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Lack of Midwife Laws Drives Talent from Brookings

Scott Meyer, Brookings City Commissioner, heading for the Cities.
Scott Meyer, Brookings City Commissioner, heading for the Cities (screen cap, Meyer Facebook video, 2015.11.24).

Scott Meyer is young, brilliant, ambitious… and moving out of South Dakota.

After winning election to the Brookings City Commission just this spring, Meyer announced last month that he would step down from the commission after its February 9 meeting. The commission is advertising for applicants to fill the impending vacancy.

Brookings resident Pat Powers notes the obvious quickness of Meyer’s course change but misses the main story of why the Brookings native is leaving. In a video posted to his city commission Facebook page on November 24, Meyer explains that he is leaving the commission and his hometown because his (awesome) wife Taylor Mertz has a great job opportunity in the Twin Cities to work as a midwife. Meyer says he will remain engaged in some of the creative development projects he has promoted in Brookings, like TedX Brookings, Creativity Week, and Homestead Coworking.

South Dakota is losing the Meyer family because it has failed to create the regulatory framework that would make midwifery a going industry. Midwifery is safe and saves money, but our supposedly business-friendly Legislature has resisted creating that regulatory framework to promote an industry that would offer job opportunities and give women more choices about how they conduct their pregnancies. South Dakota Birth Matters will bring pro-midwife legislation to Pierre in January, but the Meyers have a good job waiting and bills to pay.

The sad thing is, we’re talking about Brookings, a county that is better positioned than most in South Dakota to grow. Meyer has long recognized this potential in Brookings, but even he and his wife can’t find the job opportunities to keep them here. Even Brookings loses good talent… and this time, we really, truly can blame the Legislature.

23 Comments

  1. Tasiyagnunpa 2015-12-12 08:15

    Thank you Cory. While I applaud Taylor for following her calling, her and Scott leaving South Dakota is felt by me and others as some sort of death blow. Thankfully, plenty of awesome talent in Brookings. Maybe Seth ‘Cookie’ Koch can run for Scott’s spot?

  2. larry kurtz 2015-12-12 08:15

    Brookings County used to be something. Now, it is just another graying South Dakota community fearing the reaper.

  3. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-12 08:32

    Scott and Taylor’s departure is a real loss for Brookings. It’s too bad that Brookings resident Pat Powers doesn’t bother to acknowledge that or the facts surrounding Meyer’s departure.

  4. Tasiyagnunpa 2015-12-12 08:33

    You’re very, very wrong Larry. Scott would be the first person to say he wasn’t solo in the many things he accomplished. We will see how folks will fair without a huge catalyst. There’s hope though.

    Good grief, Main Street went from being hollowed out and having a strip joint, to being a pretty hopping place, in a decade. Scott and I were in high school back then and not around (much) during the rebuilding. Other great people did that work. I volunteered with some Downtown stuff, but seriously. You underestimate Brookings a lot.

  5. larry kurtz 2015-12-12 08:43

    One grocery store besides WalMart, old people’s homes, funeral directors, bankers and a college run by Monsanto: what’s not to love?

  6. larry kurtz 2015-12-12 08:47

    Medary Creek is one of the most polluted waterways in the US, dairies and industrial ag has made the Big Sioux River poisonous, Republicans lord over the populace: Scott Meyer made the correct choice, for sure.

  7. Lynn 2015-12-12 08:50

    St. Paul is a cool city with lots of charactor and unique neighborhoods. I wish them well on their move!

  8. jerry 2015-12-12 09:13

    If only midwifery, could be corrupted, then the republicans would be on the band wagon. In South Dakota, the only way you get the legislature behind you is if they can fill their greedy little pockets with untraceable moolah. Make an EB5 program with the midwife industry and you would see that flourishing here in the state. No mon, no fun is the republican slogan for corruption.

  9. mike from iowa 2015-12-12 09:50

    If you are tired of Monsanto,there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Dow and DuPont are attempting a 130 billion dollar merger so there will be more yoooooooooooge conglomerates to get mad at.

  10. Francis Schaffer 2015-12-12 09:51

    This is sad news.

  11. mike from iowa 2015-12-12 09:55

    Who knows with wingnuts, Isn’t a midwife an indication of live births that wingnuts dearly love up to the moment of birth? Midwives don’t perform abortions so you’d naturally think wingnuts would show them some love. I don’t get it. Maybe the nutters prefer births as statistics only and not actual little babies crawling around that need to be fed and nurtured and eventually educated.

