Midwife Bio
Jharna Harvey-Ahmai
Jharna's first experience of homebirth was while attending a woman in Calcutta, India in the early 1980's. She was struck by the inability to tell who the midwife was, and who were the family members and supportive women of the neighborhood. At that time, Copenhagen Denmark was her home base and while there, Jharna experienced a culture where over 60% of the births were attended by midwives at home. Her interest and belief strengthened.
Jharna began her midwifery training in 1989 with direct entry midwife Elizabeth Mazanec at her school in New Hampshire. Realizing that she wanted to go further in her training she traveled to El Paso Texas where she trained at Maternidad La Luz. This clinic was located a mile from the Mexican Border and served that community of women. After returning back to Massachusetts a year later, Jharna practiced independently until joining River Valley Midwives in 1993.
In 1999, Jharna became a registered nurse. She specializes in psychiatric nursing and works as an RN at Brattleboro Retreat, a private non-profit psychiatric hospital. She has a background in massage, herbalism and homeopathy. Jharna is married and together she and her husband Bush I have two children who were born at home, several step-children and 2 grandchildren.
