Maureen Darcey, CNM
Director of Midwifery Services

Maureen was born in Buffalo, New York and received her diploma in Nursing from Buffalo General Hospital in 1973. She practiced for seven years in rural community hospitals in West Virginia, Kentucky and Maine before attending Midwifery School in Brooklyn in 1979. After moving to North Carolina, she worked at the Chatham Family Birth Center doing hospital and home births, at the Chatham County Health Department, and in a private physician practice in Sanford. She is pleased to be offering midwifery care and the option of a freestanding birth center in the Triangle area.

Leigh Ann Joel, CNM

Leigh Ann comes to the Triangle Area from Florida, although she grew up in the Boston area. She earned a BS in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and for the next 9 years worked as a gyn/oncology surgical nurse, labor and delivery nurse, childbirth educator, and a birth assistant at a birth center. She continued on to Midwifery School and holds a Certificate in Midwifery from Baystate Medical Center Nurse Midwifery Education Program. She and her family moved to Florida in 2000 where she practiced full-scope midwifery in a community health clinic and private doctor's office. She derived great joy assisting women to have natural births and waterbirths in a hospital setting. She and her husband, Gregg, are happy to be moving to NC to be near family and to experience the change of seasons again. They have two children, Sam (11) and Anna (7 - a waterbirth baby!). In her spare time, she looks forward to getting settled in their new house in Durham, exploring the state parks, baking, playing the piano, and spending time with her niece and nephews.

Sarah Akers, CNM

Sarah is a second-generation midwife who grew up in an Army family living in Germany, Washington, D.C. and Kentucky.  She has traveled widely through the US and Europe. She was invited to attend her aunt’s birth at a birth center in Oklahoma at age 10. She was amazed watching her aunt and uncle deliver their beautiful son.  She attended undergraduate school at the University of Cincinnati graduating with a BSN and becoming an RN in 2002. Even though she knew she would be a midwife, she began her nursing career as a Surgical Intensive Care Unit nurse. There she worked on providing life support to the critically ill.  Next, she was a Labor and Delivery nurse at a large medical center in Cincinnati where she became familiar with all sorts of complications of pregnancy, labor and delivery. Sarah spent two summers as the camp nurse at an Easter Seals camp which provided camping experiences to physically and mentally challenged people and respite care to their families. This population taught her about the beautiful spirit living in physically challenged minds and bodies.  Sarah completed her Master’s at the University of New Mexico’s Nurse Midwifery Program in May of  2007 and came to join the WBWC team in July.

Allison Koch received her Master's in midwifery in 2000. In 2001 she started her own practice in rural Canton, NY called Tree of Life Midwifery. Allison received the 2007 Agent of Change award by the St. Lawrence Chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). This award is given to a woman whose work has brought about significant change in the community. She has been politically active for midwifery and strives to preserve the midwifery model of care. After practicing at Tree of Life Midwifery for 6 ½ years and delivering 300+ babies, the cost of solo practice led to her decision to make a change. Allison joined Women's Birth & Wellness Center in January of 2008.

She believes it matters how we are born into this world - how we are greeted and cared for as we take those first breaths. She believes it is a privilege to be "with woman"- to protect the space so that a woman can birth, in her own powerful way, whatever that means to her. Allison is married and has two grown children, Chris & Kate, a shepherd-collie mix named KC, and a 17 year old cat named Fudge. In her spare time she enjoys listening to music and singing.

Jewell was born and raised in Falls Church, VA. Ever since she was a teenager, Jewell felt a calling to midwifery. In 2002, she earned her Associate of Science in Nursing from Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, VA. Her midwifery journey then led her to Richmond, VA where she gained experience as a newborn intensive care unit and labor and delivery nurse. While in Richmond, Jewell also earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from VCU. Jewell recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Science in Nursing - Nurse Midwifery.

Jewell moved to Chapel Hill with her fiancé in 2008 and they enjoy calling North Carolina their home. In her spare time, Jewell enjoys B&W photography, crafts, and boating.

Kate Layman, CNM

Kate was born and raised in Florida.  She comes from a long line of nurses, including another Nurse-Midwife and a Grandmother that graduated from Duke Nursing.  She attended undergrad at Florida State University and went on to experience various areas in medicine while traveling the country.  Her work at a birth center on the Tex-Mex border refocused her energy on Midwifery and out-of-hospital birth.  Kate then returned to Florida to pursue her Master's in Midwifery at the University of Florida.  She moved to the Chapel Hill area in June 2009 and is elated to have found WBWC and call North Carolina home.  When not caring for families and their beautiful babes, Kate can be found exploring the outdoors, looking for any reason to dance, staging laser light shows for her cat, and attempting to be more nurturing than a desert to her cactus collection.

