Shannon Long, a certified midwife with a doctorate in nursing, has thought about opening her own freestanding birth center for years. After working in hospitals for more than two decades, Long said she wanted to get away from policy-driven care.

“There's a population of people out there that don't feel comfortable delivering at home, and they really don't want to deliver in a hospital, so the birth center is a good fix for those people,” Long said.

Long, who lives in Danville, imagines a house with a living room and kitchen, where each patient has their own bedroom. She said she would want her birth center to have its own backyard and have an open feeling, even if it's close to the city.

“Just kind of make it look like home,” Long said.

Kentucky doesn’t have any birth centers that aren

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