Midwife Job Hunt Proves Hard Labor
Liz Britain picked the wrong state.
Of the 6,151 certified nurse midwives in the nation, only nine live in Idaho and one of those nine is unemployed. That’s Liz.
Idaho and Wyoming are the only states in which certified nurse midwives can count the number of jobs on their fingers and have a finger or two left over to scratch their heads in amazement.
“There are no jobs in all of Idaho,” laments Liz, a 30-something mother with an 8-year-old son. “I can’t see much future for me here.”
When she and her husband moved to Coeur d’Alene from Oregon three years ago, Liz knew job possibilities were slim. But she hoped her seven years of experience delivering babies would open a door for her. She had earned her nurse midwife certificate from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Midwifery fell in her lap when she was 18. Her sister gave birth at home minutes after starting labor. Liz was the only one there to catch the baby.
She never considered lay midwifery, which requires no medical training and therefore no hospital privileges.
Liz wanted a medical education. She wanted to know what to do in an emergency, how to suture tears, how to use an intravenous tube. She wanted a nurse midwife’s mid-level medical license to practice medicine and deliver babies in a hospital.
Job opportunities in most states were plentiful. The 1980’s health care revolution had exposed the need for midlevel medical professions. Most hospitals had opened their delivery rooms to certified nurse midwives.
But not in Idaho. Kootenai Medical Center and Bonner General were among the few hospitals in the state to recognize the need for nurse midwives.
Coeur d’Alene’s Anna Page arranged a job with Dr. Jon Cutting before she went to midwifery school in 1992. Idaho requires nurse midwives to be employed by medical doctors. Last year, Anna delivered 189 babies in Kootenai County.
She’s one of two nurse midwives in Coeur d’Alene and four in Sandpoint. Anna has found that most women don’t know that nurse midwives are college-educated, deliver in hospitals and have more time for their patients because they specialize in healthy births.
Liz wants to get that word out, which could help her job chances. She started an Idaho chapter of the Association of Certified Nurse Midwives and, to fatten the ranks, invited friends to join.
But the process may take too long. She and her husband put their house up for sale in January and are ready to move.
“I need a job,” she says. “And I want to work in my field.”
Eat ‘em up
Saturdays should start with satisfied smiles. So this Saturday, head to the Lake City Senior Center for all the pancakes, ham and eggs you can eat.
The Coeur d’Alene Lions Club cooked up the breakfast to raise money for James Mehlke, who needs a kidney and pancreas transplant. James has had juvenile diabetes since he was 4. Now he’s 24 and his kidneys are shutting down.
His illness forced him to quit North Idaho College, where he was studying to become an emergency medical technician.
Insurance and disability benefits will cover James’ transplants. The Lions want to help him with the $5,000 in uncovered costs. The breakfast is 7-11:30 a.m.
Doggone good finds
If a 25-cent book will help keep a spay and neuter program going in Bonner County, isn’t it worth it? Sandpoint’s Panhandle Animal Shelter is billing its Saturday garage sale as the doggone best.
The shelter needs money for neutering as well as a pet identification program. The sale will be all day at 1604 Great Northern Road.
What’s the best buy you’ve made at a garage sale? An antique book? A century-old photograph of a long-lost relative? Unveil those finds for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
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