UC Davis Medical Center seeking more volunteer doulas
SACRAMENTO — UC Davis Medical Center has an interesting request when it comes to volunteers. They're asking for doulas to help with childbirth.
If you don't know what a doula is, don't worry. Neither did I.
"A doula is a person who does one-to-one labor support," Cheryl Patzer said. "So your nurse and your doctor, they come in and they come out. They have a lot of different things to do. The doula is right next to you the whole time."
Patzer is a volunteer doula with UC Davis Medical Center. The retired nurse said women helping women through childbirth has been around literally forever, but the specific role of a doula has really caught on over the past decade in the United States. Shifts can be anywhere from 8-16 hours.
"(Doulas) help have things be calm,, help her cope with the discomfort of labor, so a lot of massages," Patzer said of the ways doulas help women in childbirth. "And then a lot of helping them figure out how to help that baby move down."
Volunteers like Patzer are valuable on a number of levels because doctors and nurses continue to be stretched thin, which is a point that was highlighted by Carmela Coyle, president of the California Hospital Association who also is featured in our California 2030 series.
"We've got some 33% of all doctors who are going to retire in the next five years and about a half a million workers who are going to leave California in the next two years," Coyle said.
Patzer said a lot of people are qualified to do this, and the rewards are endless.
"It just has been super rewarding, and it's great to see patients at the end of the day say that was a great experience," Patzer said.
No prior experience is necessary. Volunteers take a two-day labor support class and it requires a six-month commitment.