How You can Advocate for Birth Choices
Ideas on how you can advocate for birth choices! Print this as an information sheet (PDF) to hand out friends and others!
Remember to send comments of praise for your care providers too!
Send letters and call your hospital, local media, insurance co, representatives in government, and medical organizations.
Copy your letters or summary of your phone calls to Birth Action Coalition, so we can keep track of how many they get (no info will be disclosed without permission).
You can post them on our website, or send to Kim Rivers, BAC Coordinator, Fax 866-877-6431. Email kimberly.rivers@gmail.com
Who to write or call
Ventura County
- Community Memorial Hospital. Gary Wilde, CEO. 147 N. Brent Street, Ventura, CA 93003.805-652-5011
- St. John’s Regional Medical Center & Pleasant Valley. Michael Murray, CEO. 1600 North Rose Ave, Oxnard, CA 93030 (805) 988-2500
- Simi Valley Hospital. Darwin Remboldt, President & CEO. 2975 North Sycamore Dr., Simi Valley, CA 93065. (805) 955-6000
- Ventura County Medical Center & Santa Paula Hospital. Michael Powers, Health Care Agency Director, 2323 Knoll Dr, Ph: 805-677-5110, Fax: 805-677-5116. Ask Mr. Powers to share with relevant others in the agency.
- Los Robles Hospital. Jim Sherman, CEO & President. 215 West Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. (805) 497-2727 (FYI: Los Robles is only hospital in Ventura County with VBAC access.)
- Ventura County Star, POB 6006, Camarillo, CA 93011, Fax 805-482-6167, or letters@venturacountystar.com.
Santa Barbara County
- Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Ronald C. Werft, Pres & CEO. P.O. Box 689, Santa Barbara, CA 93102-0689
- Marian Medical Center. Charles J. Cova, Pres. 1400 East Church St. Santa Maria, CA 93454. (805) 739-3000
- SB Independent, 122 West Figueroa St. Santa Barbara, CA 9310, (805) 965-5205 letters@independent.com
- Santa Barbara News Press, www.newspress.com
Other
- Insurance issues: CEO of Your Insurance Company. State Insurance Commissioner’s office (regulates insurance cos.), www.insurance.ca.gov 1-800-927-Help (4357)
- Department of Managed Health Care (regulates HMOs) http://www.hmohelp.ca.gov 1-888-466-2219
- California Department of Health Services (regulates hospitals): Report abuses at hospitals, they are required to respond. www.dhs.ca.gov Attn: Betty J. Smith, RN District Administrator, 1889 N. Rice Avenue, Suite 200, Oxnard, CA 93036, Phone: 805-604-2926
- State and local politicians –Inform your rep. in govt of patient rights’ abuses, VBAC bans, and your disapproval of health care policy determinations by insurance companies. Ventura County Supervisors, www.countyofventura.org. Santa Barbara County Supervisors, www.countyofsb.org. California State Senate, go to www.sen.ca.gov . California State Assembly, go to www.assembly.ca.gov
- American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Douglas H. Kirpatrick, MD, President.. AND Gerald F. Joseph Jr, MD, President-Elect. 409 12th St., S.W., PO Box 96920, Washington, D.C. 20090-6920. (202) 638-5577. Visit www.birthactioncoalition.com to learn more about ACOG’s campaign to restrict birth choices.
- American Medical Association, AMA is promoting ACOG campaign to restrict birth choices. Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, President, 515 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60610 (800) 621-8335
Take the Birth Survey and view consumer feedback
Contribute to a national database of consumer feedback on hospitals, birth centers, doctors and midwives, including intervention rates. “…public reporting of intervention rates and outcomes, whether alone or in combination with other quality improvement programs, translates into better care” says Lamaze International. Let your care provider and/or hospital know that you have rated them in the birth survey.
Denied a VBAC at a federally funded hospital?
If you’ve been denied a VBAC at a hospital with a ban and would be willing to file a complaint with the hospital’s chief compliance officer for Medicaid, let us know and we’ll help with the process. You DO NOT have to be a Medicaid recipient! Most hospitals receive federal funding and have to abide by Medicaid patient rights guidelines. This may be our best chance to reverse VBAC bans nationally.
Contact: Kolmi Majumdar, BAC Coordinator, kolmi@quailsprings.org, 805-452-6873
Join our mailing list or online discussion group at www.birthactioncoalition.com
General suggestions for letters and phone calls
- Relay who you are: a patient in their system, potential customer, care provider, advocate…
- State your specific concern or complaint relevant to the institution: VBAC ban, restrictions on physician support of out-of-hospital careproviders, malpractice insurance carrier interfering with patient and practitioner decision making…
- State your position, why the issue is important, clearly and positively – for eg. I support, I want: full informed consent, birth choices, patient autonomy, out-of-hospital birth…
- Briefly share personal experience you may have with the issue.
- What do you want them to do? Support full informed consent, remove ban…
- Mention the institution’s mandate or mission – challenge them to follow it.
- Include how to contact you with what they plan to do to address the issue.
- Follow up! Call them to follow up. Refer to your letter. Expect them to respond to you and be persistent. Follow up is the key to making your voice heard.