S1 Ep6: Afua Hassan, LM in Houston, Texas

The American Midwife Series

In today’s episode I’m talking with Ms. Afua Hassan, a community midwife in Houston Texas, with 37 years of experience and more than 2,000 births under her belt. Ms. Afua graduated from Brown University with a degree in African American Studies. She was on the path to becoming an obstetrician, but found her calling after a chance meeting with a midwife. Ms. Afua’s journey brought her to Houston to study midwifery under Mercy Inyang. After graduating from the Houston School of Midwifery in 1984, she served for many years as a home birth midwife before opening her own birth center in Houston’s third ward in 2011--The Birthing Place. The Birthing Place is the only freestanding birth center in Houston owned and operated by a black midwife. In 2019, she received the Midwives Alliance of North America’s Outstanding Community Midwife Award for her exceptional clinical care and the emotional and educational support she provides to the community.

We cover a lot of topics in our conversation, including how The Birthing Place uses social media, especially Instagram, to recruit new clients, the hands-on training and mentorship she received as a practicing midwife during the first 10 years of her career, the benefits of living above the birth center and being located in Houston’s third ward, the longevity of her work and how she fights burnout and the impact she hopes her work will have on the future of midwifery.

***Listeners, please note that there are some technical issues with the recording, causing the audio to sound out of sync at times. You are still able to understand both speakers, but miss out on some of the richness of the dynamic conversation. This is far from ideal, but the insights from this interview are so interesting that we wanted to still share them with you.***

You can learn more about The Birthing Place at birthingplacemidwifehoustonnaturalhomewaterbirthservicesnearme.com/. You can also find The Birthing Place on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at the handle @The Birthing Place.

Find me on Instagram @AnjelicaMalone and at AnjelicaMalone.com.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you'd like to be a guest on The American Midwife Series, please send an email to [e-mail], with details about who you are, where you're located, and a topic you'd like to discuss. We're especially interested in hearing from seasoned midwives of 10+ years and black midwives, but all are welcome.

We’d love to hear from you! Send in a voice message here: https://anchor.fm/anjelica-malone/message

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anjelica-malone/message