October 05, 2022 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Meet Hillary Melchiors, PhD, MPH, LCCE, CD(DONA). Dr. Melchiors is a presenter at the 2022 Lamaze International Conference taking place virtually on October 20, 2022. Dr. Melchiors will be presenting "Obstetric Violence: The Role of the Childbirth Educator" and speaking to childbirth educators and others working with pregnant, birthing and new families about specific ways that childbirth educators can help students not only recognize obstetric violence but also advocate for themselves. If you have not yet registered for this conference packed with amazing speakers such as Dr. Melchiors, you can do so here on the conference page. Valuable continuing education hours, updated relevant information and an opportunity to connect live or watch the sessions recorded for a period of time are all part of this year's event. I appreciate the opportunity to interview Dr. Melchiors in advance of her session and share that interview with you here. - Sharon Muza, Community Manager, Connecting the Dots.
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January 28, 2020 | by: Hillary Melchiors and Robin Elise Weiss
January 25-31, 2020 is the inaugural International Childbirth Education Week. There are currently so many great health awareness weeks and months, and days that celebrate so many dedicated and caring people in health fields and fields surrounding families that you might think that everyone is covered or at the very least, who needs another observance week? So we thought we’d make a case for why the world needs International Childbirth Education Week.
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November 07, 2019 | by: Hillary Melchiors Ph,D, MPH, LCCE, CD(DONA)
Rebecca Dekker has a PhD in Nursing and uses her research knowledge and skills to summarize the medical evidence about birth related topics through her company Evidence Based Birth, which is helpful for both the consumer and the perinatal professional. “Babies Are Not Pizzas” is Dr. Dekker’s first book, and it details her journey to realizing that there is a lack of evidence based medical policies and procedures specifically surrounding pregnancy and birth in American hospitals.
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August 15, 2019 | by: Hillary Melchiors, PhD, MPH, LCCE, CD(DONA)
Michael C. Klein was born a “red diaper baby” to politically active parents who began his dissident education early. Since then, Dr. Klein has been fighting against dominant paradigms for as long as he can remember. His position as an outsider working within the medical field includes publishing groundbreaking medical research on episiotomy and questioning routine obstetrical care in multiple countries and contexts. Hillary Melchiors, PhD, MPH, LCCE, CD(DONA), a medical anthropologist, doula and childbirth educator reviews Michael Klein, MD's Dissident Doctor: Catching Babies and Challenging the Medical Status Quo.
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April 23, 2019 | by: Hillary Melchiors, Ph.D, MPH, LCCE, CD(DONA)
Updating a classic academic text might be overwhelming for some, but the collaboration of three generations of anthropologists who focus their research on reproduction and childbirth makes Birth in Eight Cultures not only an important contribution to anthropology but also for anyone wanting to better understand what really shapes birth practices. Hillary Melchiors reviews this newly published study of birth around the world and shares why any perinatal professional would want to read this new book.
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