MetroHealth CH offers outpatient midwifery services

Amy Lowell is director of the Midwifery Program at The MetroHealth System.

MetroHealth has launched a new midwifery program to serve patients seeking care during pregnancy as well as ongoing gynecologic care through every stage of life.

In July, Amy Lowell (CNM, MSN), director of the midwifery program, began seeing patients at the MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Medical Center, at 10 Severance Circle, for outpatient pre-natal checkups and women’s wellness exams. The Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) team will expand over the coming months and plans to comprise five providers by early next year.

In addition to outpatient care, CNMs also will provide inpatient care and attend births at MetroHealth’s new state-of-the-art birthing center at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

“We build trust and break through misconceptions and communication barriers,” said Lowell,  “so we can understand the anxieties and concerns that often lead to patients missing appointments and generally avoiding health-care experiences.”

Lowell, who previously worked with University Hospitals and has served on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University since 2016, explained, “Our goal is to provide options for patients and, in the process, forge relationships that will change perceptions and improve the health of women during pregnancy and at every other point in their lives.”

CNMs are Registered Nurses (RNs) who have attained specialized expertise in women’s health through the completion of midwifery training.

One common misconception about midwives is that they are only involved in delivering babies, noted Kimberly Green (MSN, RN, C-EFM), vice president of Women and Children's Services at MetroHealth.

“That is just one part of what they do,” Green said. “They provide the full scope of women’s OB-GYN care. They play a key role in women’s health care.”

Midwives may be best known for the care they provide to patients throughout pregnancy. They cultivate trusting relationships with patients and their families to help them prepare for the birth experience. During midwife appointments, which tend to be longer than typical OB-GYN exams, the CNM closely monitors the condition of both mother and baby.

CNMs attend births and deliver babies in the hospital setting. The low-intervention care they provide is appropriate for the estimated 85–90% of patients who are not considered to be at high risk of complications during pregnancy and the post-partum period.

While most women are eligible to partner with a midwife during pregnancy, some medical conditions may benefit from input and collaborative care from one of MetroHealth’s 25 generalist OB-GYN physicians or from MetroHealth’s team of high-risk OB doctors in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Midwives are fully integrated into MetroHealth’s nationally recognized OB-GYN team, which was named among Newsweek’s Best Maternity Hospitals in 2024 and designated by Blue Cross Blue Shield as a Blue Distinction Center for delivering exceptional quality maternity care in 2023.

All midwife patients deliver at MetroHealth’s Cleveland birthing center and, if needed, have access to its Certified Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which offers advanced monitoring technology.

Those interested in requesting an appointment with a MetroHealth midwife can visit www.metrohealth.org/midwife or call 216-778-4444.