About us

Familystart is a network of independent midwives and is registered as an association. Familystart supports families in the sensitive time before and after the birth of a baby. The midwives assist parents with advice and practical care. They have the mother’s health at heart and help the parents to feel more confident in looking after their baby.

To make sure that all families can benefit from midwifery care after leaving the hospital, Familystart has formed partnerships with the two maternity clinics in Basel (Women’s Health Clinic of the University Hospital Basel and Bethesda Hospital). As a client of these clinics, you benefit from a care guarantee: if you live in the Basel area, Familystart guarantees your access to postnatal care by a qualified midwife.

Learn more about the goals and values of Familystart in our mission statement:

Mission Statement Familystart, PDF, 31.3 KB

We want to offer integrated care to families with newborn babies. The services of the maternity clinic, medical specialists, midwives and Mother, Father/Parent Counselling should be coordinated and easy for families to organize. That is why we choose an interprofessional approach. What have we achieved so far?

• Data transfer from the maternity clinics to our midwifery network is secure and easy via a digital connection.

• We work closely with Mother, Father/Parent Counselling and the Basel section of the Swiss Federation of Midwifes. Our joint mission statement outlines our common approach, defines the guiding principles of our collaboration and clarifies handover processes.

• We foster our relationships and collaboration with the various professions involved in caring for families before, during and after birth through continuing education and direct contacts.

• The members of our board and expert committee come from a range of professions.

Familystart is set up as a non-profit association. All professions involved in the chain of perinatal care for families are represented on our board: gynecologists, midwives, pediatricians, lactation consultants and parent or mother/father counselors. There is also a parent representative on the board, lending voice to our target group, the client families.

At the core of Familystart is our network of independent midwives. The Familystart association has around 75 members. About 60 of these are active members of our midwifery network.

President

• Nathalie Kaufmann, midwife

Board members

• Maggie Frei Hänggi, parent representation, social educator
• Dr. med. Patrick Hetzel, pediatrician
• Christian Zysset, financial professional
• Michaela Schmidt Moser, midwife, lactation consultent IBCLC
• Silvia Zeltner, midwife, lactation consultent IBCLC
• Petra Abt, Elternberaterin Basel-Stadt Übersetzung resp. richtiges wort suchen

Management

• Dr. phil. Elisabeth Kurth, midwife, healthcare scientist

Mitarbeitende:

• Alessia Kiener, office
• Silvia Zeltner, Koordination Helpline und Hebammenvermittlung
• Monika Barth, Support und Beratung, Projekt SORGSAM

Midwifery network

50 independent midwives in Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft

• Organizational chart of the Familystart board, PDF, 77.1 KB

The members of our expert committee come from the following disciplines: obstetrics, pediatrics, public health and midwifery.

• PD Dr. med. Nicole Bürki, Fachärztin FMH Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe, Basel

• Dr. med. Bernd Gerresheim, Chefarzt Geburtshilfe und Pränatalmedizin, Bethesda Spital Basel

• Dr. med. René Glanzmann, Stv. Leiter Neonatologie, Universitäts-Kinderspital beider Basel

• Dr. med. Klaus Hildebrand, Präsident GYNAECOBA, Facharzt FMH Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe
• Prof. Dr. med. Irène Hösli, Chefärztin Geburtshilfe und Schwangerschaftsmedizin, Frauenklinik, Universitätsspital Basel
• Lucia Mikeler Knaack, Frei praktizierende Hebamme FH, MAS Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention, Landrätin Baselland, Gemeinderätin Bottmingen,
• Dr. sc. nat. Irène Renz, Leiterin Gesundheitsförderung Baselland
• Dr. med. Marc Sidler, Facharzt FMH Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Binningen
• Dr. med. Eva Visca, Kaderärztin Geburtshilfe und Schwangerschaftsmedizin, Frauenklinik, Universitätsspital Basel, und Frauenpraxis Maternité, Reinach

Award of regognition

In 2014 Familystart received the prize of the Swiss Forum Managed Care. The prize is awarded for “outstanding contributions to the development and implementation of managed care and integrated care within the Swiss health care system”. The project was honored for its interprofessional cooperation with maternity clinics, mother/father counseling centers and medical services. The jury commended Familystart’s success in improving the coordination of care and guaranteeing access to care for all families.

fmc award 2014 - press release (in German), PDF, 69,4 KB

Many institutions have supported and still support Familystart with personnel and/or financial resources. Their valuable contributions enabled us to realize this pioneering project.

We thank the following organizations for their commitment:

• Institut für Hebammen, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften ZHAW (Link)

• Schweizerischer Hebammenverband, Sektion beider Basel (Link)

• Schweizerischer Hebammenverband (Link)

• Schweizerisches Tropen- und Public Health Institut, Basel (Link)

• Berner Fachhochschule Gesundheit, Disziplin Geburtshilfe (Link)

• Universitätsspital Basel (Link)

• Institut für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Basel (Link)

• Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing

• Elternberatung Basel-Stadt (Link)

• Gesundheitsförderung Baselland

• Swisslos-Fonds Basel-Landschaft

• Marie Anna-Stiftung zur Unterstützung kranker Kinder im Raum Basel

• Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige GGG, Basel

• Christoph Merian Stiftung

• Gesundheitsdepartement Kanton Basel-Stadt

Valuable work in the project team was done by: Sandra Aeby, Magdalena Brigger, Isabel Fornaro, Nathalie Kaufmann, Susanne Rodmann, Susan Rodriguez, Irène Roth, Sabine Ruch, Billen, Michaela Schmidt Moser, Silvia Zeltner, Elisabeth Kurth

The advisory committee that helped to develop Familystart is: Eva Cignacco, Cornelia Conzelmann, Dorothée Eichenberger, Beatrice Friedli, Elisabeth Zemp Stutz

We also thank all midwives cooperatives who shared their knowledge and experience with us. Special thanks goes to “Arcade Sage-Femmes” in Geneva, which served as a model for our endeavor.