Geradine SimkinsFor nearly forty-five years Geradine Simkins, APRN, CNM, MSN has worked as a midwife practitioner, activist, visionary, leader, author, and consultant. She began as a direct-entry homebirth midwife in 1976 and became a nurse-midwife twenty years late. She provided healthcare for women, infants, and families in a variety of settings: homes, freestanding birth centers, clinics, and hospitals. Among her favorite work has been with migrant farmworkers and Indigenous peoples, with a focus on transforming the current US maternity care system to reflect principles of health equity and social justice. Geradine has served in key leadership roles regionally, nationally, and internationally. These include: founding member and first President of the Michigan Midwives Association (MMA); Past President and Executive Director of the Midwives Alliance of North American (MANA); President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery (FAM); member of the Governing Council of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM); and current member of the Michigan Board of Licensed Midwifery. She is the author/editor of an anthology called Into These Hands: Wisdom from Midwives (2011), and editor of her mother's memoir called Peace, Love, and Harmony Aren't Just Words (2017). She is owner/operator of Birthways Consulting. For nearly twenty years she has been a lead consultant, trainer and curriculum developer for the Healthy Native Babies Project, which serves American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Geradine has three adult children and one grandchild-all born into the hands of midwives. She lives in Northern Michigan with her husband, Fred Heltenen. For fun she sails the Great Lakes, scuba dives in the Caribbean, explores amazing places and cultures around the world, and enjoys her own homeplace on the planet in beautiful Leelanau County. Read More Read Less