VALENTINA LOPEZ
25 years | Santiago de Chile, Chile

“Once I finished high school I was lost in the void of decisions…I had no idea what I wanted to do in my life. I had a lot of pressure on me because I had really good grades. So my family was like: you can become everything…but you must be a doctor.” I took a year off and that’s when I found out that I could be a midwife. What really attracted me is that you get really close and accompany the women all their life. We are also doing family planning, so you will see them every year and they are not just patients, but people! I like getting to know the people I work with.

As midwives we have legal responsibilities in Chile and we are viewed as an authority. We provide services through the entire life cycle, from gynecological to family planning, neonatology and deliveries. So we see practically see women from birth until they enter the menopause.
“I am also a feminist – and of course you can be a feminist in every field – but I feel like being a midwife I can be in really close contact with the women and help them to empower themselves so they can take their decisions with all the right information.” Especially now that here in Chile we are trying to go back to a more natural delivery with less medication and hospitalization. When someone gets pregnant all decisions are taken away from you. We try to turn that around and make sure that women can take their own decisions. In Chile the birth is very medicalized. In the public health service the Cesarean section rates are around 50% and in private facilities they are up in the sky. Cesarean section rates even go up shortly before vacations – that is very common. The doctors don’t want to be woken up during the night. And it is also cultural: doctors tell women that the vaginal birth is very painful and the women are afraid and prefer to plan an operation instead.
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"I am also a feminist..."

Midwifery education in Chile is embedded at the University – I am at the Universidad de Chile - and you study for five years, whereas during the last year you conduct internships at the hospitals. You can indicate preferences but in the end the random generator online allocates where you do your internship. Due to COVID-19 however my internship got cancelled as all hospitals closed down for students. I was supposed to finish my studies at the end of this year - but now I am still waiting for my placement. We also had a “social revolution” in October last year – so some of my classmates are still finishing their fourth year. “So all is really messy – but we are doing it!”

I have always been good in working fast. But as a midwife you really have to be fast! You need to follow all steps but sometimes you need to take very quick decisions. That is still challenging at times. After the fourth year you are allowed to work clinically as a “technician”. Due to COVID-19 the hospitals were in desperate need of healthcare workers, so I started to work at a maternity while waiting for my internship to start. So many things were happening there! Emergency Cesarean sections, forceps, so many things – but it was the first time I did not have pressure to be a good student and I was not evaluated while doing my work, I was just working and I suddenly had responsibility. I gained a lot of confidence during this time!
“I have one teacher who is specialized in neonatology. She is so gentle. She is like a mother to everyone. And she knows a lot (…); and she is a really, really good teacher! I want to be someone as knowledgeable as her, but without forgetting the human side of medicine. (…) We have that issue here, that midwives sometimes forget that they are working with human beings. And they are cold to the people. And she wasn’t. That’s how I would like to be in the future and do not forget the human side.”
I don’t want to stop here but I would also love to get my Master degree and study abroad and maybe do some research or teach – but not full time. I always want to work as a midwife – and in my free time travel and climb mountains! 

Interview by Leah F. Bohle, 13 November 2020

Photo by Valentina Lopez