Healthcare Advocate

I am passionate about equity in healthcare. This means equity in choice and accessibility. It means rebuilding systems that promote wellness of the healthcare workforce. It means empowering patients and communities to express their needs and navigate through the systems of care that can sometimes be confusing. Wealth inequalities, racial and ethnic-based disparities, discrimination against folks who are LGBTQ+, geographic barriers, disability-driven inequities and more contribute to overall poor satisfaction with the healthcare system and healthcare outcomes. 

I am part of the change we need -- and I'm looking for others to join me. I want to balance out our resources and focus in on humane care that promotes well-being for the communities who access the services and those who provide them. 

I have experience in a variety of healthcare management settings. I have managed clinics and hospital financial staff. I hold an MBA from the University of Scranton in Healthcare Management and a BA in Health Care Administration from Mary Baldwin University. And I am a certified medical practice executive (CMPE, through Medical Group Management Association).

I also have experience in federal grants management and program administration. I am currently working with two HRSA Rural Health Network Development grants through my role with Wilderness Health. The goals of these grants include bringing increased access to quality care through telehealth and mental health care coordination.

You can read more about my passion for equal access to healthcare in advocacy essays like this one, from the Duluth News Tribune ("Local View: Doulas are an important part of birth teams").





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Untitled and Unsure: Phases of Parenting and Becoming

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I've been thinking a lot about pregnancy, birth, and new babies. This goes with the territory when you're a doula.  Thinking, researching, listening, holding space for my clients. But right now I feel like I'm headed over the edge of a cliff because my own babies are growing up. You know that feeling right before you fall? (You may be especially familiar with this feeling if you live in Minnesota and have ever tried to walk down a hill after freezing rain.)  That's where I am. It's every parent's goal to see their children grow up healthy, happy, learning and adventuring. Right? Yes! But I never, for one moment, thought about this time of my life until it sneaked up on me. I spent a lot of time living in each high intensity moment -- starting with keeping a newborn alive, moving on to shuffling three kids to sports and dance and school, then walking side by side with them as they entered adolescence.  Then, Juliana married Landon this past spring.  Next she grad
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Centering Women of Size in Birth - "Talk to me, not at me"

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Birthing women and people of size deserve no less than to be respected, honored, and wholeheartedly supported during their pregnancy and postpartum experiences. Pregnant women with higher body mass index (BMI) may be discriminated against. They may be presented with a barrage of anticipated risks rather than getting individualized support when seeking health services. BMI has (finally) been taken down a notch in the medical community, at least “on paper.” The American Medical Association published a new policy in June of 2023 that aimed to clarify the role of BMI. They called out “historical harm,” “use for racist exclusion,” and other limitations of the measure. In BMI We Trust, Reframing the Body Mass Index as a Measure of Health , medical sociologist Iliya Gutin argued that we should use BMI as only part of a holistic view of health, recognize its limitations, and be more flexible about its interpretation.  But how do people of size actually feel when seeking health services? I am
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Surviving and Thriving a Pregnant Summer (and a little bit on climate change)

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In the summer of 2006 I was in my third trimester with baby Charlotte and living in South Carolina. We were near Charleston in a small town in Berkeley County and it was oppressively hot. Out of curiosity today I looked up the weather reports from that time. The South Carolina State Climatology Office published a summary of weather trends by month for that year. The report says "South Carolina baked the first week of August." A nearby Berkeley County town apparently reported 103 degrees on August 3. The report indicates that tropical storms followed not too long after that, which is typical for the region that time of year. Charlotte (who now goes by Caedyn) was born on September 21. I remember intense fatigue -- more so than with Juliana who was born on New Year's Eve. I became dizzy immediately anytime I walked outside (to be fair, I've never been great with heat so that's not so out of the ordinary). The heat and humidity formed a solid wall, and I had to face
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