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It Really Helps: Call The Midwife

eyeliam, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9843406

In other parts of the developed world, midwives deliver a lot of babies... like in England, where half the births involve midwives. 

Here, not so much.  About ten percent of American births include midwives.  And recent research shows how making greater use of midwives can make for healthier babies and mothers. 

Oregon is one state that does better than many in integrating midwives into the birthing process.  Melissa Cheyney at Oregon State University was one of the authors of the study.  She visits, along with Willa Woodard Ervin, midwife and owner of Rogue Birth Center.  

 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.
April Ehrlich is JPR content partner at Oregon Public Broadcasting. Prior to joining OPB, she was a regional reporter at Jefferson Public Radio where she won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.