| Blissful Births & Babies |
| DONA is the acronym for Doulas of North America, an international association of doulas who are trained to provide the highest quality labor support to birthing women and their families. DONA was founded by Marshall Klaus MD, Phyllis Klaus, John Kennell MD, Penny Simkin and Annie Kennedy in 1992. It is a non-profit organization incorporated in Washington state. Vision: Doulas will be acknowledged as members of the maternity care team who provide emotional care and physical comfort. DONA recognizes that the essential qualities of a doula are compassion, cultural sensitivity, patience, stamina, and understanding of the birth process. We envision: -a doula for every woman; -doulas in every country; -doulas from every racial, cultural and ethnic group; -doulas from all educational and economic levels; -doulas working in all birth settings with all types of maternity care providers; -doulas being valued and accepted within each community by the public, maternity care providers, and third party payers. Mission: DONA's mission is to improve the physical and mental health of childbearing women and families by: -Ensuring that the emotional needs of childbearing women are met; -Increasing the number of trained experienced doulas; -Providing training opportunities for doulas of varied cultures, educational backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic levels; -Educating health care providers and third party payers as to the benefits of a doula's presence during childbirth; -Educating the public; -Ensuring that any woman who desires it will have a doula present during the childbearing period; -Ensuring that doula care will be affordable for all women; -Ensuring that capable people can become doulas; Providing a flexible, though meaningful, route to certification of doulas based on only the qualities, abilities and accomplishments that are truly essential to excellent doula care Text from www.dona.org |
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| DONA |
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