Local Births Data & Trends

Erin Norton, Director of Community Outreach at Parkview’s Women’s & Children’s Service Line and facilitator for the Allen County Fetal Infant Mortality Review Committee, will share recent data on the areas that new parents are experiencing difficulties.    The data will reveal opportunities for all community partners to strengthen services from serving parents of diverse cultures to preventing pre-term delivery with strategies like “Kick Counts”.

What is a Doula?

Shanna Bradley, Executive Director of Journey, Birth and Wellness, will answer ‘what is a Doula?’, and present the specialized evidence-based birth trainings and certifications available to Doulas.  She will address the Doula’s role in empowering new parents to build their birth plan as well as supporting them in labor through the actual birth of their baby and postpartum.

Shanna, a wife and mother of five, is trained through DONA and ICEA doula programs as well as holds certifications from StillBirthday and Global Birth Community as a birth and bereavement doula. She has also added to her resume childbirth educator and is finishing her training as an Evidence-Based Birth instructor, as well as an international doula trainer. She holds a degree in Intercultural studies, and is currently working on her diploma in International Maternal and Child Health.

Shanna returned to Fort Wayne several years ago and started a new non-profit, Journey Birth and Wellness, to provide Doula services to help local underserved populations, especially those living in neighborhoods of high infant mortality.  Journey Birth and Wellness was born to train up women from different communities and cultures to support their own sisters, neighbors, and friends in birth support and education.   In its first two years, Journey Birth and Wellness has already trained up some of the area’s first Doulas of color as well as the first bi-lingual Doulas who also speak Spanish, Karen, and Thai.

What is the difference between a Doula and other Prenatal Professionals

Paige Wilkins, Executive Director of Healthier Moms & Babies, manages a variety of programs available for our community’s most vulnerable pregnant women.   Paige will share how Healthier Moms & Babies is collaborating with Journey Birth and Wellness to use Doulas to compliment her team of home visiting professional, nurses, and community health workers.

Kick counts: Tracking in Utero Movements

Jackie Martinez, Programs Manager of Healthier Moms & Babies, will share how to educate expectant parents to track their babies’ movements daily in the third trimester of pregnancy empowering them to speak up if there is a change in what’s normal for their baby.  Research shows that a change in fetal movement can be the earliest and sometimes only indication that a baby is in distress in utero and should be checked by a provider.