Midwifery offers women the best of both worlds: strong medical skills combined with the care and concern that is the heart and soul of nursing. Certified Nurse-Midwives provide the care you want with the skills you need. Women all around the world are rediscovering the wonderful difference that nurse-midwives make in health care. Nurse-Midwives provide primary health care to women of all ages. This care includes evaluation, assessment, treatment, and referral to a specialist if required. Nurse-Midwives place emphasis on health promotion, education, and the

prevention of disease. Nurse-Midwives spend more time with you, answering your questions and addressing your concerns. They get to know YOU. When you seek sensitive, personal care - like reaching out for support from a best friend - you will experience the high quality care offered by a Nurse-Midwife.

I have been a nurse-midwife for ten years. I received my midwifery training through the graduate nursing program at East Carolina University and have a Master's Degree in Nursing, as well as my national certification as a Certified Nurse-Midife. Prior to midwifery school, I worked in Labor and Delivery as a nursing assistant, a Licensed Practical Nurse, and a Registered Nurse. I worked at Watauga Medical Center for seven years prior to graduate school and started their Maternal-Child Health Program. I have also worked in public health, working as a school health nurse and charge nurse of the Adolescent Clinic, as well as in mental health, working as a nurse in a long-term adolescent residential treatment program, and as a staff relief nurse for Hospice. Prior to nursing school, I was the director of the 4-H Wilderness Experience Program, a wonderful therapuetic recreation program for high-risk youth. I've also been a cook, a waitress, a bartender, a housekeeper, and a construction worker. My backround is very diverse. And I believe it is that diversity that makes me such a good nurse-midwife. My life experiences (separation and divorce, single parenting, struggling to make ends meet, my own childbirth experiences to name just a few) have taught me, first-hand, the wonderful gift of compassion and how much that can mean to another person, struggling just like I have and do and will.

I celebrated my 1000th delivery on January 4th of 2005. It was a wonderful, meaningful, gentle birth, and I wept like it was my first! It has been such a gift to be a part of every birth I've ever attended. A miracle to see, every birth renews my faith, my belief, and my strength.

But I do more than just catch babies!

The relationships that I have developed over the years with women who have come to me for their care, apart from pregnancy, have been as meaningful and rich to me. I see many women prior to and well-past the years of pregnancy. I love primary care. And I love spending lots of time with each woman I see for her annual physical and pap.

I hope to see you. If you have any questions for me or about me, or if you'd just like to come and meet me and see what I'm like, please feel free to call me and set up a time for us to meet. My office number is (828)265-5895.

I'll look forward to meeting you!

Lisa Stevens, CNM