Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Birthing Families and their Care Providers

Haaritha Boltman-Binkowski completed her B. Cur (Cum Laude) at the University of the Western Cape in 2003. She then gained clinical experience in both private and government institutions in the labour ward. She completed her Masters degree in Advanced Midwifery in 2005. In 2007 she started working as a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. During the 13 years of lecturing, she has lectured various disciplines, including General Nursing, Midwifery, Advanced Midwifery, Neonatal Nursing, Research Methods, and Gender Based Violence as a Public Health Issue. She has co-ordinated both theory and clinical for many of the modules and year levels taught. Since 2015, Haaritha has been co-ordinating and teaching the Masters in Nursing: Advanced Midwifery and Neonatal Nursing. Haaritha is passionate about collaboration and has organised two international collaborative visits in 2019 from different institutions in Belgium (UC Leuven and VIVES), and has been involved with NEPAD efforts since 2012. In 2019 she graduated with another Masters degree in Nursing Education (Cum Laude). Her curriculum development experience covers micro aspects as well as developing the new graduate programme in Midwifery. Her clinical and teaching experience is as varied as her research interests but her focus areas are: maternal and child health, evidence-based practice, postpartum haemorrhage, teaching and learning and decolonisation.

Dr. Ruth Oshikanlu MBE is a multi-award winning nurse, midwife and health visitor. A nurse entrepreneur, consultant, leader and parenting expert, she is passionate about supporting vulnerable children and their families to reduce health inequalities and improve their life outcomes. Her previous roles include: HIV specialist midwife, Family Nurse at one of the first pilot sites of The Family Nurse Partnership intensive home visiting parenting programme for vulnerable families, and Nurse Leader of The Lewisham Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Service. Ruth is a Pregnancy Mindset Expert and supports pregnant women who have had assisted conception or previous pregnancy loss. She is the author of Tune In To Your Baby: Because Babies Don’t Come with An Instruction Manual. Ruth is a Queen’s Nurse, Fellow of The Institute of Health Visiting, Royal College of Nursing and The Royal Society of Arts. She is the recipient of several national healthcare and business awards; a regular columnist and has published several feature articles in numerous national nursing and healthcare journals. Ruth was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year 2019 Honours List for being an Ambassador for the Health Visiting Profession and for services to Community Nursing, Children and Families. She is a Churchill Fellow and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from London South Bank University in November 2019.

Stephanie Tillman (she/her) is a midwife at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed her undergraduate degree in Global Health and Medical Anthropology at the University of Michigan, and her graduate degree in Midwifery at Yale University. She is on the Boards of Directors of Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH) and the Midwest Access Project (MAP), is an Advisory Committee Member of the Queer and Transgender Midwives Association (QTMA), and is a member of the ACNM Ethics Committee. She is currently a Clinical Medical Ethics Fellow at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center, where she is focusing on consent in intimate exams. Stephanie blogs under the name Feminist Midwife, and through that online platform, academic and public writing, and professional speaking engagements, seeks to interact with providers and consumers in conversations about consent in health provision, queer care, sex positivity, nurses and advanced practice clinicians in abortion care, and trauma-informed frameworks. Find her on social media @FeministMidwife.