Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

This content was published: October 17, 1996. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.

PCC Hosts Midwife Career Day

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  • Wed. Oct. 30, 1996
  • 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • PCC Cascade Campus Student Center
  • 705 N. Killingsworth St.

The Portland Community College Cascade Campus will host a Midwife Career Day, Wed. Oct. 30. It is open to all interested participants and is free of charge.

Six schools of midwifery in the Northwest will be represented, four in Oregon and two in Washington State. Each school will have an information table and a representative present.

The "Birth Project," a quilt on the subject of birth by Judy Chicago, will be on display. This piece of artwork is a metaphor for creation and the universal experience of birth. Also on display will be the "Midwife and Her Community," an exhibition of photographs depicting the art of midwifery.

The event is sponsored by the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) and co-sponsored by Oregon Health Sciences University and Midwifery Recruitment. ICTC was funded by the Columbia Willamette Area Health Center to promote midwifery as a career option to low-income and minority women. Full information on midwifery as a career will be available to women who attend.

ICTC promotes the health of the Black family by preserving the traditional role of the midwife in the community. The care of midwives helps to combat the premature births and low birth weight of some babies born to Black mothers. Midwives give care to women before, during and after their pregnancy.

In 1996 only 150 of the 4900 registered nurse-midwives were African American. Many Portland residents are unaware of the profession and the opportunities it offers.

For more information, call Susan Hereford in the PCC Public Affairs Office at 977-4421 or Joy Ruplinger at 978-5377.