The countdown has begun. Exactly one year from now I will have completed my midwifery program (Lord willing and the creek don't rise!) and will be taking my boards and hopefully, my clinic will be ready for operation. From this vantage point, this seems nearly impossible, but then so is improving our dismal perinatal measures in the urban core. The entire idea is highly implausible, so I may well just talk about what I intend to do, possible, plausible, or otherwise.
I am very involved right now in making connections in the community. I have an entire page of people listed that I intend to visit and share the dream with them. Some have been easy to get in to see, others put up a lot of barriers. No matter, I intend to see them all. Some will become partners, others just interested onlookers. I intend to sort through the entire community until I have the support and resources I need to carry out the work. I have a separate list for the philanthropic community, and hope to begin raising funds to start the Sister Doula program.
Today will be spent finishing the curriculum and making a marketing plan for getting the word out. I'm hoping to get at least five good candidates who want to become doulas who make it through the training. I meet with a Medicaid HMO next week, whom I'm hoping will partner with us and allow us to pair our Sister Doulas with their clients. Once that is in place, I will secure funding for stipends with some of the local health foundations.
In the meantime, I am still scouting out locations for the Chocolate Milk Club to meet. Hopefully something will open up soon. It is the simplest of my intitiatives and I'd like to get it up and going.
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