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Jaimie Martin brings a deeply personal passion and commitment to her role as Co-Director of the Doula Association of Vermont (DAV). Having lived her entire life in poverty and currently accessing Medicaid herself, she understands firsthand the barriers many families face in accessing quality maternal care.

 

Her journey into advocacy was profoundly shaped by her experiences of four traumatic births without doula support; ranging from an emergency cesarean at 17 years old in which doctors and nurses ignored her attempts at self-advocacy, to enduring abuse from nurses and a severe lack of support, a shoulder dystocia, and a harrowing experience of being forcibly removed from a labor tub and held down during crowning—resulting in her daughter’s arm being forcibly broken by the attending physician who had taken charge away from her OBGYN quoting “hospital policy” during her fourth delivery at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

These experiences starkly contrasted with her final birth, supported by a doula, which was her first empowering and compassionate birthing experience. Jaimie knows personally the effect of accessing doula care and how this can safeguard the birthing person in one of the most vulnerable positions that a human being can find themselves in. Point blank, she knows that this matters. 

 

These personal challenges, combined with her years of both advocacy and leadership, fuel her dedication to ensuring equitable access to doula care for all Vermont families. In her role at DAV, she focuses on creating frameworks that uplift doulas, promote Medicaid coverage, and address systemic inequalities - all with the primary goal of ensuring that poor birthing people remain centered in accessing equitable, compassionate doula care to improve maternal and family health outcomes across the state.