Interview with Mary Akers, February 21, 1994

Interview Summary

Akers grew up in the army with a concept of maternity care through her mother's eight pregnancies and births. In ca. 1970, Akers went to the school of nursing at TWU- Texas Woman's University, Dallas, TX, for a BSN, joined ANC, and graduated in 1973. She started work at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA. She was sent to Korea and got clinical experience working in a MASH unit 1975-1976, and describes her experiences working with a Korean midwife. In 1977, she got sent to Tripler Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, for an OB-Gyn course. 1977-1979, she worked as Ob-Gyn head nurse at the Letterman Army General Hospital and became a Lamaze instructor which impacted the way Akers instructed her patients. Akers married in 1980 and started the nurse midwifery program at UK in 1981 when she was pregnant. Akers describes the UK-Ft. Knox nurse midwifery program. She remembers Silvia Wood, Kristin Forrester, Marilyn Masakio, and Barbara Lavery. While in this program, Akers had few hands-on experiences at UK. She graduated in February 1983 and moved with her first child to the Ft. Campbell-Meharry College program where Akers was teaching theoretical courses. The Blanchfield Army Community Hospital opened in 1983 when Akers remarried. She focuses on efficiency and introduces the army concept of mass casualty obstetrics. She was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, 1983-1988, and describes German midwives. Akers supports the U.N. CEDAW/ CEDAWOMS-Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women in Military Service. She describes her research on psychological distress symptom. She presently works on her dissertation on life transition theory at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She also is the consultant to the surgeon general in army nurse midwifery and wants to show the cost effectiveness of nurse midwife based care. She talks about the future of ANC and Health Care Reform.

Interview LC Subject

Akers, Mary Akers, Mary--Interviews Childbirth Maternal health services Midwifery Midwives Nursing--Study and teaching

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