Berwyn, Ill. – PCC Community Wellness Center (PCC) hosted the American Association of Birth Center’s (AABC) “How to Start a Birth Center” workshop on April 14-15 at the Double Tree Hotel in Rosemont. The two-day workshop addressed the many issues that need to be considered when exploring the development of a birth center.

The center’s midwives, Annette Payot, Mary Sommers, Mary Kay Ayers, and Jennifer Jaume talked about the PCC model of birth center care, provided statistics, and took questions from the audience. Of nearly 300 birth centers in the country, the Birth Center at PCC is one of only four birth centers associated with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and the only birth center to be established by an FQHC. After the presentation, workshop attendees were given a tour of the Birth Center at PCC.

Established by PCC in 2014, the Birth Center at PCC is the only home-like facility separate from the hospital in the Chicagoland area where low-risk women can give birth naturally, without pain medication. Mothers can labor and deliver their babies with the help of a certified nurse-midwife in one of the birth center’s two rooms that have full-size beds, birthing tubs, and birthing stools. Because the center is integrated into the health care system, mothers have access to physician consultation, and if needed, hospital care at nearby West Suburban Medical Center.

The Birth Center at PCC is located inside PCC South Family Health Center at 6201 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, IL 60402. For further information about the center, or to schedule an informational tour, please contact Mary Sommers at (708) 317-3035 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information about birth centers, or how to establish one, please visit the AABC’s website at http://www.birthcenters.org/.