Creating a nontoxic work environment
Bellingham Birth Center has 200-plus precious reasons to be green

By Judith Sult

Whoever doesn’t want fewer sick employees and absences raise your hands. My bet is that no hands are up.
You all have heard the research that shows that a nontoxic environment reduces headaches, illnesses and, most important to employers, reduces absences. Consider green alternatives when it’s time to repaint your office or spruce up the landscape.
Catriona Muro and Christine Gibbs of Gentle Hands Midwifery have a lot of reasons to keep a nontoxic environment. As founders of the Bellingham Birth Center that serves Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties, they want to be sure that the little miracles born at the center have the healthiest possible start in life. From the physical environment to the actual birth, they consciously create a nontoxic, noninvasive experience for baby and mom.
The Bellingham Birth Center was founded in July 2004 in response to a growing community need for a safe, comfortable place for natural childbirth. Through serendipity, Catriona and Christine connected with Northhaven Realty, whose owners were ready to sell their office at the corner of Cornwall and Alabama. They purchased a 1926 home on a double lot with enough parking for the birthing mother and visiting family members. An added feature was the wheelchair ramp already in place.

Green Remodel
Once they had the property it was time to remodel from an office space back to a home environment. The women rolled up their sleeves and with the help of family, friends and professionals, began the task of creating a nontoxic and sustainable remodel. They used “advance framing,” a technique that uses less wood in the non-load-bearing interior walls. Instead of spacing the studs 16 inches on center, they spaced them 24 inches on center, using one-third as much wood. Much of the wood from the old walls was cleaned up and reused, as were the original tiles from the bathroom. The original hardwood floors were sanded and refinished to a beautiful glow that shows off a wonderful pattern in the entryway. The crown molding was another treasure they were able to preserve. Much of what they couldn’t save was taken to ReStore and some of the new or replacement items they needed were found there.
“The most important consideration for hiring contractors was that they are members of Sustainable Connections. A-1 Builders did a lot of the framing, Favinger handled the plumbing, and Hulford the electricity,” Catriona told me.
Not bad. So far they’ve used less wood, and reused and recycled original materials.
“We selected Bona nontoxic floor refresher products from Bellingham Mill Works for the floors. It was important that the floor be low-maintenance and could stand up to heavy use. There’s a lot of traffic in the waiting room with pacing family members and young children who play hard and might spill juice,” Christine explained.
They chose nontoxic Harmony paint from Sherwin Williams. I stopped by the store to compare prices and found that the cost of the nontoxic paint is only a few dollars more per gallon than an equivalent conventional paint.
The result of their efforts is a charming home-setting for natural births. Each of the two private bedroom suites has a large bathing tub and private bathroom. There are no residual oders or toxins.

Sustainable Practices
The midwives are committed to sustainable practices on every level. Midwives are guided by the principal that pregnancy and birth are normal healthy events in a woman’s life. A center or home birth requires less personnel and equipment so the overhead and impact on the environment is lower.
While using appropriate technology to ensure the mother and baby are safe midwives make far fewer routine medical interventions. Fewer interventions mean they use fewer medical supplies and create little waste.
“We’ve even resurrected an autoclave from the 1930s,” Christine told me.
A natural birth avoids pain medication. Large birth tubs are available to relieve pain during the labor and birth process. Oxygen and resuscitation equipment is in each room if a need arises.
Laundry is done with biodegradable soap in a high-efficiency washer that uses 25 gallons of water less per load than a top-loading washer. Instruments are sterilized with very hot water and bleach, which breaks down easily. They use no chemicals in the garden and don’t water in the summer.
The office paper they use that comes from NW Computers called Harbor/100,” is made with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content, made with renewable energy, and is chlorine free.

Sustainable, successful
The sustainable philosophy and practices of the midwives at Bellingham Birth Center help keep the costs reasonable. The care starts with prenatal visits that each last about one hour to ensure there is time for the mother-to-be to ask questions and for the midwife to suggest learning resources. After the birth, midwives follow-up with eight weeks of post-partum care – home visits for the first week, and then weekly office visits. Private insurance and Medicaid generally cover the approximate $4,000 charge for the Center, or $3,000 at home.
Three licensed midwives share the Bellingham Birth Center with Catriona and Christine; Ann Tive of Birthroot Medwifery, Winnie McNarmara and Michelle Antonich of Skagit Natural Family Medicine. The five midwives assist in approximately 10 to 15 births per month at the center and additional home births. From 2004 to 2006 there were 100 births at the center. From 2006 to November 2007 they reached the 2nd 100 births. According to birth records, approximately 10 percent of Whatcom County births occur at the Birth Center.

Creating a nontoxic environment
As the demand for green products increase, the cost for most products is becoming comparable to regular products. Whether you rent or own your space here’s how to freshen up your office (or home) environment:
• Use nontoxic paint.
• Refinish woodwork with nontoxic products.
• Refinish floors or replace with sustainable products.
• Use biodegradable cleaning products.
• Remove toxins and mold in old walls and flooring.
• Plant native plants that need little watering and no chemicals.


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