As we begin 2019, we must sadly say goodbye to two Board Members —
Shannon Anton, LM, CPM
was nominated to the NARM Board in 1993 and has been the longest serving Board Member. She has most recently been serving as NARM Director of Accountability as well as Vice Chairperson.
Ms. Anton has been a women’s health care advocate since 1978 and is an apprentice-trained midwife. She was certified in 1992 by the California Association of Midwives (CAM) and the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) in 1995. She piloted the initial California Midwifery Licensing Challenge Mechanism and earned California midwifery license number five. She served the CAM Board as regional representative, certification administrator, and treasurer for the legislative committee. She was CAM representative to the NARM Certification Task Force during the consensus-based creation of the CPM credential. She attended US MERA 2014 and 2015 meetings and serves on the US MERA Equity Task Force. She was a founding member of the Bay Area Homebirth Collective in San Francisco and former co-owner of Medea Books. Ms. Anton is known by many by her role as National Midwifery Institute’s Co-founder.
Her calm presence during challenging times in midwifery, her ability to offer perspective and creative solutions, her dedication to NARM and midwifery in her long career, but most of all her compassion and friendship she has offered to all of us on the board will be dearly missed. We wish her all the best as she continues to serve as a beacon of hope and inspiration for the future of midwifery.
Gina Dacosta-Rivera, CPM,
joined the NARM board in 2015 and has served as Director of Special Projects. Ms. Dacosta-Rivera trained to be a midwife in Puerto Rico, TN, and FL and earned her CPM credential in 2012.
Ms. Dacosta-Rivera serves the families of Puerto Rico through GROW Pregnancy and Parenting Center which provides affordable emotional support, mental health services and perinatal education to families in Puerto Rico. Their mission is to become the first perinatal wellness center on the island.
After Hurricane Maria, they received a large number of newly and expectant mothers presenting high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression which compounded the many needs of new families. We are sad that she is leaving the NARM board but understand that her mission to serve is calling her elsewhere. We wish her well and know that whatever she does she will serve with compassion, excellence and humility.
And announce two new Board Members —
Rachel Fox-Tierney, CPM, LM,
works with Birthstream Midwifery Service, a group midwifery practice in Northern California. She received her California Midwifery License and CPM credential in 2005. Prior to attending National Midwifery Institute, she was a Project Manager at Yale University for health related psychosocial research. She served as a Regional Representative for the California Association of Midwives for many years and in 2010 was the CAM Conference Chair.
Ms. Fox-Tierney brings an array of organizational and communication skills to the Board including her contribution to eBlasts and representing NARM at the NCSL in Los Angeles this past summer.
She lives with her husband of 22 years and their sons who were born at home in CT and CA.
Mary Anne Richardson, CPM, RN,
has served the birthing community in Tennessee since 1994 and has had her midwifery practice, Tender Beginnings, since 1997.
In 2006, she earned her nursing degree to compliment her CPM credential. Ms. Richardson has served two terms as the President of the Tennessee Midwives Association and continues to serve as legislative liaison for the TMA. Ms. Richardson has served two terms on the Council of Certified Professional Midwives in the Tennessee State Department of Health and continues to serve the CCPM by reviewing complaints to the Council. Ms. Richardson will bring her experience to the NARM Accountability Department.
She lives with her husband of 30 years on their farm in TN and is the mother of three grown children and grandmother to four.
eBlast emailed January 3, 2019