Rachel VanBree, FNP/WHCNP

Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner

Rachel enrolled into nursing school two months after meeting her first midwife in 1998. After a couple years as an RN in an intensive care unit she then worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse in both the hospital and Women's Birth and Wellness Center. It was here that she was able to embrace the power of natural births and witness the amazing capabilities of women in an unrestricted environment. After attending graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill in 2004, Rachel provided primary and obstetric care as a Nurse Practitioner at the Chatham County Health Department. She was then able to return to the Women's Birth and Wellness Center as their Family and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner in October 2008. She strongly believes in the philosophy of the birth center and looks forward to providing care for the women who share this belief of woman-centered care. Rachel lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and daughter Amelia who was born here in June by the guiding hands of our CNM's Jewel and Maureen.

Nancy Albrecht, RN, BSN, MA

Nancy started as the clinic nurse in April 2006. She was born and raised in the Midwest but has made North Carolina home for almost 20 years. Nursing is her fourth (and final?) career, after stints as a counselor, daycare provider, and childbirth educator. She also was involved with La Leche League as a member and leader for 15 years. Mothering is still her most important role, however; her four daughters continue to amuse and amaze her daily.

After almost 10 years in a private OB/GYN office, working at WBWC feels like coming home. Maureen delivered her youngest daughter, Johanna, 18 years ago! Nancy lives in Raleigh with her husband, four cats, and depending on the day of the week, one to three of the girls. She also enjoys gardening, reading, and emailing friends and family.

You may see Nancy assisting in the clinic any afternoon, but you are most likely to hear her voice on the phone. She is always available to answer your serious and silly questions.

Kate Gotelli, MSW, LCSW

Read some facts about our counseling services.

Teresa Ray, Medical Assistant, Phlebotomist

Teresa has worked at Women's Birth & Wellness Center for over four years. She is the smiling face you will see in the lab whenever you need her. She is in charge of the laboratory services and assists the providers and the administrative staff. Teresa lives in Mebane with her husband and three beautiful children. If you see her outside of the clinic, it will most likely be in the stands watching one of her children playing sports!

Robin Bretzmann, CNA

Robin and her husband live in Chapel Hill with their three children, all of whom were born under the care of midwives.  She joined our team as a CNA and is currently pursuing her degree in Nursing, which will be complete in spring of 2011.  Once she obtains her RN, she plans to be a labor and delivery nurse.  Outside of work, Robin enjoys attending her children’s swim meets and basketball games, running, biking and eating out (sushi)!

Ellen Shrader, RN

Ellen graduated from Emory University School of Nursing in 1987 and has worked in the maternal-child health field for the past 20 years, including large inner-city hospitals, small clinics and the Visiting Nurses Association. She started working at WBWC in 2003. Before that she spent 5 years at a freestanding birth center in Danbury, CT.

She is married with two daughters, Amelia, 20, who was born in a birth center in Atlanta and Chloe, 17, who was born at home.  For 12 years they lived on a farm with sheep, pigs, chicken, bunnies, dogs and cats.  Now they are down to 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 horses.

Ellen is an avid reader, vegetarian cook and Carolina basketball fan-Go Heels!  She loves being there when a new person enters the world.

Cheryl Mitchell Olds, RN

Cheryl graduated from the University of Wisconsin/Madison nursing school and has spent time working in most all aspects of maternal-child nursing in Madison, Seattle and Missoula, Montana. She moved with her family to Jena, Germany in 1997 and while there completed a distance midwifery program at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. She spent 2 years working at a Geburtshaus (birth center) in Germany before returning to the US in 2004.   She moved to Durham and has been working as an RN at WBWC since the summer of 2005.

When not working she loves to be outside playing (hiking, biking, tennis…) or working in the garden.  House projects and quilting projects also keep her busy, and out of trouble.  She has a husband, Tom, who isn’t always sure her house projects keep her out of trouble, and 2 redheaded daughters, Molly and Sara, who are heading off on their own adventures in life.

