Choosing a natural birth under the care of a midwife certainly has its environmental benefits compared to a labor filled with medical interventions in a hospital facility.  A South Dakota Midwifery Clinic has taken it a step further by earning the Green Star Certified Mark of Consumer Environmental Awareness.  Now families-to-be are not only comforted by their plans for a natural birth, but they can rest assured that the midwifery clinic the visit is energy efficient.

Green Star Certified is considered “The Mark of Consumer Environmental Awareness”.  Black Hills Today reports:

Green Star Certified is a Five Star program endorsed by the United States Energy Council to help business promote their efforts in going Green.

The Green Star Certified program is for businesses, products, cities and individuals that have become leaders in energy conservation, recycling and environmental friendly actions.

WomanKind Midwifery earned the award by installing energy efficient lighting, hot water heating, and hot water boiler in the historic mansion that houses their clinic in Spearfish, South Dakota.

WomanKind Midwifery is run by certified nurse midwife Jeanne Prentice and supports home births.  Jeanne explains:

As a homebirth mother,  I know how important it is to have a choice in birth and in your health care provider.  It is also important to have care by those who believe that our passage to motherhood comes through that faith that our bodies are designed to birth normally and without intervention.  My inspiration in midwifery is from those experiences and midwives who worked hard to assure that I had the birth my heart desired, prayed for me and my child’s passage and shared their belief.  Because of that, I am committed to bring a legal practice of home birth midwifery and alternative care to my sisters of the Badlands, Black Hills, Powder River and Big Horn regions.

South Dakota families are lucky not only to have Jeanne provide them with midwifery services, but to attend a green star certified clinic.