Oral history interview with Whitney Smith

Oral history interview with Whitney Smith

Whitney Smith discusses her experiences as a nurse-midwife at the University of Vermont Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the especially stressful period before vaccines were available. She describes the challenges her patients faced, including isolation and loneliness from not being able to have all family members present at birth. She also explains measures taken to protect patients and medical personnel. She notes specific risks from when a pregnant person was COVID positive (such as a greater likelihood of preeclampsia and growth issues for the baby) and mentions a study UVM conducted with placentas from anyone who had COVID during their pregnancy. Other topics from her interview include the vaccine hesitancy of some mothers, nursing staffing, and her own worries about getting sick.

Whitney Smith, NP, began as a nurse-midwife at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont, around 2016. She had previously worked at a freestanding birth center in Montana and had been employed as a midwife for nine years at the time of this interview in 2024. Prior to midwifery, she worked in other aspects of women's health and maternal health care, including postpartum nursing, lactation consulting, and family planning. She was also a labor and delivery nurse at UVM Medical Center.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2024-07-29

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-080

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Johnson, Mark

Smith, Whitney E.

58 min., 20 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215