Navajo Midwives in New Mexico Plan First-Ever Native American Birth Center
Nicolle Gonzales is a 35-year-old certified nurse midwife (CNM) with
three kids ages 9 to 14. She’s Navajo (or Diné, as Navajo people refer
to themselves), from Waterflow, New Mexico, and has embarked on a
journey to create the nation’s first Native American birth center. “I’d
like to see a nice building with pictures of our grandmothers, cedar
welcoming you into the door, and moccasins for babies instead of
blankets," says Gonzales. "I want a place where women and families feel
welcome.”
Gonzales is among only 14 other Native American CNMs in the United
States. She and Brittany Simplicio, another midwife who is Navajo/Zuni,
began raising money for a nonprofit that will run the center, Changing
Woman Initiative (CWI), last year.
“There is this huge disconnect between the cultural teachings and our
bodies as women. [I want] to advocate for taking back our teachings
about our bodies that our ancestors knew before the boarding schools or
Indian Health Services came,” says Gonzales. “I've worked at Indian
Health Services. I was not happy with the care that the Native women
were receiving there. I needed to do something to step up and support
Native women.”
Changing Women Initiative founders Nicolle Gonzales (l) and Brittany Simplicio Photo: Courtesy of Nicolle Gonzales
