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Retired nurse appointed to state committee

Panel to look at licensing of professional midwives

By PETER WILLIAMS

Managing Editor

A retired Beaufort County nurse has been appointed to the N.C. House
Select Committee on Licensing Midwives.

House Speaker Joe Hackney appointed Ginny Williams to the position
last month.

The committee is charged with studying the needs of North Carolinians
who choose to give birth at home and is to consider whether to allow
the licensing of Certified Professional Midwives.

Williams is a retired registered nurse. She worked as a delivery-room
nurse for many years before going to work for the Beaufort County
Health Department. She is vice chairwoman of the Beaufort County Board
of Health.

"I'm excited about the appointment," Williams said Friday in a brief
interview.

Williams entered the nursing profession after she graduated from high
school.

"I got out when one of my patients died of cancer," she said. "I
figured I couldn't stand it, but when my mother died of cancer, I
found out I could."

In 2003, the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics reported there
were 11,513 babies delivered by certified nurse midwives. Currently,
the certified professional midwife status is not licensed in the
state.

Williams, wife of state Rep. Arthur Williams, already serves on the
state commission that encourages the donation of organs.

State Rep. Bob England, a physician, and state Rep. Marian McLawhorn
of Pitt County will co-chair the committee. Becky Bagley of Pitt
County also was appointed to the 12-member committee.

The committee co-chairs will set the meeting dates for the committee.
The committee is expected to submit a final report in December.