Acerca de Nosotros

The Community Doula Program was developed in partnership with InterCommunity Health Network Coordinated Care Organization to provide culturally, socially, and linguistically matched doula care to medicaid families in Oregon. Having trained over 150 doulas to become state certified Traditional Health Workers, the program has received over 1,400 referrals. Our focus on decreasing maternal health inequities by our most underserved families has already shown decreased cesarean birth rates, higher breast feeding rates, and high patient satisfaction. We believe in building community solutions to our maternal health crisis in the United States, and are dedicated to sharing our experiences with families and communities looking to do the same.

Our Team Members

Rocio Badger

Board Member

Rocio Badger has supported mothers, babies, and families for more than two decades through childbirth education, postpartum and lactation care, and more, with a special focus on assisting Spanish-speaking families. She has served for 20 years as a Maternity Care Coordinator with Samaritan Health Services in both Albany (OR) and Corvallis, where she supports Spanish-speaking pregnant women and families. Rocio is an International Childbirth Education Certified Childbirth Educator, providing childbirth preparation classes in Spanish, and has been a Qualified Oregon Health Care Interpreter since 2020. She interprets for the Lactation Specialist, she completed the training as Educator for Evergreen Hospital Medical Center, WA. In 2012, Rocio founded Juntas Con Esperanza, a postpartum stress support group for mothers. She has provided marriage and family support as the coordinator of Familias Luminosas/Luminous Families at St. Mary’s Church, where she has volunteered on behalf of families for 29 years. Rocio holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Roman Languages/French from the University of Oregon.

Melissa Cheyney, PhD, LDM

Board President

Melissa Cheyney PhD, LDM is a Professor of Clinical Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) and a community midwife. She co-directs Uplift—a research and reproductive equity laboratory at OSU, where she serves as the Primary Investigator on more than 20 maternal and infant health-related research projects, including the Community Doula Program. She is the author of an ethnography entitled Born at Home (2010, Wadsworth Press), co-editor with Robbie Davis-Floyd of Birth in Eight Cultures (2019, Waveland Press), and author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed articles that examine the cultural beliefs and clinical outcomes associated with midwife-attended birth at home and in birth centers in the United States. In 2019, Dr. Cheyney served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Birth Settings in America Study and in 2020 was named Eminent Professor by OSUs Honors College. She also received Oregon State University’s prestigious Scholarship Impact Award for her work in the International Reproductive Health Laboratory and with the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Statistics Project. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care and the mother of a daughter born at home on International Day of the Midwife in 2009.

Peg Kriz, THW Doula

Director for Financial Accountability

Peg has been a part of the Community Doula Program since it began. As one of the first doulas trained in the program, she is committed to serving birthing families through doula care. Peg has run her massage business since 2008 and her doula business since 2018. She is excited to help lead the Community Doula Program now as an Interim Co-Director. “Supporting families and being present at such a major life transition is a huge honor. All families deserve that support, regardless of income.” In her spare time, you can find Peg hiking with friends and her dogs or being active with her family.

Ali Lape, THW Doula

Board Member

Ali Lape she/her/hers CPM, BS BioCultural Anthropology. I am a THW Doula, a doula with the Community Doula Program, a Peer Review Coordinator, and a member of the board. I am a student at OSU working on my MA in Applied Anthropology. I study the label high-risk and what it means to pregnant people and how it influences decision-making for their birth location. I live in Corvallis, OR and am mom to two teenagers.

Robin Murbach

Board Member

Robin Murbach is an active retiree with interests in travel, hiking, reading and volunteering. She lives in Albany Oregon with her husband, Tim and Tucker the cat. Robin has volunteered for many organizations over the years, including hospice, United Way, and Boulder PD victim’s advocate. Robin retired 5 years ago from Republic Services where she held many positions over twenty-two years, ending as an area director for three northwest states.

Valentina Sores, Doula and Home Visitor

Board Member

Valentina (Tina) ha trabajado con el programa de Familias Saludables desde 2017 y tiene Licenciaturas en Psicología. Tina tambien ha trabahado de maestra y con el programa de Intervención Temprana. Su primer idioma es el portugués. Ella aprendió inglés y español en los Estados Unidos. Tina está trabajando para obtener su certificación como Doula, y también es copresidente del Comité Asesor Hispano del Linn-Benton. (Linn_Benton Hispanic Advisory Committee) El Corazón de Tina se llena de felicidad cuando está sirviendo a su comunidad Hispana y trabajando con las familias del programa “Familias Saludables”. Su fortaleza está en la educación para padres y jardinería.

Ellen Tappon, CD (DONA), THW Doula

Director of Provider Relations and Client Services

Part of the Community Doula Program since its very first cohort, Ellen Tappon has been a Birth Doula with Community Doula program and in private practice since 2018. She is an Oregon THW Birth Doula and SBD doula as well as a Certified Breastfeeding Specialist. Ellen’s work centers birth justice, and she is passionate about supporting LGBTQA+, neurodivergent, plus-size, and VBAC parents, as well as supporting people around fertility, pregnancy and infant loss and advanced maternal age. She brings valuable skills in people management, team building, and process development to the CDP, built during a career with Hewlett-Packard. Her extensive volunteer and nonprofit experience includes roles in mental health, housing insecurity, and community organizing. In Ellen’s words: “I am dedicated to supporting birth diversity, life-long learning, giving back and supporting others, and community building. I appreciate honest feedback; every person I work with can teach me something and deserves the opportunity to be heard.”

Statement of Solidarity

“We can’t all be created equal, if we can’t get an equal start in life.”
- Michael Lu, physician and Associate Administrator of Maternal and Child Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services

To be a doula is to answer a calling to serve. The Community Doula Program is built on a commitment to care for all pregnant people who want an advocate by their side. We recognize that one of the legacies of enslavement is current widespread obstetric racism, both implicit and explicit, that can render Black families invisible. To mothers around the world who pour out their grief, for the thousands of Black children who have been harmed or killed by anti-Black racism, we see you. The CDP reaffirms our commitment to dismantling the systems that lead to birth inequities, mass incarceration and police brutality, for all lead to the same unacceptable outcome – an inequitable burden of preventable death and suffering. We acknowledge our collective responsibility for the structural and direct violence perpetuated against Black bodies, and we renew our dedication to support families as they bring their babies into the world. To mothers and parents everywhere, we hear your outrage and sorrow and stand alongside you as we envision and implement a more equitable future . . . one birth at a time.

We invite you to join us in the work and take one direct action step today: Donate to Sacred Root Doula, a program of the Black Parent Initiative. Learn more here.