so much from this presentation.”

“I thought it was helpful learning about pain management other than an epidural. I didn’t know about other meds like nitrous oxide that can be used during this type of birth.”

“This was a great presentation! We don’t get to talk a lot about natural births so I was happy we were able to!”