by Liz Riffle

Do you want to support military families? Is your business near a military base? Do you want to give something back to those who fight for our freedoms? Then join us at the ICEA 2018 Conference for a specialized Concurrent Session: The Distinctive Needs of Military Families Surrounding Childbirth. A newly expecting military family might be thousands of miles away from any close friends and/or family, they don’t have a typical support structure in place for this physically and emotionally momentous occasion. The armed services do offer military families a vast amount of information on topics surrounding childbirth and there are some wonderful assistance programs to take advantage of. However, military families need more than just handouts, online reading, discount goods, and care packages. They need in-depth childbirth education series—they need educational support from the prenatal period through the first few, crucial months of being a new parent. Listeners will understand the physical and emotional needs of newly expectant military couples and how they can offer childbirth education, doula services, and parenting preparation classes in support of these families’ distinctive needs. The dual military couple, the Lieutenants Riffle, will be presenting this topic on Friday afternoon! LT Jimmie Riffle is an active duty Navy Nurse Corps officer and currently a DNP student at the Uniformed Services Health University in Bethesda, MD. Jimmie has been serving our great country for over 16 years boat side and bedside. Liz Riffle recently chose to leave active duty service in order to pursue more maternal/child management and consulting opportunities, as well as to start their own family very soon. Liz was an active duty Navy Nurse Corps officer for six years, and is currently still in the Reserves. Register now to come dialogue with us regarding the opportunities surrounding this distinguished population on Friday afternoon at the conference!