The first step in solving a problem is understanding what the problem is. As Triana Boggs, APRN, CNM (Class 186), opened Motherland Birthing and Wellness LLC last year, she did so with first-hand knowledge of how it can help address the community’s needs.
“I became a teen mother at the age of 16 and experienced the worst of what the United States maternity care system is often known for,” said Boggs, who grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky. “Without knowing or ever having heard of the term midwife, after my traumatic birth experience, midwifery became my calling.”
The middle of three children, Boggs was raised by a single mother. With limited resources available, the family relied on government assistance for everything from housing to food to healthcare.
“My passion for community service and engagement stems from my childhood experiences of being a child in need,” Boggs said.
Boggs’ determination to one day help others meant she had to begin by helping herself. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Louisville in 2014. For the next five years, she worked as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, then enrolled at Frontier Nursing University to pursue a Master of Science in Nursing and to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife. She graduated in December 2021 and obtained the license and certifications needed to practice in Florida. She began working part-time in a community-based midwifery practice in Lakeland.
“In the state of Florida, CNMs are licensed as APRNs (advanced practice registered nurses),” Boggs said. “Nurse practitioners are required to meet certain requirements and physician supervision before being fully autonomous providers. As of April of 2023, I have met all of the requirements set by the Florida Board of Nursing and am now practicing as an autonomous licensed APRN. I am able to perform all women’s health services, including wellness exams, gynecological care, contraceptive counseling, inserting and removing contraceptive implants and devices, as well as obstetric care and newborn care up to 28 days of life.”
In the midst of the planning and fundraising leading up to the opening of Motherland Birthing and Wellness LLC , Boggs continued to work as a part-time homebirth midwife. In doing so, she grew her network with other healthcare providers and entities in the community.
“Working alongside great licensed midwives has helped me to establish a trusting relationship with local hospitals and obstetricians,” she said. “There are also several FNU alumni midwives who I stay connected with that have hospital privileges and work in supportive facilities.”
Looking to network and collaborate with other midwifery practices, birth workers, and hospitals, Boggs intends to have Motherland Birthing and Wellness join the Tampa Bay Birth Network. She was recently elected as a board member of the American Association of Birth Centers, where she is co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is also a regular attendee of the American College of Nurse-Midwives Florida chapter meetings.
In growing her network, Boggs also hopes to grow her business to help as many people in her community as possible.
“My practice will be supporting one to three home birth clients per month and servicing a large number of clients who wish to have prenatal and postpartum care only while planning to give birth at a hospital,” Boggs said. “Currently, I am the sole owner and practitioner in my practice and have hired two trained birthing assistants to support myself and clients during births. As my practice and needs in the community grow, I hope to hire a second midwife as well as accept students to precept for community birth experience. Any FNU student looking to gain more experience in community care is welcome at Motherland Birthing and Wellness.”
The process of opening her own practice was an arduous and time-consuming task, but Boggs jumped in with both feet, accepting the various challenges as she goes. Along the way, she continued to learn about running a business and how hers can become a central part of the community.
“As a solo owner and practitioner, time has been my biggest challenge,” Boggs said. “I have spent a great deal of time strategizing for funding, marketing, and learning the details of billing and how to run a business while still seeing clients in the office and being on call. My community has a great midwifery support system that answers questions and helps connect me with the right resources, so I am beyond thankful for them. To help overcome the challenge of funding for start-up costs and office space, I have also created a Kickstarter campaign where friends, family, and anyone in the community can donate.”
Boggs describes Motherland Birthing and Wellness as “a comprehensive community-based women’s health and maternity care service.” Services offered include home birth, prenatal and postpartum care, hospital birth support, annual wellness care, contraceptive counseling, as well as in-person and online childbirth education courses. Motherland Birthing and Wellness covers a large portion of the Tampa and Lakeland area, servicing both Hillsborough and Polk Counties.
Boggs chose Frontier because the online format worked well with her busy schedule, which included raising two small children while working full-time as a NICU nurse. She credits Frontier with helping her to begin to turn her dreams of opening her own practice into a reality.
“FNU offered an online and manageable curriculum that made life outside of being a student actually attainable,” Boggs said. “The support from FNU alumni and the positive reputation that FNU had, made the choice very simple. FNU prepared me to be resourceful and open to change. During the COVID pandemic, FNU showed me how to pivot and continue to learn in a non-traditional sense. In my current role, I am constantly finding new solutions and pivoting to what is necessary at the moment. I reference notes and resources from my studies at FNU to this day. The vision and goal of establishing Motherland Birthing and Wellness began as a FNU student. Being able to do a community assessment and research the needs of the community in NM700 really opened my eyes to the services that were in short supply, and I began to make a plan to be able to fill those needs. I felt very prepared after graduating and am proud to be an FNU alum.”
Since graduation, Boggs has continued her preparation. Her work in the community has helped her develop trust from other providers and her potential clients. Those connections have made her even more sure that having her own practice is what she wants to do and what the community needs her to do.
“There is a significant need in my community for midwifery care amongst low socioeconomic status populations, and my practice will help support and fill that need,” Boggs said. “As a black midwife, I am proud to market and encourage black and brown clients to seek care with Motherland Birthing and Wellness. I have noticed a large number of minority families looking for care from a provider with whom they can culturally identify. A large percentage of the clients that I anticipate seeing will be from marginalized ethnicities. We will also be one of only a small number of practices in the area that accept Medicaid insurance.”
While the short-term needs are apparent, Boggs stresses that she is interested in long-term solutions. She plans for Motherland Birthing and Wellness to bring about long-lasting change. Long-term goals would include hiring a family nurse practitioner, a licensed mental health counselor, and a second midwife.
“The goal is to create a safe space for the entire family to be cared for,” she said. “I would love for Motherland Birthing and Wellness to be a multi-disciplinary practice specializing in family health, mental wellness, and maternity care. The goal will be to coordinate care under one roof instead of having clients make multiple appointments and travel to multiple locations.”
Achieving that goal would mean a new perspective on healthcare within the community, creating greater access and more trust between provider and patient.
“Midwifery as a profession positively impacts maternal and child health outcomes as well as patient experience,” Boggs said. “Being a midwife is so rewarding in many ways. The joy that I feel being a part of someone’s birthing experience is indescribable. I love educating and empowering my clients to be experts in their own bodies and to feel comfortable and confident with collaborative decision-making. I also enjoy working with students and providing them with education to continue this much-needed work.”
Read more on a career in nurse-midwifery in Why should I become a nurse-midwife?
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Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).
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