This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , senior midwife of Home Birth Midwifery Service in Memphis, TN, recently solicited Governor Phil Bredesen to make an official TN state Proclamation regarding the help & assistance of midwives. Kim rejoices with other TN midwives that the Governor has proclaimed:

May 5, 2007 ~ "International Midwives Day" in Tennessee !!!

Below is the actual text of the Governor's Proclamation:

State of Tennessee PROCLAMATION by the Governor

WHEREAS, midwives have helped mothers and children prior to written history and are still important in health care; and

WHEREAS, midwives provide a family-centered childbirth option that has grown in response to the choice of thousands of parents; and

WHEREAS, midwives are dedicated to the care of pregnancy and birth and treat each woman's pregnancy according to her unique physical and personal needs; and

WHEREAS, midwives offer pregnancy screening, comprehensive prenatal care, childbirth education and counseling to pregnant women on health needs, pregnancy-related transitions, family relations and postpartum concerns; and

WHEREAS, the World Health Organization and the Midwives Alliance of North America have noted the impact midwifery care has on improving the infant mortality rate; and

WHEREAS, the goals of the TN Council of Certified Professional Midwifery, the Tennessee Midwives Association, and the Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives include improving birth outcomes in the State of Tennessee;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Phil Bredesen, Governor of the State of Tennessee, do hereby proclaim May 5, 2007, as

INTERNATIONAL MIDWIVES DAY

in Tennessee and encourage all citizens to join me in this worthy observance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the official seal of the State of Tennessee to be affixed at Nashville on this 27th day of March, 2007.

Signed: Governor Phil Bredesen

Co-Signed: Secretary of State, Riley C. Darnell