Heath Beat: Cynthia Stapleton

Mention the name Cynthia Stapleton, the island’s quintessential midwife, to any number of local women, and you get a response.

"Stapleton, Stapleton, I’m having a breakdown," Ron Gabrielson recalls his wife Courtney yelling, to which he says, Stapleton calmly replied, "No, you’re having a baby."

The stories are numberless. Stapleton is a household name. In fact, the Labor and Delivery unit at Schneider Regional Medical Center bears her name, reflecting a resolution passed by the Senate last year honoring her 35 years of dedication.

Overheard last week in a phone conversation, Stapleton is still at it.

"No, darlin’," she says, "you can’t have labor induced at 38 weeks. Now, you can come in, and we’ll be happy to put you on the monitor, but maybe you should visit the clinic first."

She pauses, "Well, it’s good you’re doing all that reading, but no, no, no, you can’t take castor oil not at all. You wouldn’t want to end up on the toilet and hear a plop. You’d never forgive yourself."

Stapleton ends the conversation with a knowing smile, and instructs her staff that she’ll be in the birthing room.

The room is pretty, peaceful and efficient in its appointments. It’s the obvious colors of pink and blue, has lights that can be muted, a blue scale that sings Happy Birthday, a radiant warmer for the baby, a labor/delivery bed, a monitor that spits out a tape displaying heartbeat, blood pressure and contractions, and a comfortable chair for dads, so "they can be part of the birth."

There is one thing, however, missing today. "We don’t get the joy, the excitement of telling the mother if it’s a girl or boy," she says.

Stapleton punctuates her conversation with references, albeit fond ones, to the old Knud-Hansen Hospital, where she got her feet wet.

"We had two labor rooms, three beds separated by sheets hanging down."

"I love this room now, its ambience," she says, indicating a comfortable chair.

Though officially retired since 2009, Stapleton fills in whenever needed. She is relaxed, funny, gracious and more than willing to talk about her passion for midwifery, the road she has traveled, and the folks she has met along the way

Born in Nevis into a family of nine, she had an early taste of birthing.

"In Nevis then you had the first child at the hospital, then the rest at home until you reached six. Then back to the hospital for the rest," she says. "When I was born I was told I was very premature and I decided, someday I’m going to take care of babies, I’m going to deliver people."

"That’s the reason why I’m so passionate," she says "It’s what I was born to do."

Stapleton moved to St. Thomas in 1968, attended the then College of the Virgin Islands, graduating with a degree nursing in 1970, and began her career at the old Knud-Hansen Hospital. She went to the University of Jamaica in 1973 earning her midwife credentials, following that in 1974, when she earned her certification at the Booth Medical Center in Philadelphia.

She laments the island’s lack of midwives.

"I always encourage the nurses to continue their training," she says. "But, it can be expensive, and we don’t have a scholarship program, though nurses can apply for a grant from the Bennie and Martha Benjamin Foundation."

The unit has four full-time midwives, one part-time, eight to 10 registered nurses, and three nurse assistants.

"All the mothers all come to us," Stapleton says. "We make a birthing plan. We always have a doctor on call, if it isn’t a private patient, and a neonatologist on call for premature births. The mothers fall into high-risk or low-risk categories. As long as the birth is fine, no complications, we do the delivery. We have a midwife, a nurse assistant, clinical care coordinator."

However, there can be complications, Stapleton says.

"If we get a mother we have never seen before, no clinic record, for instance, an immigrant mother, afraid to come to the clinic. We have to test for HIV –that can be done in 20 minutes – we have to have a respiratory technician on hand, take every precaution."

Reflecting on her deliveries Stapleton under-plays her record.

"I quit counting after 3,000," she allows.

Stapleton gets to a subject dear to her heart.

"We have the one perfect birthing room, and these six tiny rooms," she points out taking a walk down a hallway, which backs the rooms. "This is all wasted space," she says. "The rooms could be extended out here. We really need the funding to build."

Stapleton has three children: Michelle, James and Jerel. She remains active in the community, currently chairing the V.I. Board of Nurse Licensure, where she has served for decades.

Dr. Wilbur Callender may have summed it up best when he spoke at the Labor and Delivery unit naming ceremony.

"For 26 years she served as head nurse of the unit, while the physicians had a revolving door," Callender said. "We had at least six chiefs, but Mrs. Stapleton always stayed on the job. I never saw anyone who could stay here so long, hour after hour, taking care of patients, and I describe her as being altruistic, benevolent, caring, dedicated, eager, fair-minded, gentle, hardworking…"