Policies and Procedures
Homer Birth and Wellness Center
The Homer Birth and Wellness Center is a Limited Liability Corporation operating in Homer Alaska to provide primary midwifery care that will yield safe outcomes in low-risk mothers and infants. It recognizes that it is important for families to have decision-making input in their maternity care, and that it is a responsibility of care providers not only to monitor physiologic processes but also to integrate primary health education with the delivery of these services. Complete facilities are available for normal labor and delivery; should complications arise at any point, mother and infant will be transferred to services at South Peninsula Hospital. This model allows us to deliver satisfying individualized care to mother, infant and family in a safe and economical fashion, thus demonstrating that the concerns of both consumers and providers can be met in the primary setting.
Philosophy
At The Homer Birth and Wellness Center, we believe that:
a. Childbirth is a normal, healthy process. The role of the caregiver is to support and promote this normal process, while recognizing and dealing with any deviations from normal. Confidence in this normal process is promoted in all aspects of care.
b. Because the family is the cornerstone of our social structure, maternity care must support and promote family unity and development. Family members, including siblings, should be involved in the childbearing experience to whatever extent the family desires. “Family” is defined by the client.
Mission:
- to view birth as a normal, healthy, safe event
- to understand that birth is a complex and powerful life experience, and an empowering process for women and their entire families, the effects of which are immeasurable
- to encourage women and their families to take responsibility for their births, by providing quality education and support for parenting families
- to provide guidance for the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother and her family throughout the childbearing cycle
- to provide continuous hands-on assistance during labor and birth
- to provide postpartum support with an emphasis on bonding, and establishing a good breastfeeding relationship
- to trust women to birth their babies
- to give women and their partners privacy and respect, in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere at birth
- to enable women and their partners to actively share in the decision making that occurs during pregnancy, labor and birth
- to honor women’s wisdom and knowledge of their own bodies
- to trust the rightness of the birth process
- to minimize interventions at birth while identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention, by establishing links with community medical services and facilities, as needed.
