Ruth Lubic, Birth Center Founder, Profiled on CBS

By Rachel Walden — September 15, 2008

Last week, CBS News profiled Ruth Lubic — Certified Nurse Midwife, MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient, and founder of the DC Birth Center at the DC Developing Families Center.

Inspired to act by Washington, D.C.’s infant mortality rate — twice that of the nation as a whole — Lubic and her team work to reduce that rate by providing education and healthcare to women and their families. The birth center provides prenatal care, childbirth education, education on preventing premature delivery, nurse-midwife care (at the Center or in a hospital), postpartum care, and other health services for women and children.

According to the CBS piece, “After 800 babies in eight years, they have never lost a child in childbirth, and has cut the rate of premature births — the biggest risk factor for infant mortality — in half.”

Check out the video from CBS, and don’t miss 81-year-old Lubic’s response to the mention of retirement.

After a brief conversation with Lubic, it’s clear that she keeps quite busy advocating for infant mortality improvements.

Among her many activities, she appeared before Congressman Steve Cohen’s (D-TN) briefing on infant mortality last fall (Cohen represents Memphis, Tenn., which also has a shockingly high infant mortality rate), and will participate in another Congressional briefing this week. She will be part of a panel and blog launch event, “Disruptive Women in Health Care,” on the 25th of this month at the National Press Club.

To find out more about Lubic and the Center’s work, check out this video, as well as the articles listed below.

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