Latest Articles
-
Gas Fund Established
In an effort to help our supporters come to Pierre for the legislative session, SDSCO has established a “Gas Fund”.
-
Thank You for Your Contributions!
Thank you to everyone who paid their dues or were able to go above and beyond either financially or with donations of items to the silent auction or other events. We greatly appreciate the tremendous amount of time and talent so many of our supporters devote to planning events, hosting meals, & putting together the newsletter and other activities. Thank you!
Champions
Heath & Kris Hetzel – Lemmon
Dr. Lisa Lundstrom, Lundstrom Chiropractic
Dr. Josh Biberdorf, Black Hills Health & Wellness Center
Dr. Shannon DeBoer, Black Hills Health & Wellness Center
Treese Morford DeBoer, HypnoBirthing
Travis & Chandelle Brink, Usborne Books
Dwayne & Zona Vig – Mud Butte
Nadine West - Hayti
Rosanna Kulla - HazelAdvocates
Dana & Nancy Dennert – ColumbiaFriends
Karen Pettigrew – Rapid City -
Income & Spending Report—for SDSCO, Inc.
January 1, 2008 through November 15, 2008
Submitted by Julie Pease, TreasurerIncome Categories
BBB & Conference Income $1,832.98
Sioux Empire Fair Contributions $1,100.00
Membership/Newsletter/Conf/Workshop $2,536.00
Total Sales 257.77
Lobbyist/Education Fund 882.00
Total Income $6,608.75Expense Categories
BBB & Conference Expenses $906.19
House Utilities & Rent during 2008 Leg. 1,759.00
Lobbyist $1,595.00
Printing for Lobbyist $145.37
Education (printing & materials) $519.21
Filing Fee $10.00
Membership Fees $30.00
Gifts for Midwives $91.24
Newsletter (April & August) $899.46
Postage $114.80
Registration Fee for Black Hills Health Expo $135.00
Fees & Expenses for Sioux Empire Fair $921.95
Taxes $ 60.82Total Expenses $7,188.04
Net Income/Expenses - $579.29
Account Balances for SDSCO, Inc. as of 11/15/08
General Fund $3,763.87
Lobbyist Fund $59.00
Future Legal Defense Fund $370.00Total Funds $4,192.82
-
Rapid City Event is Huge Success
On September 22nd Chandelle & Travis Brink and Treese DeBoer organized a showing of The Business of Being Born at the historic, downtown Elks Theater in Rapid City. Prior to the showing legislative candidates were invited for an informal dinner to discuss home birth and midwifery issues. Seven candidates came for the meal, but not all were able to stay for the film.
Nearly 70 people viewed the film and took part in the discussion that followed. Audience members posed many heartfelt questions to the panel which consisted of midwife Jeanne Prentis, retired L & D nurse Ruby Kaiser, home birth couple Amanda and Jamie Loftus, and Leah Janssen who has had 5 hospital births. The feedback and response after the movie was great! Everyone reported enjoying themselves. We extend a big thank you to Chandelle's parents, Dwayne & Zona Vig, who donated meat for the evening meal and the grass-fed beef drawing for which there were 4 winners.
-
Lobbying Lessons
Look under “Resources” to find Lobbying Lessons & 2008 Handouts at:
sdSafeBirth.org -
Pumpkin Fundraiser
Nadine West & Rosanna Kulla were really thinking ahead this spring. For the second year in a row they dedicated part of their garden patches to planting pumpkins for SDSCO. A local gas station displays the pumpkins and collects the money. This year these very generous and hardworking women and their families raised $212 for the cause! Thanks a bunch!
-
Conference Speakers Enlighten
By Tanya Olson, Conference Coordinator
The 2008 Healthy Birth + Healthy Family Conference sponsored by SDSCO was held this year at the beautiful Crazy Horse Memorial conference center near Custer. Despite the opening day snowstorm on October 10th, many families attended and all of our speakers and vendors cheerfully shared the stormy day with us. We had single sessions all day on Friday and concurrent sessions on Saturday, giving us 14 separate educational sessions! Chiropractor Dr. Laura Prunty kicked off Friday’s session with a fascinating talk on pregnancy nutrition which led very naturally into her second session on chemical stresses on the unborn and newborn. Dr. Prunty was an excellent speaker with practical nutritional advice for everyone trying to improve their diet and health.
