ICAN is excited to announce Serena Lynch as our newest Chapter Leader!
“A woman’s autonomy needs to be respected and she needs to be encouraged to not only look at the statistics but to also listen to her intuition.” ~ Serena Lynch, ICAN of the Twin Ports
Please introduce yourself to ICAN:
I grew up in Northern Minnesota and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2005 to attend midwifery school. I began midwifery school in 2008 at Birthingway College of Midwifery and graduated in 2014. For many years I did not see myself ever moving back to Minnesota, but to my surprise, things shifted for me and I could not get back here soon enough. I love Minnesota – I love this land, I love this amazing lake, and I feel like this community is beginning to be open to new ideas around health and lifestyle.
I find my zen in the kitchen and being out in nature. I love good food, and I love supporting our local economy by supporting our small farmers. All things related to mamas, babies, puppies, food, and being an advocate for our planet and the next 7 generations, are my passions. Fun fact…I lived in a tiny house for 2.5 years; 112 sq feet with no running water or bathroom. I am now an apartment dweller for the time being, but I continue to work towards my dream of living off-grid someday.
What led you to join ICAN?
I am a homebirth midwife, so I have known about ICAN for several years. While starting my homebirth practice, I was doing some research and realized there was not an ICAN group here in this area. I wanted to see this great resource available to my community, so I began the steps to make that happen.
I am the most excited about this ICAN Chapter being a resource for our community! It is important to me that families are getting family-centered care while having their autonomy respected, and that they are being encouraged to make informed decisions.
How do you share ICAN as an organization with others?
In this community…that it exists!! I have had a couple of women in this community ask me what ICAN is because they have never heard of it. This shocked me!
Where will you be serving families through ICAN?
Northeast Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin. Families have more options now!! Their access to homebirth is growing rapidly and both of the hospitals are now Baby-Friendly as of this year. In the last year, our community went from one homebirth midwifery practice to seven!
Please share your upcoming Chapter meeting:
TBD
Congratulations, Serena!
