This oral history interview was conducted with Tasha Allen on November 18, 2022 by Josephine McRobbie as part of the Duke Midwifery Service and Durham Maternal Health Oral History Project, which was funded by The Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund.
Duration: 00:57:23
During the interview, Allen discusses her early life as the child of a father in the Air Force; her education; early work as a Registered Nurse in pediatrics and as a school nurse; introduction to OB nursing at the Durham County Department of Public Health's Lincoln Community Health Center; the midwifery model of care; the Centering Pregnancy modality; public health nursing; developing a roadmap of resources; the Baby Love Program, now known as Maternal Support Services, which offers services to Medicaid eligible pregnant and postpartum clients; her passion for identifying resources and barriers to service; and the challenges of providing care to under-resourced communities. In this interview, Allen recalls a Centering activity where partners or other support people helped to paint a picture on the pregnant client's belly, describing expressive belly paintings that incorporated "big ol' UNC basketball logos" or "flowers and ballet slippers", and notes how this activity helped to bond parents to their upcoming arrivals. The themes of this interview include prenatal care, health education, and health disparities. Digital files include interview metadata and transcript (PDF), interview with stereo (WAV), interview with mono (MP3), consent form (PDF), an image (HEIC), and TXT files.