Certified Nurse-Midwives Attentive to Mothers in Iowa and Illinois

The Maternal Health Center (MHC) of Bettendorf, Iowa, cares for women and infants, regardless of their ability to pay. It serves the Quad City area of Bettendorf and Davenport on the Iowa side and Moline and Rock Island on the Illinois side. The center relies heavily on the skills of its certified nurse-midwives (C.N.M.s) to provide personalized attention and care.

Julia St. Lawrence, C.N.M. and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholar, is one of several NHSC certified nurse-midwives midwives working at MHC. At the 1-year mark of her commitment, she had assisted in the delivery of more than 100 babies. "Every birth that I have assisted at has been a magical and spiritual experience for me," she says.

The fact that MHC is able to recruit NHSC clinicians strengthens and solidifies its role as the only resource in the Quad City area that provides full primary care support to uninsured and underserved women and infant children.

Without the NHSC, explains St. Lawrence's colleague Cephas Agbeh, M.D., an OB/GYN and NHSC Loan Repayor, "the patients we see would fall through the cracks. And those we do not see at the beginning of their pregnancies, we would have to deal with later, in a crisis situation at the ER."

Since St. Lawrence's arrival at MHC, the facility has recruited at least two more NHSC C.N.M.s. The underserved and the most vulnerable populations in the Quad City area are clearly the winners as C.N.M.s step up to the frontlines.

Learn about other NHSC success stories.