This page is to help give you the lay of the land in midwifery care, licensing, and state organizations in Hawaiʻi and on Maui.

Providers on Maui Island
Please see our Maui Directory for a list of Maui Midwives & Pale Keiki (not all midwives are listed there).

Please also see our list of sample interview questions at the bottom of the page linked above.

Pale Keiki: Native Hawaiian Midwife

Traditional midwives existed in every culture in every community around the world and was widely in use until the early 1900s.  There are traditional Native Hawaiian Midwives on island and throughout the state who utilize cultural knowledge, skills and practices to care for their community. If you are seeking care from a Native Hawaiian Midwife, please see our directory listing and look for Pale Keiki in their profile listing. Another resource is the Native Hawaiian birth workers group Kalauokekahuli.  More about Traditional Midwifery in Hawai'i. 

The Midwifery Model of Care

The Midwifery Model of Care is:

• A blend between art and science
• A women-centered approach
• Acknowledges the inter-connectedness & complexity of our environment, history, nourishment, physical & spiritual body and how they relate to one another to make up our overall well-being.

Image from Carol Gautchi, who is a Traditionally trained and licensed Midwife on the Washington Peninsula who developed and presented the framework for Classical Midwifery Care in the image above. 

Types of Midwives

There are several types of midwives, here is a list of acronyms to help you navigate.

Acronym Definitions

Pale Keiki: Native Hawaiian Midwife

CPM: Certified Professional Midwife

CNM: Certified Nurse-Midwife

DEM: Direct Entry Midwife

Doula: a Non medical support person during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum

LM: Licensed Midwife

LMT: Licensed Massage Therapist

Montrice: Offers support as a Doula but is also able to perform basic medical care under a primary midwife or doctor

ND: Naturopathic Doctor

RN: Registered Nurse

State-Wide Organizations

Hawaii Home Birth Collective

Midwives Alliance of Hawaii

Hawaii Midwifery Council

Papa Ola Lokahi

Midwifery Legislation

Midwifery was recently legislated by the State of Hawaii in May of 2019. The Midwives Alliance of Hawaii strongly supported the bill while The Hawaii Midwifery Council opposed it. The Pacific Birth Collective did not take a formal stance on the bill as it was being reviewed. As a collective, we felt it was important to hold a neutral space as we have members who both opposed and supported the bill. In retrospect, we can see now, though the intention of the bill was to increase access to home birth and midwifery care, it is setting a prescriptive course for who and how our community can access services and that cultural practitioners, lay midwives, and pale keiki are limited by this bill in crippling ways.

To view the bill, visit: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2019/bills/SB1033_HD2_.pdf

Short article from Civil Beat: https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/new-act-establishes-licensure-of-midwives/

Act 32 : Midwifery Law for Hawai'i