Ruth Lubic
Encyclopedia
Ruth Watson Lubic is a nurse midwife and a MacArthur “genius” award winner who has championed personalized care during labor and childbirth for all women, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods. She co-founded the National Association of Childbearing Centers in 1983 and has helped establish more than 200 free-standing birth centers.
The MacArthur Foundation named Lubic a “genius” in 1993 and gave her $375,000 over five years to do whatever she wanted. She used the money to found the DC Developing Families Center in 2000, in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Washington, a city known for its high infant mortality rate. The developing families center includes a health and birth center, staffed with midwives and nurse practitioners. Lubic says that the center’s philosophy of “high-touch, low-tech” has resulted in a lower rate of C-sections and premature births than the city as a whole.
Lubic, the daughter of a pharmacist, received a nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She married Bill Lubic, a lawyer, in 1953, and the couple moved to New York. Lubic worked as a hospital nurse, caring for cancer patients.
After four years of trying to have a baby, Lubic gave birth to her only child, Douglas, in 1959. She has often said that it was the most important event of her life. Lubic had a very labor experience that was very unusual from most women of that era. Her obstetrician, Edward Cullee Mann, allowed her husband to be in the delivery room. For an hour after the birth, the baby was kept with the couple – rather than being whisked away by a nurse – and the parents were allowed to bond with their newborn. Later, Lubic told her doctor that she was considering switching to pediatric nursing. He suggested that she become a midwife.
She received her certificate in midwifery in 1962, from the country's first midwifery school, run by the Maternity Center Association in New York. She spearheaded the development of the Childbearing Center (known as the CbC), an out-of-hospital birth center which was located at 48 E. 92nd St., Manhattan, in the townhouse owned by the Maternity Center Association. The CbC opened in 1975.
She founded the Morris Heights Childbearing Center in 1988.
In March 2000, she founded the District of Columbia Birth Center that provides prenatal care
and birthing
services to low-income women.
In 2007, she appeared before a briefing on infant mortality
, led by Congressman Steve Cohen
.
She is on an Infant Mortality Commission.
The MacArthur Foundation named Lubic a “genius” in 1993 and gave her $375,000 over five years to do whatever she wanted. She used the money to found the DC Developing Families Center in 2000, in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Washington, a city known for its high infant mortality rate. The developing families center includes a health and birth center, staffed with midwives and nurse practitioners. Lubic says that the center’s philosophy of “high-touch, low-tech” has resulted in a lower rate of C-sections and premature births than the city as a whole.
Lubic, the daughter of a pharmacist, received a nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She married Bill Lubic, a lawyer, in 1953, and the couple moved to New York. Lubic worked as a hospital nurse, caring for cancer patients.
After four years of trying to have a baby, Lubic gave birth to her only child, Douglas, in 1959. She has often said that it was the most important event of her life. Lubic had a very labor experience that was very unusual from most women of that era. Her obstetrician, Edward Cullee Mann, allowed her husband to be in the delivery room. For an hour after the birth, the baby was kept with the couple – rather than being whisked away by a nurse – and the parents were allowed to bond with their newborn. Later, Lubic told her doctor that she was considering switching to pediatric nursing. He suggested that she become a midwife.
She received her certificate in midwifery in 1962, from the country's first midwifery school, run by the Maternity Center Association in New York. She spearheaded the development of the Childbearing Center (known as the CbC), an out-of-hospital birth center which was located at 48 E. 92nd St., Manhattan, in the townhouse owned by the Maternity Center Association. The CbC opened in 1975.
She founded the Morris Heights Childbearing Center in 1988.
In March 2000, she founded the District of Columbia Birth Center that provides prenatal care
Prenatal care
Prenatal care refers to the medical and nursing care recommended for women before and during pregnancy. The aim of good prenatal care is to detect any potential problems early, to prevent them if possible , and to direct the woman to appropriate specialists, hospitals, etc...
and birthing
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
services to low-income women.
In 2007, she appeared before a briefing on infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
, led by Congressman Steve Cohen
Steve Cohen
Stephen Ira Cohen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Tennessee's 9th district includes almost three-fourths of Memphis. Cohen is Tennessee's first Jewish congressman....
.
She is on an Infant Mortality Commission.
Awards
- 1993 MacArthur Fellows ProgramMacArthur Fellows ProgramThe MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
- 2010 Foremother Award for Lifetime Achievements from the National Research Center for Women & Families
External links
- Founding Mother's Archives
- Ruth Lubic archive, Disruptive Women in Health Care
- "Go to Ruth's House": the social activism of Ruth Lubic and the family health and birth center., Nurs Hist Rev., Fairman J. 2010;18:118-29.