Certified nurse-midwife Diana Jolles directs a free health clinic near the Trinidad neighborhood in D.C. In May, the American College of Nurse-Midwives awarded her its 2008 Kitty Ernst Award for her work assisting marginalized women and their babies.
How do you help pregnant women and their children?
We guarantee that women will have continuous care throughout their birth, which has been shown in studies to reduce the C-section rate and increase a woman’s achieving her labor goals. One of our proudest programs is our breastfeeding peer counselor program. Breastfeeding has been known for a long time to decrease childhood obesity, which is an epidemic and getting worse.
How does midwifery compare with birth under a doctor?
Midwives are trained to be specialists with the 85 percent of normal childbearing women. We have six years of special training with a master’s degree in science. Doctors are surgeons specialized with disease treatment, not as much focused on disease prevention.
What interested you in midwifery?
I was very interested at a young age in science and research and in social change. Midwifery for me combines the two beautifully.
What do people usually think about midwifery?
It’s not surprising to me at all that people don’t know what a midwife is, because that was me in high school. The funniest thing was when people thought I took care of old men, like I was a half-wife or something. But I think the word is spreading about midwifery, and I love that the community here gets it.
