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Media / Press

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Jennie Joseph — a midwife with vision and plan to make it real

Every Mother Counts

Jennie is the midwife (and director of The Birth Place, a community based maternity center located in Florida), who appears as the voice of American reason in our film and the whistle blower who let viewers in on America’s dirty little secret… 

The Massart Art Museum welcomes Christy Turlington Burns and Jennie Joseph for “All My Babies” panel discussion

Massart

Boston, MA – Monday, September 12, 2022 – Today the MassArt Art Museum announced it will host the panel discussion All My Babies: Reproductive Justice for the Twenty-First Century on Wednesday, September 28, at 6:30pm in person on MassArt’s campus and virtually via zoom. The conversation will explore how the design of reproductive objects, systems, and policies affects all of our lives.

September 28, 2022
Jennie Joseph

Jennie Joseph interviewed as part of the Cycle Breaker Series

Smithsonian Channel

Jennie Joseph wants women to have agency over their pregnancies, while achieving healthier outcomes for Black maternal mortality rates. She has advocated for midwives and developed a comprehensive care structure.
Watch the new episode of #CycleBreakers #TheColorOfCare

 

September 12, 2022
Jennie Joseph

Oprah sends special message to Jennie Joseph, Cycle Breaker

Smithsonian Channel

#Oprah has this special message for Jennie Joseph, our latest Cycle Breaker.

Jennie Joseph wants women to have agency over their own pregnancies with midwives, while achieving healthier outcomes for Black maternal mortality rates. 

September 12, 2022

Dispatches from the field: Pioneering midwife Jennie Joseph

The Burke Foundation

We had the privilege of speaking with Jennie Joseph, a fierce advocate for midwifery. Founder and executive director of Commonsense Childbirth Inc. and creator of The JJ Way®, — an innovative approach to patient-centered care that markedly improves birth outcomes. Last March, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s Women of the Year for her remarkable contributions to midwifery as a practitioner, educator, and changemaker. Here are highlights of our discussion.

How We Can Provide Perinatal Access with Jennie Joseph

Be Her Village

Kaitlin McGreyes, Founder of BeHerVillage talks with Jennie Joseph: among other titles she is known as a midwife, Founder and President of Commonsense Childbirth, Inc. and Director of the National Perinatal Task Force. This episode explores how and why Jennie got into the work that she’s currently in, and why it’s important to keep working towards change.

Jennie Joseph: Compassionate Midwife

Onyx Magazine

Jennie Joseph is a well-respected health advocate for women and newborn babies. The JJ Way, a patient-centered model of care, is effective in reducing disparities and improving outcomes because it operates from the premise that every woman wants a healthy baby and that every woman deserves one. Joseph created, upholds, and stands by this standard of care. A British-trained midwife, Joseph has become one of the world’s most respected midwives and authorities on women’s health: healthy pregnancies, healthy deliveries, and healthy babies. She has become a true advocate for systematic reform that puts women and babies first in healthcare; before profit, convenience, and the numerous reasons America trails other developed nations in healthy births.

May/June 2022 Issue

Midwife Jennie Joseph Honored In TIME Magazine’s 12 Women Of The Year

Kindred | One Family, One World

Deeply horrified by the American medical model’s treatment of pregnant women and babies when she arrived in the United States in the 80s, British-trained midwife Jennie Joseph successfully worked to create an evidence-based model of prenatal care for women, especially women of color who are three to five times more likely to die in childbirth in the US than white mothers. Her pioneering work includes providing human connection and empowering education, while also training mothers, fathers and extended family members to identify and arrest the cascade of interventions inside the hospital birth system that lead to complications and death.

Jennie Joseph

Jennie Joseph Wants to Fix the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis One Midwife at a Time

TIME Magazine

Jennie Joseph walks into the exam room in her Winter Garden, Fla., birth center and unleashes a crinkly-eyed smile at her patient, who is 34 weeks pregnant, and her patient’s 4-year-old daughter. In a typical health care setting, an appointment like this one—with a healthy pregnant woman with no complications—would last just a few minutes. A quick exam and she’d be shown the door… 

Webinar: Improving Maternal and Fetal Health: Taking Action for Better Outcomes

U.S. News live

Experts say women have not been featured equitably enough in the planning and strategic design of the U.S. health system, resulting in vast unmet needs. Worse, the U.S. has an abysmal record when it comes to maternal health, and research shows that the country has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations. The problem is especially pronounced among Black and minority women, who are generally considered two or three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. This discussion will explore the roots of the issue and the practices that are making a difference in some clinics and communities. Attendees will also learn how advances in fetal medicine are improving outcomes and quality of life for both mothers and babies.

Birth Heroes Series – Jennie Joseph

The Family Practice & Counseling Network

Part 1: Profile on Jennie Joseph
About the series: This series will explore birth heroes around the world who have pioneered models that work to improve outcomes specifically for Black birthing people. These are visions that inspire us. Here is Part 1 – a profile on Jennie Joseph.

 

EBB 136 – Solutions for the Crisis in American Maternity Care with Jennie Joseph

Evidence Based Birth

October 5, 2022 – In honor of National Midwifery Week, I am so excited to present to you a podcast replay with the esteemed midwife Jennie Joseph. Jennie was featured on EBB episode 136 in 2020, and since then she has gone on to become the first Black midwife to own an Accredited Midwifery school (Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery) in the U.S.. Jennie was also announced as Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2022!

If you haven’t listened to this episode yet, you should!! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time Jennie was talking— she blew me away with her passion, her wisdom, her ability to call out nonsense, and her storytelling prowess.

Interview with Midwife Jennie Joseph

Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me, Jennie, and to share your knowledge with APPPAH. We really appreciate it. I am on APPPAH’s journal team and I am also on the Diversity Committee. So, I do a little bit of work on both committees. I would love to know a little bit more about you and your work, and working with underserved populations.

4 Episode Series with Jennie Joseph

Aspen Public Radio

We turn to the research and insights of the speakers of the Aspen Ideas Health conference for the answers. Aspen Ideas Health runs from June 20  – June 23, and is produced by the Aspen Institute. Aspen Public Radio interviewed Jennie Joseph over 4 episodes covering topics of medicine; body and mind; access and diversity and inclusion.

Episode #81: Jennie Joseph, Midwives & Black Maternal Health

Pregnancy, Parenting & Politics

Jeanne rebroadcasts her conversation with midwife and Commonsense Childbirth founder, Jennie Joseph, CPM, about the healthcare disparities that increase poor birth outcomes for women of color and the simple solutions midwives provide to make sure all mothers and babies thrive.

‘This is not a new crisis’: How 1 midwife is working to change maternal mortality rates

Today.com

As an internationally-trained midwife in Florida, Jennie Joseph sees the issues with the maternal health care system daily — and after nearly 40 years, her frustrations are evident. Her mission is to raise awareness and call out one of the largest issues relating to African-American mothers: racism.

Videos

Jennie Joseph – TIME Magazine Women of the Year 2022

 

Interview on Evidence Based Birth Podcast

 

An introduction to Jennie’s work in Florida

 

How racism harms pregnant women — and what can help | Miriam Zoila Pérez

The work of Commonsense Childbirth Inc.

 

CBS Sunday Morning dive into the alarming statistics on maternal deaths in “At Risk”