About CRN
Childbirth Resource Network (CRN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of local providers and parents dedicated to improving birth and early parenting experiences in the central San Joaquin Valley. (FEIN: 80-0208140)
Our Members
Melanie Pool
Chair
Janeil Swarthout, PhD and Tess JohnsonRN, PHN, IBCLC
Vice Chair
Amber Appling, CD(DONA)
Secretary
Marie Santos, CD(DONA), LLLI Peer Counselor
Treasurer
Amber Appling
Sarah Joy Cobb
Andrea Cole, CD(DONA)
Laurie Crosbie, LCSW
Kathryn DiPalma, CD(DONA)
Amy Dueck, CD(DONA)
Shauna Fleuridor,
Lisa Gartin, RN, CLEC, LCCE, CD(DONA)
Janelle Green, CNM, MSN
Detrah Hele, LM, CPM, CLC
Melissa Hunter, PCD(DONA), CLC
Donna Macris, RN, CNM, MSN, CLNC
Jennifer Mathews, DC, AAHCC, LLLI Peer Counselor
Coleen Salazar
Scott Swarthout, DC
Our Mission
Our mission is trifold:
- Foster a community of birth professionals in the central San Joaquin Valley that embrace the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative
- Promote and support local birth options
- Serve as a resource center
Our Beliefs
- Pregnancy, labor and birth, and the early postpartum and newborn periods are especially important and sensitive times in the lives of women and their families.
- Most childbearing women are well and healthy and as such have every reason to expect an uncomplicated birth and a healthy newborn.
- The US health care system is in disarray, and many pregnant women face challenges in obtaining safe, effective, woman- and family-centered maternity care consistent with the best research.
- Women should have the opportunity and the responsibility to make informed decisions about their care. The decisions they make and the care they receive can have lasting effects on their health and the health of their babies.
- To exercise their legal right to informed consent and informed refusal, women need access to full and accurate information based on the best available research about all options for care from early in pregnancy through the postpartum period. Women need to have a choice among a reasonable range of care providers and care options so they can make informed decisions and choose to receive the care that is best for them and their babies.
- Caregivers and health institutions have the responsibility to provide evidence-based care that respects and supports the innate physiology of pregnancy, labor, birth, and the mother/baby connection while addressing the family's needs, values and preferences.
- Women and their families can improve the quality of maternity care for themselves and others by becoming informed, planning carefully, voicing their needs and concerns, and challenging the established childbirth beliefs and practices that are not beneficial to mothers and babies.