Help Sustain Our Birth Center

The video above is from 2020 that was created to support the beginnings of the birth center. 

After four years and having supported over 650 families, the sentiment in this video remains central to the work the midwifery team is accomplishing.
 

"Love where you get your care. That’s our vision: the creation of a warm, comfortable and inviting space to receive prenatal and gynecological care, and to birth your baby."

As the only midwife-owned and operated, independent birth center in Western Massachusetts, the team of midwives at Seven Sisters Midwifery & Community Birth Center (Seven Sisters) is truly a group of healthcare pioneers. The care they offer, including prenatal and postpartum care, low-intervention birth, water birth, well-person care, and more, is making an impact for hundreds of individuals and families in the local community and beyond. 

The Impact

There has been a widespread closure of maternity wards across the United States, exacerbating social disparities. The economics of birth care have resulted in the closure of many labor and delivery units at community hospitals and families are having to navigate farther for care. 

Our birth center is a shining example of a midwife-led birth center that can fill this gap in care, as proposed by experts and leaders. Care at birth centers is more personalized, resulting in improved patient education and better outcomes for low-risk pregnancies. 
 

Here’s the Problem

Seven Sisters is a small business financially reliant on patient payments and insurance reimbursements. The midwifery’s current insurance reimbursement rates make it difficult to sustain this business with these revenue streams. There are limited funding support options to help provider-owned healthcare businesses remain sustainable. 
 

Solution

In order to keep serving the community in such an impactful way, Seven Sisters needs to welcome one more midwife. Due to the lack of external funding options available, community financial support is needed for this vital addition to their team.

The Need

Anyone who has received care from them can attest to how the midwifery team at Seven Sisters is ever-conscious of the fact that the people they care for are viewed as friends and neighbors- never just “patients”. This is only going to be made possible by a staff size that will accommodate the community’s needs.

The goal of this campaign is to raise $170,000 to onboard an additional midwife to the practice. 
 

Your Support

Thank you so much for your support in helping Seven Sisters sustain their important work with individuals and families. Any contribution is promoting sustainability and furthering their revolutionary movement of individualized care. 

Testimonials from happy families who have received care at our birth center

"I feel so lucky to have experienced pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum days in the care of the midwives at Seven Sisters. Each prenatal visit made me feel heard and reassured, and brought chances to personally connect with each midwife -- so that when the time came to call the birth center between contractions, it was a familiar voice on the line no matter which midwife was on call. I felt respected, supported, and celebrated by my midwife while laboring, who provided just the right amount of expert coaching to guide me through an incredibly empowering birth experience. And each time we returned to the birth center during the first months of our son's life, we were welcomed by the midwives who had been caring for him since he was the size of a plum -- greeted with smiles, hugs, and a genuine care for how he (and we!) were doing. Where else could we feel so held through all of the phases of bringing our baby into the world?"

“Choosing Seven Sisters Midwifery for our family’s perinatal journey was life altering. After experiencing a previous loss that didn’t need to be quite as medicalized as it was, we finally felt heard, cared for, supported, and believed in through the process. Our birth experience was empowering and filled with important moments of autonomy. We’d do it all over again.”  

“Imagine entering an exam room, and your provider comes in with a notepad. You discuss your concerns with a midwife who is attentive and respectfully shares medical knowledge from memory, drawing on decades of experience. No screens, no irrelevant questionnaires… That is what it’s like getting well-person and GYN care at Seven Sisters. We are so fortunate to have this practice in our community.” 

"We received incredible care at Seven Sisters Midwifery. As a transgender couple, we knew that we needed care from providers who we could trust and who really cared about our process and needs. Everyone at Seven Sisters loves their work and we could feel it in the care we received. We were able to meet in-depth with each midwife during the entire pregnancy and in preparation for the birth. Each of them answered all of the questions we had and we looked forward to each prenatal visit - it felt very patient-led and centered. We are so lucky to have the center in our community!"

"Even just arriving at the birth center in active labor and seeing the two midwives that I knew really well...it was familiar faces in a familiar location. It felt home-like so I was able to stay in the zone very easily. The biggest difference in the birth center is that they encourage you to listen to your birth instincts.'"