If you have never seen dynamic speaker Dr. Ben Rall, we highly recommend attending one of his health education sessions held in Sioux Falls. We were honored to have him and our attendees were enthralled with his talk about antibiotics and how to reduce their use. Dr. Rall presented the research (or lack of research) behind commonly held medical beliefs and practices in a way that kept us on the edge of our seats.
Dr. Rall got us all fired up for “Lobbying for Better Health Care” presented by Dr. Heather Margaret, Debbie Pease and Paul Levijoki which was the perfect introduction for Renee Ann Cramer from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Ms. Cramer has been researching the homebirth and midwifery movement in preparation for her upcoming book. She gave us a national perspective on this movement and its key players and applauded SDSCO’s commitment and organization; a real pat on the back to all of you who have put in your volunteer time toward our efforts in South Dakota! I found her talk very encouraging and inspirational.
-
The VBAC Dilemma
By Alaina Kerkhove, Vice Chair, SDSCO Surgical births (c-sections) are at an all time high of 32%. Consequently, more and more couples find themselves in the position of having to decide if they should have a repeat cesarean or attempt a VBAC, vaginal birth after a cesarean. It is getting increasingly difficult for these families to find a care provider willing to even consider the VBAC option, and for women who have had two or more surgical births it is almost impossible to find a care provider to work with them. In the 1960s the c-section rate was under 5%. After hospitals began using routine fetal heart monitoring, the c-section rate more then doubled with no better outcomes. The 80s brought a time of reform: mothers demanded VBACs. According to the National Vital Statistic Reports, the VBAC rate hit an all-time high in 1997 of about 28%. In 1999 ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) came out with the recommendation that “VBAC should be attempted in institutions equipped to respond to emergencies with physicians immediately available to provide emergency care." This recommendation caused many hospitals to refuse to do VBACs and other hospitals to tighten their restrictions. The result is an out-of-control c-section rate that has been climbing every year with no better outcomes. The studies are very clear that vaginal birth is safer for moms and babies, and the risks with c-sections increase with each surgery the mother undergoes. We should be outraged that one out of 3 babies is born through major surgery. -
Legislative Luncheon and Movie Night At the Capitol
01/15/2009 11:00 am01/15/2009 11:00 amEtc/GMT-6Thursday, January 15th
Serving Lunch behind the House & Senate Chambers
from 11am – 2pmHosting Movie and Serving Desserts from 8pm – 9:30pm
In Room 412 at the Capitol BuildingVolunteers Needed
As well as donations of homemade desserts, bottled water and juice, veggies, and sandwich fixin’s.Contact Sue if you can help at: 693-4134 or engelman@itctel.com
» -
Birth With and Without a Midwife
By Chandelle Brink
Growing up in the great state of South Dakota, my husband and I always considered it to be a matter of pride to say, “I am a South Dakotan”. South Dakotans pride ourselves in hard work, protecting our freedoms, personal responsibility, and logical thinking. In most cases, that is still true. However, I was shocked to find out what was happening “back home” while we began our family out of state.
After having 3 wonderful home births with two different midwives, it was obvious that is the way birth is meant to be- a loving caring environment for BOTH the mother and the child. Midwives are the experts in normal, healthy birth which allows them to identify issues sooner. My midwives were a source of positive reinforcement that everything was going the way God intended it to. In all pregnancies my midwives were proactive in many areas, they guided me to better nutrition to prevent unnecessary bleeding and encouraged protein in plentiful amounts to prevent a host of problems. When we moved back to South Dakota, there was no question that we would have our children in the safety and security of our home.
We knew that midwives were scarce up in the “north country” and had heard that most if not all were practicing only in hospitals. Shortly after moving back home, we found out the exciting news that we would be bringing another child into this world. That excitement soon turned to question – Would we be able to find an experienced person to assist in the birth of our child? The yellow pages did not have a midwife section like Missouri. ? We heard of a few practicing midwives across the border, but knew the home setting was safest for our family.
