Mothers, residents encouraged to attend maternity fair

Published 9:20 am Tuesday, September 6, 2016

NW0906 Maternity Fair A

Think of it as back-to-back “labor days”.
One week from Labor Day, which recognizes the labor movement in the country, women from across the area will converge at Covered Bridge Park for the 2016 Rally to Improve Maternity Fair. The event, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12, is held in conjunction with a host of other fairs worldwide presented by the Improving Health organization.
Sponsors for the rally include the BABE Breastfeeding Coalition, Southern Appalachian BirthNetwork, the University of Tennessee Extension Office of Carter County, Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library and other groups from Northeast Tennessee.
Gratia Cash, owner of JUST DOULA and part of the Southern Appalachian BirthNetwork told attendees during Thursday’s Carter County Community Advisory Board (CAB) meeting that the rally will be of importance for mothers’ across the area.
Monday’s fair expects to be a hotbed of information for current and expecting mothers along with caregivers, according to information provided from Improving Health. Various healthcare officials and other personnel are projected to attended to field questions from mothers.
Question and answer sessions will be available throughout the event from a variety of speakers, including Gloria Kneaskern Wells with Johnson City Birth Class, midwife Angie Neis, and Dr. Howard Herrell of Takoma Regional Hospital. Rounding out the sessions include Dr. Grover May and Lisa Waller Vance discussing State of Franklin OB/GYN specialists and the Franklin Woods Community Hospital new midwifery services and cooperative care model.
This year’s slate of fairs continue a trend of growth experienced by the Improving Birth organization, which was created in 2011.
It was in 2012 that the organization began organizing Rally to Improve maternity fairs. According to the group, rallies in 2012-13 brought out over 20,000 individuals standing together to help raise awareness for evidence-based care and childbirth.
Being on the frontlines of providing information is nothing out of the ordinary for the Improving Health organization.
According to the group’s website, “evidence-based care is based on the highest quality, most medical evidence, tailored to the individual. We believe that women can make safer, more informed decisions about their care and that of their babies when they are given full and accurate information about their care options, including potential harms, benefits, and alternatives.”
Improving Health offers various methods of outreach for methods, all featured on the group’s website at improvinghealth.org.
Along with Monday’s informative pieces for individuals, the first 50 attendees to sign-in and register at the event receive a ‘swag bag’ while everyone in attendance will be registered for door prizes.
For more information on the fair, check out the 2016 Rally to Improve Birth – Elizabethton, TN Facebook event page online.

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