Welcome! 


Spring is a season of rebirth and new beginnings—the perfect backdrop for final reopening preparations! We are happy to share that we are making incredible progress and remain on track to open on July 6. We can’t wait to welcome you for a special sneak peek of our beautiful facility, introduce you to our talented and compassionate team, and personally thank you and all of our loyal supporters at our Open House on June 17. We hope to see you there!

Last month’s newsletter highlighted our deep commitment to quality and equity, along with several of the specific initiatives keeping us accountable. This month we’re taking that a step further by giving you an inside look at a very small sample of the extensive training that is underway. We are dedicated to providing care that is not only safe and high quality but helps ensure that we serve as a vital and empowering resource for everyone in our community.

As always, thank you for your unwavering support of the CHA Birth Center and your shared passion for maternal health equity. We hope you find this issue informative and inspiring!

Kim Amsley-Camp, DM, CNM, MHA

Director, Midwifery & Birth Center

Doug Kress

Chief Community Officer

The Road to Reopening

A major goal of our reopening preparations is to ensure our entire team is well trained in the latest care models and safety practices. We also know that birth center care is different than hospital care, so we are working hard to help our entire team feel comfortable working in a setting that is new to many.

We believe it is very important for the CHA Birth Center to offer water births because they provide benefits such as natural warmth, reduced pain and shorter labor times. However, we want the entire team to feel confident in supporting families who choose this type of birth, so we hired Water Birth International, the leading experts in water birth training, to come to Cambridge for on-site training for the entire team. Training involved all aspects of water birth, including how to safely and comfortably transfer a patient from the tub to a bed. All of our midwives are now water birth certified! Our doulas also participated in the training. 

We are also excited to announce we received a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to provide Centering Pregnancy training for two of our midwives to design a program for our birth center. Centering Pregnancy is a model focused on group prenatal care which offers more provider time and education, provides social and emotional support, increases breastfeeding rates, and improves health outcomes. Once trained, our two midwives will be able to design a program specifically for CHA Birth Center patients and lead groups that will be valuable sources of information and support.

The commitment to training to support the Birth Center extends beyond the midwifery team and across the organization, including nursing, risk management, and environmental services to name just a few. A great example is the rigorous Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) training with the risk management team to review every process and ensure operational effectiveness and safe care.

Although a great deal of training is underway to prepare for reopening, it will not end when the doors reopen. CHA is committed to ongoing training in quality, safety and best practices. In fact, four of our per diem midwives have now converted to full time status because they are excited about the extensive training and professional development opportunities available at the CHA Birth Center!

Community Corner

Spring has also sprung in our communities and a number of events are planned for the spring and summer months now that nicer weather has arrived. Our Community Health Workers (CHWs) will be out in force to educate attendees about the benefits of midwifery and birth center care, and encourage attendance at the Open House. CHWs come from a diverse array of backgrounds and countries, speak a variety of languages, and serve as trusted resources in the communities in which they live, playing a key role in addressing health disparities. They are currently undergoing training related to the Birth Center and we are working on new tools to support their efforts in the field including a video tour of the CHA Birth Center, along with flyers in multiple languages, and giveaways. 

While training progresses, we are already ramping up our community presence! Earlier this month, at the Revere Mobile Market (a monthly event to distribute free food to community members in need), CHWs were on hand and had the opportunity to speak to several pregnant community members. They also handed out flyers about midwifery care, birth center care, and the upcoming CHA Birth Center Open House. These interactions are a big part of our effort to guarantee that families feel welcomed, informed, and excited about accessing care at the Birth Center. 

In the upcoming months, we look forward to expanding our community presence and providing additional opportunities for families to learn more about the Birth Center and feel confident in choosing care that fits both their needs and values.

Meet our Midwives


This month we are pleased to introduce you to another one of our amazing midwives, Karyn Blanchard, CNM, WHNP-BC. Karyn grew up in Grafton, Mass. before receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and her graduate degree at the University of Colorado. At UConn, she worked at the Women’s Center, which had a powerful mission to support gender equity at the university and in the community. Her experience at the Women’s Center, combined with her nursing education led her to a career in women’s health to help empower other women. She was also influenced by an undergraduate semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Witnessing the health care across Cape Town’s diverse population showed her how supporting parents’ emotional wellbeing during pregnancy contributes to a stronger, healthier bond with their baby, friends, and family. “If we have happy, healthy parents, we will have happy healthy children,” she said.



In graduate school, Karyn felt that her degree as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner was too narrow; she wanted to work with patients at birth, so she completed a post master’s certificate in midwifery. Her experience working in Colorado with patients from varied backgrounds opened her eyes to advanced practice providers and the strength of midwifery. When she returned to Massachusetts, she worked in Worcester and Brockton before being drawn to CHA because of the diverse patient community. 

Karyn feels that many communities lack support, respect, and encouragement during pregnancy and parenthood. She believes that the best part about being a midwife is being a witness to this profound period of change – watching someone develop their strength, confidence, or assist in healing their trauma. Karyn thinks of pregnancy as a whole body process – emotional, physical and interpersonal.

With her interest in the psychological side of pregnancy and birth, it’s no surprise Karyn is in her last semester studying to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at the University of Massachusetts Tan Chingfen School of Nursing. She is focusing her training on reproductive psychiatry, caring for patients with mental health concerns or disorders during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum. 

“I have friends, family, and patients who have experienced birth trauma,” Karyn said. “Midwifery care is incredibly healing for a person with a trauma background. I hope with the psychiatry integration I can help people cope better, unravel trauma in a healthy way, and put forth positivity to promote healthy bonds within families.”

Questions or comments about this newsletter? We’d love to hear from you! Email us at communications@challiance.org.