May 5th is International Midwives Day. So it’s a good time to draw attention to the acute shortage of midwives in Germany and to introduce the Berlin company Kinderheldin, which supports young families with online advice.
By Anja Opitz
If you want to bring a woman who has just announced beaming happily that she is pregnant from cloud nine to the bottom of the facts, you only have to ask one question: “Do you already have a midwife?” Because nowadays it’s hard work and in the end It is often a matter of luck to find professional care before and after birth.
Not to mention a registered midwife who accompanies you through the birth: pregnant women have to contact up to 80 midwives to find one – if at all. The Berlin start-up Kinderheldin supports expectant and young mothers during this time when there is so much need for advice – digitally.
Nicole Höhmann (48) co-founded the company. She herself worked for many years as an employed midwife in obstetrics and prenatal care, and later also freelance in postpartum care. So she knows how nice, but also how strenuous it is to practice this job: “The number of births has risen sharply in recent years,” she explains. “That’s why the workload is very high, especially in hospitals.”
Midwives in the delivery room have to look after up to four women at the same time, rushing from one to the other, hardly having time for anything that goes beyond the minimum of care. They often have to work overtime, not to mention the weekend shifts. Freelance midwives who look after the prenatal and postnatal care receive calls around the clock, have to pay high insurance premiums and deal with an enormous amount of administrative work. And all that for far too little money. No wonder more and more people are giving up their jobs and there are few offspring.
The work of the midwives is so important – on different levels!
“If a family knows what is happening in the woman’s body during childbirth, that has a positive influence on the birth,” explains Nicole Höhmann. Midwives observe the physical adaptation of the female body and that of the child before and after birth – and can intervene if necessary! “Psychological support is also important, because the arrival of a child changes the life of the entire family.” And the parents are faced with many questions.
This is exactly the area in which online counseling Kinderheldin can help. “Of course, health-related activities and obstetrics cannot be represented digitally – but advice and help for self-help are possible via chat, video call and online course.” Initially, the co-founder herself was skeptical: “Contact with a midwife is something very personal – will that go online?” she asked herself. Now she knows: It’s going very well!
The Berlin midwife Vivian Fassbender (29), who has been working for Kinderheldin for two years, also says so. “Working digitally is different because we often don’t see the women and sometimes don’t even hear them if we’re just chatting,” she says. “Because there’s no ‘first sight’ assessment, we need to ask more questions and be extra sensitive to assess the situation.”
Fassbender works 20 hours a week for Kinderheldin and, like all midwives there, has a permanent position. “This means we can guarantee availability from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.: Our colleagues work in shifts, and someone answers an inquiry within a maximum of 15 minutes,” explains Nicole Höhmann. She currently has 20 specialists who she can always access. “Many only work part-time and also freelance, but this gives them the advantages of being an employee.”
Vivian Fassbender does the same thing. “I give advice for five hours on four days and do freelance preventive and aftercare before and after,” she says. The perfect combination for her: “The direct contact is more intensive, but to see that I can give women a good feeling with digital advice and support them with worries and fears, I really appreciate it.”
The midwife consultation by the Kinderheldin team is a service that can be used in addition to the legally guaranteed midwife care on site: More than 60 health insurance companies and maternity clinics (e.g. Helios Berlin-Buch, overview on www.kinderheldin.de/alle-partner) bear the costs.
That’s what midwives deserve
Anyone who works as a midwife in the public sector, e.g. B. in a city hospital, is paid according to tariff. Midwives are assigned to the care pay group and earn just as much as nurses: career starters 2,000 to 2,400 euros gross per month, later the salary rises to around 2,800 euros.
Private employers do not have to adhere to a tariff, which is why midwives usually earn less money in a practice than in a hospital. The statutory minimum wage ensures that employed midwives earn at least 1,700 euros gross per month for a 40-hour week.
Have you heard of doulas?
The work of a midwife cannot replace it, but complement it, so-called doulas are there for that.
“Translated from ancient Greek, the term means servant or very good friend of the woman,” explains Denise Wilk (48). The Berliner has been working as a birth attendant for 26 years. “We concentrate entirely on the woman giving birth and feel what she needs: if I see that she is hot, I put a wet cloth on her forehead. If I see she’s thirsty, I’ll give her a glass of water through a straw without her even having to ask—I don’t want her to have to, I want her to be able to focus on the birth.” Some women just need your presence and reassuring looks, other massages or changes in position.
Doulas do not perform medical activities, but: “Doulas should know all medical procedures, risks and side effects and the entire birth process,” emphasizes Wilk. This is the only way they can advise the expectant mother, and in her experience that is important: “In German delivery rooms, midwives often do not have enough time to discuss everything with the women: on average, they are only ten out of 60 minutes per hour present because they have to take care of several women at the same time.”
You have to pay for the support of a doula yourself, depending on the offer from 700 euros upwards. The packages usually include preliminary talks, on-call service, support during the birth and talks after the birth.
