LIHU‘E — Looking forward to “continuous nights of uninterrupted sleep,” Dr. Michael Ancharski of Kapahi, who has managed nearly 200 home and out-of-hospital deliveries of babies on Kaua‘i, said he is discontinuing that portion of his practice. A naturopathic physician
LIHU‘E — Looking forward to “continuous nights of uninterrupted sleep,” Dr. Michael Ancharski of Kapahi, who has managed nearly 200 home and out-of-hospital deliveries of babies on Kaua‘i, said he is discontinuing that portion of his practice.
A naturopathic physician who assisted in the delivery of 1,500 babies in his 30-year career, Ancharski is still seeing patients at the ‘Ohana Health Care Center on Kilauea Road in Kilauea and the Natural Health Clinic on ‘Akahi Street in Lihu‘e, he said in a press release and interview at The Garden Island office Wednesday.
Ancharski, 58, said he delivered at home all four of his children, including his oldest son, now 32, while still a medical student.
An instructor at naturopathic colleges on the Mainland, he is also trying to write a book on natural medicine.
“I’m not leaving a big hole, so to speak,” he said, but some people are going to miss him in his role as natural childbirth practitioner.
During his time in that capacity, he never lost a baby and was never sued, he said.
He has supervised several water births on the island, including some in the ocean, and on the Mainland delivered two generations of babies, he said.
Home-birthing is not for everyone, he said, and it is important for those choosing out-of-hospital births to make sure they take precautions and are well-screened and monitored throughout their pregnancies by their doctors.
A new study out of Europe concluded that, for well-screened patients, home delivery is actually safer than hospital births, he said.
The island has “good obstetric services available,” and Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital at the West Kaua‘i Medical Center in Waimea has brand-new birthing suites, he said.
“My first priority has always been the safety of mother and baby, using careful screening and conservative hospital referral when indicated,” he said.
“I was blessed to have never lost a baby in my career. My low-risk practice had a 7 percent C-section rate compared to local and national rates in excess of 30 percent,” he said.
“I rarely utilized drugs or procedures such as episiotomies, striving to keep the birthing process as natural as possible. I delivered mostly in home settings ranging from teepees and yurts to elegant estates including the governor of Oregon’s mansion.
“I attended many water births, including a few in the ocean,” said Ancharski. “I was amazed at the power of women in the birthing process and the first cry of a newborn entering the world never lost its magic.
“I’m most looking forward to continuous nights of uninterrupted sleep,” he said.
Since 2001, he managed around 175 home deliveries on Kaua‘i, the first being his youngest daughter Isabella, at the Cliffs at Princeville condominium complex where he lived at the time.
He also worked with many local midwives whenever they requested his assistance, he said.
After having assisted the delivery of 1,500 babies in a career spanning 30 years, Ancharski recently announced his retirement from obstetric practice.
He co-founded the Natural Childbirth and Family Clinic-Birthing Center in Portland, Ore., and worked with many of the pioneers in the natural childbirth/homebirth movement since the 1970s, including Drs. E. Ettinghausen, Gregory White, John Bastyr and Michel Odent, and natural childbirth educators Elizabeth Noble, Ina Mae Gaskin and Sheila Kitzinger.
Ancharski said he will now focus on the larger part of his practice, the prevention and treatment of chronic disease with alternative therapies including botanical and nutritional medicines, and is accepting new patients at both his Kilauea and Lihu‘e offices.
He will also continue to see pediatric patients.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
