Our Vision

To provide women and their families a safe and welcoming retreat
that respects spiritual, physical, social, psychological, and economic needs.

BWHC opened in 2004 and is licensed by the Kansas Department of Health & Environment. It was built as a cooperative project by 10 Amish & Mennonite churches in Reno County who act as Board of Directors for this project.

Our center provides an alternative for childbearing families who anticipate a low-risk pregnancy and birth. We believe that childbearing is a normal event, not an illness. Within limits of safety, the entire birth experience can be as individualized as the client desires.

The BWHC provides:

• Prenatal care, birthing services, and postpartum care
   

• Childbirth education classes
   

• A homelike quiet rural setting with minimal intervention
   

• Two cheerful private birth rooms each with its own bathroom, including large air jet tubs for labor relaxation.
   

• A cozy kitchen-family room used to prepare meals, relax, and use as the family and the laboring mother choose.
   

• Freedom to labor as the client chooses, with or without medication.
   

• Family centered care with the ability to have the baby with you continuously.
   

• Early discharge to home (from 6 to 24 hours postpartum) with two follow-up home visits or phone calls, and 2 week and 6 week office visits.
   

• Women's health care to women of all ages including annual exams and Pap smears, family planning, and gynecological care.

In the event of a situation that requires transfer to a hospital, or for those women with conditions that require a hospital birth our midwives have privileges at the hospital in Lyons, KS. We have collaborative arrangements with physicians in Sterling and Wichita, KS for complications.

The BWHC is staffed by two certified nurse-midwives (registered nurses with advanced education) who provide prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care and also provide specialized health care to women of all ages including annual exams and Pap smears, family planning, and gynecological care.

Director Lois Yoder, CNM is a seasoned midwife with 24 years of experience including 17 years in South America as a rural missionary. She has attended over 3150 births and still loves mothers and babies.

Angel Schmutz, CNM, MSN, a recent graduate of KU Medical Center with a master's degree in nurse-midwifery, has experience in labor and delivery and is familiar with the birth center atmosphere due to her experience as a nurse-midwife at the birth center in Topeka, KS.

Insurance: BWHC will accept most major insurance companies including Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Medicaid.