Salerno R. Email & Phone Number

Salerno is a new Deaf student midwife. She has five children, each with a very different birth story. From birth center waterbirth, hospital waterbirth, unassisted homebirth (Freebirth), and even an emergency cesarean at 35 weeks, she understands the need for women to have autonomy in their birth. She is also blessed with a bonus child she didn't give birth to. Salerno has wanted to be a midwife since her first child's birth over 13 years ago, but this wasn't in God's plans. Instead, she completed her studies and continued as a public school teacher for eight years before honing her leadership skills in nonprofit work. Salerno has since learned about advocacy and started to analyze her births and how the lack of communication access negatively impacted her pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experiences over the years. Salerno was hearing with her first daughter, lost her hearing after multiple surgeries, became hard of hearing before her second child, and then progressed to deaf before her third and fourth. All the while, she had to learn sign language to survive, teach her young children to communicate with her in a new language, and battle with hospitals and medical providers for proper access to healthcare due to language barriers for herself and her children. Within the last three years, Salerno has also served in a Doula capacity for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community across North Texas and, more recently, as a birth assistant with a local certified professional midwife who took a chance on her despite those language barriers and an incredible team birth assistant. Salerno has overcome an array of obstacles to healthcare as a deaf woman and understands the need for more representation in the birth world; this includes the Deaf. Being Deaf is only one of the multidimensional labels she accepts. In hopes of a safer birth for ALL women, she strives to bring awareness to inequalities and participate in safer and more equitable births. Please like, share, and support my business. Great new things are coming, I can't wait to find more ways to empower, educate, support, and advocate for moms in our Deaf Community.