Cindy L. Farley, CNM, PhD, FACNM, studied midwifery at Emory University. She earned her BSN and PhD from the Ohio State University and her MSN from Emory University. She is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University in the Nurse-Midwifery/ Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) programs. She serves as a locum tenens midwife for Pomerene Hospital, a rural hospital in Millersburg, Ohio, serving a large Amish population. Dr. Farley reviews selected legal cases involving midwifery regulatory issues and clinical care. She is co-editor of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Midwifery and Women’s Health and of Prenatal and Postnatal Care: A Woman Centered Approach. Dr. Farley has been instrumental in organizing groups of midwifery students to visit their federal legislators and advocate for positive change in important maternal health policies and legislation. For this work, she was awarded the 2020 American College of Nurse-Midwives Public Policy Award. She received a Faculty Residency in the Fall of 2019 at Oxford University in England, learning from British midwives and midwifery students and exploring their systems of care for childbearing families. Dr. Farley is volunteering with her county’s Medical Reserve Corp to give COVID vaccines and has vaccinated hundreds in her community.
Anna Dykstra, SNM/SWHNP: I live in Spearfish, South Dakota, in the Black Hills. My original graduation date was to be August of 2021, and at this time I am on track to graduate by that date. I added a great deal of extra clinical hours into my fall term once I had a clinical site secured, which has made it possible for me to graduate on time. Adding the extra hours did add a great deal of stress to my life, however.
Lauren Radney, SNM/SWHNP: I live in McDonough, Georgia in the Atlanta suburbs. My expected graduation date is December 2021. I was supposed to graduate in August 2021, but I’ve missed three clinical rotations and will now have to make them up in my final semester and beyond. So, hopefully, I will actually graduate this year, provided I can find placement for the remaining clinical rotations.
Raven Fulton, SNM/SWHNP: I live in Atlanta, Georgia and I anticipate graduating from Georgetown University as a Nurse-Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner in April 2021. COVID has delayed my graduation date by two semesters, extending the total length of my program from 27 months to 35 months. My clinical site assignment for the last two semesters of the program still has a moratorium on student placements, but I was fortunate to find placement with another site that requires me to provide my own PPE for the clinic and hospital settings.
Christy Cannon, SNM/SWHNP: I live in Thousand Oaks, California. I have enjoyed a long career as a NICU nurse and have five beautiful children that fill my life with joy! I am in the CNM/WHNP program at Georgetown University and have had to delay my clinical experience for over 10 months due to COVID. I recently resumed clinicals for ambulatory and intrapartum care, and hope to graduate by Fall 2021. I anticipate my graduation to be delayed by six to nine months due to the pandemic. I’m grateful to be making progress and continuing my learning as a student midwife despite the unusual circumstances this past year has brought.
Charlei Coffey, SNM/SWHNP: I live in Cumming, Georgia, in the northern part of the state. I was able to return to clinical once the shut downs lifted. However, both my preceptor and I got COVID shortly after my clinical learning resumed. We have both recovered and I am back on track to become a midwife and happy to share my story with you.
