Jennie Joseph was born and raised in England when her parents emigrated from Barbados in the 1950’s. She received her midwifery education from Barnet School of Nursing and Midwifery in affiliation with Edgware General Hospital in London. Always a pioneer for women’s special healthcare needs, Ms. Joseph has ten years of busy hospital experience and has specialized in out-of-hospital birthing since 1994. Ms. Joseph brings 27 years of combined expertise to help pregnant women achieve the birth of their dreams.
After moving to Florida in 1989, Ms. Joseph pursued a Midwifery license through the State and was the first foreign-trained midwife to be licensed under the newly re-opened Midwifery Practice Act in 1994. As Executive Director of The Birth Place a free-standing birthing facility in Winter Garden, Florida, Ms. Joseph sees women from all walks of life that are expecting healthy babies and who choose a natural birth. The Birth Place Birthing Center’s mission is to provide a service to the local Orlando area community by offering quality maternity care for all women.The JJ Way™ MCH healthcare delivery model was developed by Jennie and has shown such promising outcomes for indigent women that Winter Park Health Foundation has funded an ongoing research study.
In addition to her clinic, Ms. Joseph launched the Nubian Health Network in 2004 in order to address and redress the disparities in health care being experienced by women of African descent. Nubian Health Network is an online resource and forum accessed by women worldwide.
Ms. Joseph is featured as a Community Hero in the Orlando Times for her ability to improve women’s health in Central Florida and was nominated for the Orange County Black History Month Humanitarian Award in 2006. Jennie has been awarded the prestigious Summit Award for 2007 from the Central Florida Women’s Resource Center. She frequently speaks in her community, has hosted a local radio program – The Well-Woman Show on WTLN 950 AM - as well as traveling to present workshops at conferences for midwives and other healthcare professionals. She recently presented at the Governor’s Conference on Women’s Health and Minority Health in Tampa, FL. and regularly attends the annual Black Midwives and Healers conference as a guest speaker and expert panelist. In January 2006 she hosted her first all day conference in Orlando regarding the ongoing crisis on prematurity and infant mortality. Ms. Joseph has provided expert commentary on pregnancy to Parenting online magazine, Black Family Magazine, Central Florida Advocate, Central Florida Business Journal, News-Leader, Orlando Sentinel and West Orange Times as well as the local 24 hour news channel, the NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates, Orange County TV and local Talk Radio Stations 94.5fm, K92.3fm, 95.2fm, 580AM. She has previously written articles that have appeared in Discovery Magazine, the Orlando Times Newspaper and has created a photo-journal of her patients chronicling their journey through pregnancy.
Ms. Joseph is the appointed Florida representative for The International Center for Traditional Childbearing based in Portland, Oregon. She was instrumental in setting up and running the School of Complementary Medicine’s Midwifery Program in 1995 - 2000 and is the former Chair of Florida’s Council of Licensed Midwifery. As Outreach Coordinator for the Orange County Healthy Start Coalition (Florida), Ms. Joseph developed the “Save Our Babies” initiative - a program geared towards addressing the poor perinatal outcomes for African American pregnant women and babies (recently recognized in The Orlando Sentinel newspaper as an effective program). Other responsibilities include Expert Witness for the Florida Department of Health and other private law firms and Executive Director of Commonsense Childbirth Inc. (her own 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation).
