Films offer alternative takes on childbirth

"Orgasmic Birth" will be screened Saturday, Feb. 28, at Camden Public Library and also in May at Belfast Free Library as part of series there.

At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, Morningstar Midwifery/Maternal Wellness Center of Belfast and Camden Public Library will co-sponsor a screening of the 2008 documentary "Orgasmic Birth" in the library's Jean Picker Room, Atlantic Avenue.

The 87-minute film will be followed by a discussion with the community and local birthing professionals. The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.






Joyous, sensuous and revolutionary, "Orgasmic Birth" brings the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see the emotional, spiritual and physical heights attainable through birth. The film features commentary by Christiane Northrup, M.D., and midwives Ina May Gaskin, Elizabeth Davis and other experts in the field; and stunning moments of women in the ecstatic release of childbirth.

Donna Broderick and Ellie Daniels are Certified Professional Midwives with Morningstar Midwifery and will be available, along with other local midwives, doulas and birth educators, to answer questions after the screenings.

"Americans are bombarded with images of birth as a scary, medicalized emergency. 'Orgasmic Birth' is one of a number of refreshing new films coming out that depict it as the safe, spiritual, joyful journey it can be when women get good support and care," said Broderick.

The community is invited to participate in the lively discussion to follow.

Three-part series at Belfast Free Library
Morningstar Midwifery/the Maternal Wellness Center also is sponsoring Other Images of Birth, a three-part spring film series, on the first Wednesday of every month, March through May. Screenings, along with community discussions, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays March 4, April 1 and May 6 in the Abbott Room of Belfast Free Library, 106 High St. All events are free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

The first event in the series will be a local birth "Artivists" Night on March 4, with a film and poetry reading by two Belfast birth artists and activists followed by a moderated panel and community discussion.

The film shown will be "ROAR" (2009) by local filmmaker and homebirth mother Nicolle Littrell, who created the 13-minute work as a video meditation on the state of birth and a call for change. The female voice is at the center as interviews with Maine midwives and legislators are interwoven with stunning homebirth footage.

The film will be followed by a brief poetry reading of birth poems by Arielle Greenberg, a Chicago-based poet who is currently in Belfast, working on an oral history of the new back-to-the-land movement and a consumer’s guide to working with midwives. Greenberg is the author of two poetry collections and co-editor of two poetry anthologies. There will be plenty of time for discussion afterward.

The second event will be a screening of the 2008 feature-length documentary "Pregnant in America" on April 1. Shocked by the greed of U.S. hospitals, insurance companies and medical organizations, filmmaker Steve Buonagurio and his wife Mandy set out to have a natural home birth in a world where everything is anything but natural. The film is entertaining as it is educational and is high on emotional content.

The final event will be another showing of "Orgasmic Birth" on May 6.

The Maternal Wellness Center, located at 111 High St. in Belfast, was created last winter with the mission of creating a community-centered, accessible and secure center for multiple uses associated with pregnancy, birth, women’s wellness, parenting support and health and wellness for babies and children. For more information, call Arielle Bywater at 338-0708 between 1 and 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Health Care Options for Recent Graduates

By Janet Aschkenasy
Herb Daroff recently received some very welcome news from his son, who graduated from college three years ago.

“Dad, I finally got health insurance!” he told his father, a certified financial planner at Baystate Financial Planning in Boston.

Daroff’s son has been working as a freelance film editor since he graduated from college in 2005. He had found securing health insurance elusive, to say the least.

That’s hardly surprising, since many employers, including those hiring workers full-time, have been increasingly cutting back on health insurance expenditures. Indeed, the median individual deductible for health insurance coverage required by small and medium sized employers (those with less than 500 employees) offering the most popular kind of health plan doubled last year, rising to $1,000 in 2008 from $500 in 2007, according to Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans.

Back in 2000, only about 50% of employers imposed a preferred provider organization (PPO) deductible, versus 80% today, says Mercer, and when they did the median was just $250.

Recent grads are especially feeling the pinch.

“More and more you’ll find kids who…need to get their health insurance on their own,” says Daroff. Employers are not paying anywhere near as much of the premium as they used to, and there are fewer perks like dental insurance, he says.

Regular Plans, Large Deductibles
One of the Mercer findings its consultants found startling was that the high deductibles were being imposed on traditional PPOs, the sort where you can visit any doctor or facility you wish so long as it is part of a preferred network of providers. PPOs are the most popular type of health plan, says Mercer.

Mercer also found an increase in the number of so-called consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) being offered by employers. Often, an employer will couple a high-deductible plan with a tax-advantaged account from which the consumer can pay qualified medical expenses of the account holder and his or her spouse, or dependents. You put money into your own individual health savings account (HSA) tax free, and funds are not taxed when withdrawn for qualified medical expenses. In 2008, CDHP were offered by 20% of employers with 500 or more employees, up from 14% in 2007.

How Recent Grads Can Get Coverage
What’s encouraging about these trends is that freelancers and part-time workers without employer-sponsored health plans can use these strategies on their own to minimize costs and purchase at least a minimum level of health protection for a fraction of the cost of first-dollar insurance.

Most any bank can help you set up an HSA from which you can fund health expenditures tax free, often by using a debit card