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History

Jennie Joseph arrived from England in 1989 and was surprised at the difference in the approach and delivery of maternity health care in the USA. Of particular concern was the poor pregnancy and infant mortality statistics, markedly different from other industrialized nations, but which appeared to be the norm for American childbearing women and families. Commonsense Childbirth (CSC) became a vehicle for Jennie to spread her message that birth is a normal, healthy event and that with education, support and encouragement, all women can have a healthy outcome. CSC has focused on addressing and eliminating the barriers to healthcare and also in providing a midwifery-based model which allows women and families to fully participate in their own experience. The JJ Way ® model was developed by Jennie and has become the standard for every stage and aspect of her program.

Every year that passes The Birth Place has experienced increasingly improved outcomes with women who would ordinarily be considered at-risk ( low-income, minority or uninsured) to the point that for the entire year 2005  only one baby was born prematurely, a trend that continues to this day. We have a consistent record of healthier birth weight babies (greater than 5 ½ lbs), more full-term infants and more breast feeding mothers than similar populations receiving routine care with obstetricians.

Time Line:

  • 1998: Orlando, Fl. Commonsense Childbirth Inc. is formed by Jennie Joseph – outreach begins to encourage women of color, low-income and uninsured women to access prenatal care earlier and to be consistent with that care for a healthier baby.
  • 1999: Orlando, Fl. The CSC program relocates to the urban Parramore Neighborhood in the downtown area to increase awareness and accessibility to the prenatal services offered.
  • 2000- 2001: Orlando, Fl. CSC once again relocates to serve another largely underserved population in Pine Hills, west of Orlando. Participants of the program begin to open up to the option of a birthing center delivery and a natural birth as they begin to share the benefits of receiving their prenatal care with a midwife.
  • 2001-2003: Winter Garden, Fl. Word of mouth coupled with continued outreach begins to increase participation in the CSC program and larger premises are needed as both the prenatal clinic and the home birth practice grows. Jennie moves to her new home town of Winter Garden to better handle the growing volume.
  • 2003: Winter Garden, Fl. The Birth Place birthing center is born! CSC clients realize the advantages of having a birthing center birth but also continue to have the choice of hospital delivery. Statistics reveal that no matter the birth site, women and babies are doing better in our program. In view of that CSC introduced a 'we'll see you whether you are able to pay or have insurance' program so that more women could have the opportunity of health in pregnancy. Orange County Healthy Start Coalition partnered with The Birth Place and provided funds specifically for undocumented pregnant women who were unable to find prenatal care services.
  • 2006: Winter Garden, Fl. The Health Council of East Central Florida (www.hcecf.org) partnered with The Birth Place/ CSC to evaluate a study designed to examine whether the application of The JJ Way® maternal child health care model was actually having any effect on birth outcomes. Funded by Winter Park Health Foundation (www.wphf.org), a year long study was implemented and 100 patients were prospectively enrolled. At the conclusion of the study the evaluation showed an unprecedented result - 0% prematurity for African American and Hispanic Women and 4.7% over-all, in a State where the average prematurity rate is 15%.
  • 2007: Winter Garden, Fl. Once again we outgrew ourselves! The power of word-of-mouth coupled with increasing difficulty for uninsured women finding success with securing Medicaid and the shortage of obstetric providers in Central Florida drives more women to the practice. For the first time the numbers of women in the 'prenatal/postpartum only' clinic began to exceed the women in the 'birthing center' practice.
  • 2008: Winter Garden, Fl. Sanford, Fl. Daytona Beach, Fl. Orange City, Fl. The Easy Access Prenatal Care Clinics were born. After the results of the 2007 Study showed such positive birth outcomes and proved that the site of the actual birth was not the overriding factor - rather the ability of the mother to take her baby to full-term - CSC decided to push ahead and create satellite clinics where more women could have access to quality prenatal care.
  • Present Day: The Commonsense Childbirth program is currently serving approximately 400 women per year for prenatal, birth and postpartum services in Winter Garden and many more at the satellite clinics . More women are choosing a birth center delivery or are delivering naturally in hospital than ever before. As mentioned above, our outcomes speak for themselves.