Interview with Mary Stella Simpson, October 31, 1993

Interview Summary

The interview covers the beginnings of ACNM, its presidents from 1957-1973, and what these women, among others, set out to achieve. Sister Simpson discusses "family centered care programs" and "health care reform". It was important to find acceptance of nurse midwives in the medical professions, either the schools of nursing or the medical schools, but also within administration. Sister Simpson describes in detail her experiences in "Frontier Nursing" in Mississippi. Reference is made to Mary Breckinridge, director of FNS-Frontier Nursing Service, Kentucky. She shows that nurse midwives gained more independence and equality because, in the rural setting, the physician often did not have time to travel the long distances in a service area of 500 square miles. As Sister Simpson puts it in the beginning, "nurse midwives and MDs passed the same exams in Indiana".
Matousek tells about a recent renewal of demands of family practice physicians for primary care being their responsibility, while secondary care is the task of nurse midwives. The successful fight in the 1950s had been for full independence of nurse midwives and practitioners requiring physicians to provide medical care at delivery. Now, 30-40 years later, the definition of the responsibilities of nurse midwives is again fought over.

Interview LC Subject

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

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