Lycoming OB/GYN Nurse Midwifery Services

by Rosalie F. Kaleda, CNM

I first arrived in Williamsport in March of 1979 fresh out of midwifery school to begin my practice in an area that had no exposure to midwives and very little experience with family centered care in general. The practice I joined had four OB/GYN’s two of whom were very interested in nurse-midwives. The others I had to impress and convince.

The road ahead was daunting for midwives on March 5, 1979. While they entered full of excitement about the days ahead, they had a lot of people to educate about midwifery and prove their credibility to the entire hospital. In the early days, they worked 24 hour, seven day a week schedules with occasional weekends off, and still the going was meticulous.

They soon started the arduous process of applying for credentials to work in the hospital and deliver babies unsupervised. It took almost two years before even one was given unsupervised, limited privileges. The Medical Director at that time was very supportive and interested in midwifery. Patients were given letters explaining the role and function of CNMs, and given a choice to see a CNM or a physician.

A stagnant hospital maternity department was resistant to changes, but the CNMs began to work on getting fathers in labor and delivery, private labor rooms and a birthing room. They somehow managed to accomplish all of the above, and establish a wonderful program of prenatal classes, attract nurses very interested in providing the care patients wanted and received, and earned tremendous support from many family doctors in only five years. Most importantly, after working with only three nurse-midwives during this time, they soon grew to four.

“In the beginning we served not only privately insured clients, but became very popular with teens and many patients on medical assistance,” said Rosalie F. Kaleda, CNM, director of Lycoming OB/GYN Nurse Midwifery Services. “We’ve reduced the number of medical assistance patients we care for because the hospital has a residence program in Family Medicine with a strong OB component. They asked if we could direct most of those patients to them. We are now preceptors for the residents, with specific patients, so they can become familiar with midwifery care.”

“One of our biggest accomplishments was establishing a birthing room in 1983,” said Kaleda. “Other accomplishments: started a support group for post partum depression, provided obstetrical care to women in prison for six years, and participated in making a video with several of the women as part of ACNM’s “Listen to Women” project.”

“We are committed to providing an educational environment for our future colleagues and have precepted students for 21 years doing their integration experience in midwifery. As cultures change and more options become available, we continue to remain partners with our patients in meeting their needs in their journey of life.”

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