Seated: Ann Marie Raffis, Dr. Michael Gyves, Leslie Stroud, Iola Pustelnik
Standing: Celina Cunanan, Katherine Austinson, Ellen Margles, Rachel Kay, Debra Hanson, Pamela Hetrick, Gretchen Mettler, Elizabeth Ruzga
The Division of Nurse-Midwifery at University Hospitals MacDonald Women’s Hospital employs 10 certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and one women’s health nurse practitioner (WHNP) who hold faculty appointments at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Our certified nurse-midwives are master’s-prepared nurses educated in the two disciplines of nursing and midwifery. In addition, they hold national certification and dual clinical appointments at the Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and the Department of Reproductive Biology at Case School of Medicine. The director of Case Western Reserve University’s nationally ranked nurse-midwifery education program is also a member of the Division of Nurse-Midwifery at UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital.
Comprehensive Care for All Women
Our midwives offer personalized, comprehensive maternity and gynecologic care to all women in the community, including those with limited access to medical services. The ambulatory gynecologic care we provide includes annual gynecological exams, treatment of gynecologic infections, contraceptive management and menopausal care. Obstetrical care by the midwives includes complete prenatal care, a family-focused labor and birth experience, postpartum management, as well as support and guidance in breastfeeding.
Specialized Services
Along with these traditional outpatient services, the midwives also offer an alternative method of group prenatal care and delivery called Centering Pregnancy, as well as individualized alternatives for low-risk, noninterventional management of labor and birth, such as hydrotherapy (the use of water for labor and/or birth). The midwives can also work closely with privately-hired doulas to optimize and support our patients’ birth wishes. We understand the need for women to have choices for their birth experiences and are strong supporters of women desiring a vaginal birth after a prior Cesarean section. In fact, we have a successful vaginal birth after Cesarean (VBAC) rate close to 88 percent.
Although most of our patients have low-risk pregnancies, close collaboration with UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital’s Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine provides women who have an increased risk of pregnancy problems with the most technologically advanced medical care combined with the trademark high-touch care of nurse-midwives. Our midwives strive to provide a birth experience that is the best of both disciplines.