  12. Donald Pay 2015-12-12 10:35

    The midwifery issue in South Dakota has been an ongoing Legislative battle since the early 80s. We thought about a midwife and home birth for the birth of our daughter in 1983. Some of our friends had gone that route, but ultimately we decided against it. Back in that day it was considered “back alley” stuff. We found a female doctor who was fairly non-interventionist. Although it wasn’t our first choice, I figured out that the baby we got was far more important than how the birth happened.

    The Legislature back then, as it probably is now, was captured by the medical community. Babies used to be considered a profit center by the docs and hospitals, so they didn’t want to lose a potential birth-to-grave money tree. Things change. Hospitals close, docs leave but people in rural communities still screw, so there are going to be babies that need attending to. Midwifery seems like a no brainer now.

  13. mike from iowa 2015-12-12 10:44

    jerry-midwifery could be mandated for Native pregnant woman and the babies handed over to a select list of white foster parents so the state can pay them and keep the circle of patronage going strong. It could happen.

  14. Jason Sebern 2015-12-12 11:40

    Very sad news. Scott is a bright young man with a progressive economic vision. Too bad Brookings cannot secede from South Dakota so that we can keep our homegrown talent!

  15. Stace Nelson 2015-12-12 12:19

    Jerry and Mike from Iowa,
    This is why politics in SD is so messed up, low information pundits helping keep voters Ill informed.

    Moderate Republicans joined with the Democrats to oppose the oldest form of medical care known to mankind: http://legis.sd.gov/Legislative_Session/Bills/Bill.aspx?Bill=1061&SearchString=Midwife&Session=2011

    I believe we made another effort a year or two later with a little better results. The large hospitals throw a lot of weight around. If memory serves me correctly, didn’t they reward a legislator with a high paying job after the legislator was such a staunch ally for so many years in the legislature? I’m sure it was Unrelated.

  16. Loren 2015-12-12 12:35

    Usually, anything having to do with anatomy goes right to the top of the GOP items of interest. But you can understand why this is taking so long. First, Roger Hunt would want to inspect the person’s genitals to be sure they are female. Then there would be a 72 hour waiting period once the woman goes into labor. Don’t forget the pre-birth mandatory counseling and the practitioner’s requirement for local hospital admitting privileges. It goes without saying that any home where a birth is to take place must meet operating room requirements. Did I miss anything?

  17. jerry 2015-12-12 13:32

    Why yes Loren, you forgot the fees. The fees of said midwifery would have to be cash in small bills. They would then be sorted and placed into regular bank envelopes with no markings so as not to provide said banks with ways in which they could charge other fees. These envelopes would then be distributed to the republican cabal in Pierre. Nothing more would need be done, mission accomplished. side note.. If envelopes are to fat, then it is acceptable to use as many as needed so it does not bring any discomfort to pockets of the cabal member of the legislature.

  18. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-12 14:12

    Loren, note that Roger Hunt has long advocated midwifery:

    http://www.yankton.net/news/article_fedccf34-3be6-58d3-ab56-dc4d885b59d4.html

    He doesn’t like reproductive choice, but he’s o.k. with birthing choice. As Stace Nelson notes, this issue is perhaps less fouled by partisanship than by good old big-money lobbying influence. Hmm… maybe we could get Stace Nelson and Rick Weiland together on this issue….

  19. Donald Pay 2015-12-12 15:48

    Cory, I watched this issue being championed by the right, when it really had a lot of support across the political spectrum. No one on the left showed up to support the midwives, so the right inherited the issue by default. Planned Parenthood should have joined the fight for midwives. It was their medical perspective, rather than ideology or position on reproductive rights, that caused them to miss this opportunity.

  20. mike from iowa 2015-12-12 16:04

    Stace Nelson-you got a yooooooooge problem,confusing me with Trump.

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-12 17:02

    Interesting, Donald. Is there any reason that midwifery couldn’t fit with Planned Parenthood’s mission and services?

  22. Donald Pay 2015-12-12 17:18

    No, there is no reason PP shouldn’t be about birth choice, as well as reproductive choice, but I think back 30 years ago they were stuck in reproductive issues being primarily a medical issue (you know, “between a woman and her doctor”). Well, some of the midwives back then were maybe a little less than well-qualified, but the profession has made some big strides since then. Some Planned Parent affiliates today are either hiring midwives or using consulting midwives to extend their reach.

  23. mike from iowa 2015-12-12 18:21

    Just another midwife crisis,eh?

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