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Making a Difference: Kathy McKain, Lori Albright and Nancy Niemczyk

Making a Difference: Kathy McKain, Lori Albright and Nancy Niemczyk

Nurse midwives whose dedication kept a special birthing center operating

Ask anyone involved who is most responsible for preserving the Midwife Center for Birth and Women's Health as the region's only fully licensed, free-standing birth center, and the whole team of moms-turned-volunteers, clients-turned administrators and medical staff-turned savvy business people will get credit.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
Kathy McKain, Lori Albright and Nancy Niemczyk.
Click photo for larger image.

But if any deserves a special mention, it's Lori Albright, Nancy Niemczyk and Kathy McKain. The three certified nurse midwives sacrificed time and paychecks to keep alive an operation that strives to empower women in birth and beyond.

The result of their efforts is a homey new center in the Strip District. Exam rooms have afghan-covered couches and Victorian brick fireplaces, with candles lit on the mantel. The three delivery rooms resemble comfortable bedrooms, with queen-sized beds and rocking chairs, as well as whirlpool tubs in private bathrooms where women can spend time during labor.

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McKain, 45, of the South Side, is there because of the scores of stories of traumatic births that she heard while working as a young nurse at Children's Hospital. The experiences, she said, had left parents overwhelmed and burdened with insecurities.

Albright, also 45 and from Osborne, is the center's longest serving nurse midwife. She is there because of the lack of individual care she saw when working as a labor and delivery nurse in a hospital maternity ward.

Niemczyk, 37, of the North Side, is there because childbirth is not a medical procedure, but a healthy, normal part of every family's life that doesn't have to happen in a hospital. Preserving that option, she said, is critical.

Joining the midwife team earlier this year was Laura Wunderly, 43, of Point Breeze, a former client who got her student training there.

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"There's something about this place that's magical,'' she said. "Women's voices are heard here.''

The birth center opened in 1982 in Shadyside, and over the years took different forms at different locations. It was operating as BirthPlace, affiliated with West Penn Hospital, when Allegheny General hired away most of the midwives in 1997 to create a competing center. Two years later, West Penn shut down BirthPlace, saying it wasn't profitable.

Allegheny General followed suit the next year, but agreed to keep its center open an additional six months to ensure continuity of care. It kept staff on the payroll, but not the midwives, who continued to attend births and provide prenatal and well-woman care of patients.

Christine Haas, a former client, was home full time with her two boys when she learned of Allegheny General's announcement. A woman's health advocate with a background in nonprofit management, Haas started a letter-writing campaign to keep the operation afloat. She helped in securing the center's nonprofit status and joined with other clients such as Mary Mervis of Squirrel Hill and Josette Fitzgibbons on the North Side in the effort to find a permanent location for the center, a monumental task made more so because it was squeezed around the demands of the ongoing medical practice.

"None of us realized the amount of work that would be involved in getting this up and running,'' said Haas, 36, of Greenfield, who is now executive director.

After operating in temporary quarters on the North Side, the center opened in April at a former hotel at 2825 Penn Ave. in the Strip District. Acquisition, renovation and other expenses to get the building ready topped $500,000.

Its first birth was Aug. 6, and the center is ending 2003 with more than 190 births.

Niemczyk, the center's clinical director, hopes it will have as many as 240 births next year -- close to the number it reached during its busiest year at Allegheny General, whose doctors continue to serve as the center's emergency backup. In addition to providing prenatal and well-woman care, the center has a program that provides gynecological care to uninsured women.

Among other goals for next year, the center hopes to reach agreement with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to provide a facility fee (to cover overhead and equipment) in addition to the reimbursements provided for medical staff. An insurer covering the center as it would a hospital would bring in more revenue for operations, which are also covered by patient fees, grants, corporate donations and fund-raising efforts.

The board wants to build up marketing efforts to better promote the center, improve its Web site (www.midwifecenter.org) and increase educational programs and support groups.

Throughout the moves, turmoil and uncertainties, the midwives didn't miss a day of care, an accomplishment of which they are all proud.

"Women need to have a choice and power about their birth experience,'' McKain said. "If we can help be a good experience, we are making a huge impact in the positive flow of that family's life.''

First Published: December 30, 2003, 5:00 a.m.

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