Winter Solstice – Remember the Light. Remember the Dark.

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Winter Solstice ~ Dec 22

The changing of the seasons. The recognition of death and life. Light and dark. New and old.

For me, the solstice starts starts my time of reflection in ending of a year, a completion of seasons. What has happened over the past year and laying it to rest, preparing myself for the coming of the new year.

There are so many traditions and celebrations you and your family could enjoy through the Solstice. I have created a short list here along with some great websites to spring board your new traditions…

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  1. Share a meal with friends – Solstice recipes
  2. Be outside – make a wreath with evergreens collected by loved ones on a walk through the woods. Evergreens, it’s said, symbolize the continuity of life, protection, and prosperity.
  3. Light candles – build a circle of candlelight, one for each participant, and then blow them out and sit together in the darkness for a few moments offering gratitude before lighting one central, larger candle to symbolize your unity over the coming year.
  4. Watch the sunrise and sunset – ring a collection of bells at sunrise and sunset
  5. Throw “the longest night of the year party” – how to planfoodmore food, more ideas

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Join us at the FATS office for Winter solstice celebrations!

Tuesday December 1, 12-2pm @ the Gilbert location 323 S Gilbert Rd #209 Gilbert AZ

Friday December4, 10-12pm @ the Phoenix location 115 W McDowell #4B Phoenix AZ

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And the AzDHS beat goes on…

The out pouring of love and support over the last week has been humbling to say the least! Thank you to all who called, texted, face booked, drew pictures, wrote poems. I felt protected and loved. I never once felt alone.

The update you all have been waiting for…OAH

The case is not closed, so I can not say much. Sorry for the disappointment. I wish I could tell you every beautiful, amazing, difficult, painful, victorious moment but we had to continue for another day due to the length of the witness list and the testimonies given.

What I will say is my lawyer is F*cking awesome!!! Julie is a true barer of justice and fairness. She is eloquent and wise. She is posed and polished. I can not sing her praises enough. She has given and given and given to our cause. Not just to me and other midwives individually but to our very movement. COUNTLESS HOURS! Any other lawyer would have charged us literally $10’s of thousands of dollars. Julie discounts and pro-bonos whenever and however she can. But she still needs paid. There are still court costs. There are still filing fees and transcriptions and court reporters and and and…. It is unbelievable how much it cost to fight for justice. The Dept of Health is using your tax dollars to pay for their lawyers to fight against your midwives. It churns my stomach to think about it. And your midwives, who make pennies have to start campaigns and beg for pro bono work to have defense. THE INJUSTICE!!!

I say all this because going to another day means more money. I am asking for your help now. We have 2 fundraisers going on that you can give through or you can give directly to me or my lawyer. Here are the two online ways…        Gofundme   Crowdrise

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My promise to you is to keep you posted.  I promise to let you know when the continuing trial is set for.

Thank you again for all the love! ~ Wendi

Today’s Court Battle

I go to court today to fight for each and every woman, mother, family.Hands tied

I go to court today to say women have the right to bodily autonomy.

I go to court today to fight for mother’s rights to make sound decisions for their body and their baby.

I go to court today to stand up the AZDHS and their stance that woman can not decline certain tests.

I go to court today to say I will not force or coerce my clients into taking tests and receiving treatments THEY DO NOT NEED OR WANT!

I go to court today so women can say no when they mean no.

I go to court today to say I will not abandon my healthy client.

I go to court today to demand continuity of care be the standard of care.
I go to court today for you.

I go to court today for me.

I go to court today for every midwife in this state.

Enough is enough.

Do no harm but take no shit.

Stand with me, and with our collective energy, we can make a powerful change!

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And the Battle still continues with AZDHS…

I am sure you have heard a lot of buzz around the Arizona Association of Midwives filing a lawsuit against the AZ Dept of Health Services. If you haven’t, read my last post to catch up!

Did you know that individual midwives continue their own private battle in the court room? In the last several months we have seen 3 midwives in court fighting to keep their licenses to practice midwifery.

This Friday Nov. 13th I go to court AGAIN to fight to keep mine. The reason: I did not abandon care and leave my client without a care provider.thumb_IMG_0622_1024

It has been almost a year to the date of the last time I was in court defending my license. If you have not read about that crazy case please go back to my post Battle with AZDHS. We are seriously talking crazy pants here.

If you read the first go round then you can almost press repeat in the scenario that will unfold again this Friday.

Not only is this a waste of everyone’s time and resources, this is a waste of YOUR TAX MONEY!!! You should be outraged!

The last time in court, about a month ago, there were 3-4 attorney from the Attorney General’s office present. ALL of them paid by for your tax dollars. All to help defend the dept stance on mandatory testing. 4 lawyers for 4 hours, plus the 3-4 people present from DHS. That’s a lot of money spent to defend the departments stance on not allowing patient autonomy.

I wonder how many will show up to my case??? I will keep you posted…

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The Battle with AzDHS Continues…

Last week we saw a landmark event take place among the midwives of AZ and the Dept of Health.

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After years of watching AZ midwives try SO hard and without much success to create change by working with the AZ Department of Health, we have finally stood our ground and said that we will no longer stand for their inappropriate and illegal management of midwifery regulation.  Thank you so much to the midwives, student midwives, doulas, and consumers that stood bravely on the steps of AzDHS as we made this historic announcement.

I am sure the news and social media buzz has already reached you, but just in case you’ve been hibernating here is the scoop! You can check out the following news sources –   3TV    Cronkite   KJZZ   NewTimes   News12
On Thursday, November 5th, with support of midwife members and unanimous vote by the board, AAM filed legal action against AzDHS/Cara Christ. The decision to take this action was a serious one and was not considered lightly. We understand the potential pitfalls but firmly believe the positives that may come out of this action are worth the risk. This legal action, called a declaratory judgement, seeks to to four main things.
  • Stop the illegal investigation into midwives charts  that contain private health information.
  • Stop the aggressive enforcement of new rules that illegally reduced the midwives’ scope of practice.
  • Relieve midwives of the increased administrative burden.
  • Stop the enforcement of unconstitutional midwifery laws that violate the right t12187909_10153447117693551_2568884392368372840_no refuse vaginal exams, STI testing, and medical treatment.

 

There is a LOT of work to be done as we wait for the legal process to unfold. It is expected tha
t it will be months before we see the results of this lawsuit.
—Facebook group Unite AZ Midwives Hands We will be posting updates and future actions
—Contact Dir. Cara Christ, AG Mark Brnovich and Gov. Doug Ducey with your views on the points above
—Watch for media coverage, share news stories and comment on the media’s pages referencing the lawsuit whenever you see a story about midwives
—Watch online for blogs and comment to correct any errors, refer people to Unite AZ Midwives Hands for further action
17230_10153447149868551_4044813342599464214_n 10369185_10153447162878551_232838590895900762_n 11219345_10207130447838187_302605038891368795_n
12115622_10153447234783551_4587849593449052946_n 12189765_10153447149453551_33542106681297837_n 12189910_10153447149803551_953394598263047320_n 12190855_10153447149548551_1758357904170484850_n 12063642_10153763662082915_3354583452913501752_n12191590_10153447162823551_1462165082752432490_n 12191800_10153447117338551_2564540703679193230_n 12193670_10153447234848551_306843109764259534_n 12208842_10153447235043551_1261821519273636799_n Wendi @DHS