October 4, 2015: 1:15pm – 2:30pm
Join us in this session aimed at optimizing collaboration among physicians, nurse-midwives and other healthcare providers. Hear about the learned experiences of these providers and the value this provides for the consumer. Take home tips for making your team more effective.
*Live Streamed Panel Hosted by Frontier Nursing University
*Re-watch this live-streamed session from the American Association of Birth Centers Birth Institute
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Panelists Include:
- Jessica Illuzzi, MD, MS – Associate Professor and Medical Director at Yale School of Medicine
- Lesley Rathbun, MSN, CNM, FNP – Owner/Director of Charleston Birth Place
- Steven Calvin, MD – Medical Director at Minnesota Birth Center
- Vikki Bennett, ARNP, CNM – Clinical Director at Breath of Life Birth Center
- Joan Brickhouse, BFPC, ICCE
Moderated by:
- Tonya Nicholson, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC, CNE – Associate Dean of Midwifery and Women’s Health at Frontier Nursing University
Panelists
Jessica Illuzzi, MD, MS – Associate Professor and Medical Director at Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Illuzzi, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, completed her OB/GYN residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She is the Medical Director of the Vidone Birthing Center at Yale-New Haven Hospital, a collaborative midwifery and obstetric model of care currently delivering care to about 1000 women and families per year and serving a teaching site for both Yale midwifery students and OB/GYN residents. Dr. Illuzzi was a Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholar supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Development. Her current research focuses on examining models of maternity care and their impact on maternal and neonatal outcomes and cost, especially among low risk women. Dr. Illuzzi also serves as Director of Medical Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology and regularly lectures, leads seminars, and is actively involved in curriculum design with strong emphasis on evidenced-based teaching in reproductive health.
Lesley Rathbun, MSN, CNM, FNP – Owner/Director of Charleston Birth Place
Lesley Rathbun is dual certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Certified Nurse Midwife. She is the owner and director of Charleston Birth Place. Ms. Rathbun graduated in 2004 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and has attended over 1,000 births in her career as a midwife. Prior to becoming a midwife she worked as a RN in all areas of women’s health including labor & delivery, neonatal intensive care, childbirth education, surgical assistant, outpatient OB/GYN clinic, and an Amish birth center. Ms. Rathbun is a member of American College of Nurse Midwives, The Midwife Alliance of North America, and the American Association of Birth Centers and serves as their current President. She is active in legislative efforts to increase access to midwife led birth centers for all families.
Steven Calvin, MD – Medical Director at Minnesota Birth Center
Steve Calvin is a boarded certified physician specializing in OB/GYN and Maternal-Fetal Medicine. In 2012 he founded the Minnesota Birth Center, an independent birth center practice with nurse midwife colleagues. He has been in active clinical practice for 35 years and believes that healthcare reform should start where we all did — with pregnancy and birth. High value maternity and newborn care delivers excellent clinical care to satisfied mothers at a reasonable cost. This requires collaborative teams of midwives, advanced practice nurses, doulas and physicians.
Vikki Bennett, ARNP, CNM – Clinical Director at Breath of Life Birth Center
Vikki joined the Breath of Life team in March of 2011 after graduating from FNU. Having worked in cardiology and high-risk obstetrics, she became interested in midwifery and women’s health after participating in several overseas medical mission trips to Honduras and Haiti. Her desire to provide safe, effective, and empowering care to women and families in an evidence-based, low-tech, family-centered environment led her to pursue midwifery in the birth center setting. Vikki loves partnering with clients for their optimal health and birth experiences and greatly enjoys working in a setting where her faith and her love of midwifery collide in beautiful fashion. When she’s not at the center, Vikki thoroughly enjoys a good cup of coffee, reading and journaling, fishing, traveling stateside and abroad, and spending time with her beloved friends and family.
Joan Brickhouse, BFPC, ICCE
Mrs. Brickhouse is a mother of three and a consumer of The Family Health and Birth Center. She has served as a health professional for over nine years as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, a Community Health Worker and an International Certified Childbirth Educator. Mrs. Brickhouse remains active in the community through conducting community outreach programs and events.
Moderator
Tonya Nicholson, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC, CNE – Associate Dean of Midwifery and Women’s Health at Frontier Nursing University
Tonya Nicholson, DNP, CNM, WHNP- BC, CNE is the Associate Dean of Midwifery and Women’s Health for Frontier. She has a rich history with FNU as a 1999 graduate for midwifery, the first DNP graduate in 2009, and a WHNP graduate in 2011. Tonya served the women of central Florida in full scope practice from 2000-2006 where she also directed the midwifery service. In 2006, she joined the Frontier faculty and then became the Program Director in 2010. She has a variety of teaching experience, but the majority has been focused on the prenatal period and in clinical courses. Tonya is very interested in communication and civility at the individual and institutional levels and focuses most of her scholarship in this area.
Tonya describes her passion for teaching as “an extension of my passion for midwifery. I love to be at the side of a woman as she becomes a mother and at the side of a student as she/he becomes a midwife.” She considers her primary area of expertise as communication and care of teens. She was a youth pastor for 10 years before becoming a midwife and feels that those skills of compassion, truth-telling and sincere concern for others provides the framework for her practice as a clinician and as an educational administrator.