Polly Perez has spent her entire career serving others.
Paulina “Polly” Perez, RN, BSN, FACCE has been an advocate for new mothers and families for over forty-five years. Polly has helped establish the earliest family centered maternity care units, she has worked as a production assistant on films that teach families about family-centered childbirth, she has contributed to important Health Services education for pregnant families, and she teaches new mothers and families important pregnancy, childbirth and new family information, including emotional and sexual aspects of pregnancy and comprehensive birth preparation including Cesarean birth education. Through her online business, she provides quality products that aid pregnant families and birth professionals in helping to facilitate safe and comfortable childbirth experiences.
Polly is internationally known for her care of the new family, and has earned the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) Award of Excellence, for her excellence in community service, education, practice and research. Polly is also listed among the Outstanding Young Women of America, Who’s Who in American Women and Who’s Who in American Nursing.
Polly wrote the first book on the importance of labor assistants, Special Women.
You can learn about her major professional accomplishments here.
Polly has two helpful websites: Childbirth & Family Education, and Cutting Edge Press.
Polly has been a part of helping to raise awareness of stillbirthday’s birth and bereavement support in multiple ways, by including stillbirthday in her CAPPA “Bridging the Gap” presentation in 2012, and by donating her own sewing machine to help us make Teeny Tears diapers.
Polly is and has always been passionate about providing supportive care to mothers and families, including building strong connections between nurses and doulas, and advocating for special support for bereaved families.
CAPPA 2012 photo credit: Carnley Proud
Scholarship Qualifications:
- Any individual who holds current credentials as a certified doula or as a registered nurse.
Award:
Generally, only one Polly Perez Scholarship will be awarded each SBD training session. The Scholarship award grants 100% tuition toward the SBD training for the chosen recipient. In addition, once the recipient is awarded the Polly Perez Scholarship, he or she will also be entitled to bear the Scholarship logo. The recipient may also be eligible for earned nursing contact hours as outlined in the SBD training program.
2020: Because safety precautions are impacting the choices that mothers have while in labor, some mothers are choosing a safe transfer to out of hospital care under the guidance of a qualified midwife. Others are still utilizing their doula during early labor, and then entering the hospital for care.
Still others, though, when a qualified out-of-hospital provider isn’t accessible to them, are tempted to consider what is called an “unassisted birth” – labor and childbirth at home without the presence of a qualified provider. Even a doula is not a qualified provider.
To help deter the potential temptation to entertain unsafe options, stillbirthday wants the public to know that while hospital staff are sharing the precautions they’ve been instructed to follow, hospital staff also have a high regard for a positive birth experience.
Therefore, there will be no cap on the number of hospital-employed or birth center employed nurses who choose to enroll in our online doula program by the end of April, 2020.
This health crisis, and the precautions set around it, are temporary. Soon, these precautions will lift. The precaution some hospitals are taking is to ask doulas please to not enter the hospital. This is only temporary. Soon, doulas will return into the hospitals we can’t enter just right now, and return to our very welcomed place as active, visible members of the care team.
In this very temporary time, it is more important than ever for pregnant mothers to trust that there is mutual respect between doulas and nurses, and that her trusted care team truly champions her. We do this, by championing one another.
So, L&D Nurses, we know you’re flat exhausted right now. But if you want to have an online supportive environment, gain some wonderful skills to help your patients, and earn nursing contact hours, you can apply for this scholarship before the end of April, and you can move through the program at your own pace. We know, you will both gain a deeper understanding of the magnitude of care the stillbirthday doula provides (because doulas are not replacable), and, you’ll gain some doula skills applicable in your role (because temporarily it can prove especially helpful for you and your patients). Because, we’re all in this together.
To apply:
Please submit application letter with subject: scholarship to heidi.faith@stillbirthday.com
