Kudos to pioneers
Thank you for your recent article on Ray Spooner, a Certified Nurse Midwife
at Carle Clinic in Urbana [Deb Aronson, “Against the Odds,” Oct. 23]. Spooner
exemplifies what nurse midwifery is all about. As a fellow midwife, I had the
opportunity to hear Ray speak about water births at one of our regional chapter
meetings. He was very informative, but also offered his insights, as well as
his witty comments. I also appreciate your candid description of the birth and
that a woman can give birth without an epidural, especially with the support
of her health care provider. Thank you for an excellent article.
My only correction is that you stated that he was the only male midwife in
Illinois. There are at least two others in the Chicago area: Darryn Dunbar,
director of Midwife Associates at the Norwegian American Hospital, and Mike
Villwock, who is with the University of Illinois at Chicago Nurse Midwifery
Service. Kudos to them for being pioneers in this profession.
Helen L. Moose
SIU Center for Family Medicine
Springfield
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This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2003.
