RAMC acknowledges Year of Nurse and Midwife

The World Health Organization has named 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife in honor of the 200^th birthday of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale.

Reedsburg Area Medical Center is taking the opportunity to share its own stories of how local nurses and midwives make a difference.

Midwives are specially trained professionals who provide care to females from adolescence through menopause. Their tasks include care and management during pregnancy, labor and after birth. The term itself, midwife, means “with woman.”

Nurses are health care providers who collaborate with other medical professionals, including midwives, to help patients.

Nurses in the RAMC Birth Center care for childbearing women and families, offering individualized, compassionate and safe birth experiences.

One long-time provider is Debbie Adams, who began her nursing career at RAMC in 1982. She later received her nurse practitioner license in 1997 and began seeing patients in the clinic. In 2005, she became a certified nurse midwife and has held that title ever since.

She said she moved to the Reedsburg area when she was 10 years old. She and her husband, Andy, have raised three children here.

“Many people derive a great deal of comfort from being cared for by a familiar face,” she said in a statement. “I enjoy caring for the entire family and our clinic practice style lends itself to being able to develop long-lasting relationships with our clients. My nursing background has uniquely prepared me to emphasize the importance of health promotion and disease prevention. I truly love caring for women and their families during their pregnancy and birth experience. It has been wonderful to be able to offer an alternative type of obstetric care to our community.”

Ame Fischer, who has been a nurse since 2005, is the newest addition to the midwife team at RAMC.

“As a certified nurse midwife, I provide a full range of primary healthcare services for women of all ages, and have a special interest in pregnancy, birth and lactation,” she said. “I value the time spent building relationships with my patients in order to provide a more patient-centered and holistic experience for them. As a part of your healthcare team, my goal is for you to feel empowered and supported in a loving and safe environment.

RAMC’s Birth Center director is Pam Dregney, who has been at RAMC for 26 years. She became a nurse in 1991.

“It is such a privilege to work alongside such a great team of nurses, midwives, doctors, anesthesia and surgeons,” Dregney said. “We are committed to practicing according to up-to-date standards and take pride in offering the latest services available to our patients. There is nothing like the moment when parents meet their baby for the first time and I love to be a part of it.”

Erin James, the assistant director, has been with RAMC for 17 years. James became a nurse in 2005.

“I enjoy coming to work and no two-days are ever alike. As nurses, we have a special opportunity to make a family’s experience amazing by what we do, say and how we treat them. I feel fortunate to work with a top-notch group of nurses, providers and health care personnel at RAMC and am grateful to be in the nursing profession,” James said.