Evelyn Aabel, RN, MPH, FNP, PNP

Evelyn has been has been a beloved employee here since 1998.  Evelyn grew up in New York where she earned her RN at Roosevelt Hospital in 1956.  She became a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in 1969 where she studied at Colorado Medical Center in Denver, CO, then went on to complete her FNP and Master' in Public Health at UNC-CH.  She has worked in many capacities at birth centers, hospitals and health departments, but her special love is babies.  As a Pediatric Nurse Practioner, she is available several days a week to do postpartum homevisits.

Ashley Marshall, RN

Ashley joined the WBWC team in 2006 as a nurse shortly after relocating to the area from the Outer Banks.  She has been attending births as a doula since 2000 and is a Certified Childbirth Educator.  Ashley is also an area La Leche League Leader.  She graduated with a degree in nursing from College of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City and is currently enrolled at Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing on her journey towards becoming a Nurse-Midwife.

Ashley lives in   Chapel Hill with her husband and five amazing, naturally-born children.   When she’s not attending births or studying midwifery she enjoys crafting, sewing, reading, vegan cooking, and surfing the Internet.

Erin Robertson, RN

Erin works as one of our nurses and came to us in 2005 from the Baltimore Birth Center in Maryland. She has worked as a labor and delivery nurse in hospitals and birth centers for the last four years. Before obtaining her nursing degree at the University of Maryland she attended the National College of Naturopathic Medicine and served as an apprentice to a naturopathic midwife who provided home birth midwifery in the Portland, Oregon area. Her love of natural healing continues. She is currently working to complete a professional herbalist course of study through the East West School of Herbology.

Erin was born and raised around birth and midwives. Her mother has been a natural childbirth teacher for over thirty years. Erin started attending births with her mother by the age of ten and has loved it ever since! Erin attended UNC for her undergraduate degree and is excited to return to the area. She currently lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and three children, ages eight, five, and newborn . All of her births were out of hospital water births! Her other interests include yoga, running, drawing & jewelry making.

Kerry Wilgen, RN

Kerry earned her degree in nursing from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999. She is also certified is prenatal and perinatal therapeutic massage. Kerry lives in Durham with her husband and four lovely children. She has been working as a labor and delivery nurse at Women's Birth & Wellness Center since 2002. Kerry provides sensitive support during labor so that women are able attain their birthing goals as much as possible.

Brianna Honea, MBA
Business Director

Brianna relocated to the area to join our center as the Business Director in 2005.  She attended East Carolina University where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Master’s Degree of Business Administration.   Brianna has over 6 years experience in non-profit medical management; most recently working as the Director of Development at the Clinic for Special Children in New Bern.  There she assisted families and children affected by developmental disabilities. 

Brianna continues to pursue her interest in therapeutic arts and healing.   She teaches yoga and has volunteered with an art therapy program for youth.   She is an active board member for a non-profit clinic in New Bern, Focus Therapy Services.  In her spare time she enjoys going to the beach, doing yoga, running and spending time with her family and friends.  One of her favorite past times is traveling. She is eagerly awaiting her next adventure.

Ellen Chetwynd, RN, BSN, IBCLC

Ellen was born in New Zealand and lived in both Indonesia and Korea before her family settled just outside of Washington DC, where she grew up. She started college in Indiana, at a small Quaker college, but ended her college career at UNC receiving a degree in Biology and then Nursing. Ellen is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in Public Health.  She has lived in the area ever since, in an old farmhouse in Chatham county, bringing it from the edge of liveable, to a relatively comfortable home. She has two kids (one delivered with Maureen Darcey back in 1988!) who are now grown and on their own. She is currently a nurse, a lactation consultant, and the Co-Director of the Maternal Child Health Program at the UNC Department of Family Medicine. She has been a Lactation Consultant since 2000 and has been working with breastfeeding moms and babies for about 15 years. Ellen provides lactation services at Women's Birth & Wellness Center on Mondays.

Felicia Stroud, Medical Receptionist

Felicia is a native of Durham who coordinates all front desk activities.   Felicia is the cheerful person you will see upon checking in and out of the clinic.   Here at Women's Birth & Wellness  Center she takes pleasure in meeting and socializing with new families, holding babies and watching them grow.   Most of all she enjoys spending time with family and friends.  Quote she lives by:  “Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

Amanda Lugo, Administrative Assistant

Amanda has an Associates of Art degree in Health Administration. She has future plans for a Bachelors Degree but gives priority to her four children. She is moderately fluent in Spanish, and has lived in Mexico. Women's Birth & Wellness is very happy to have Amanda as such a wonderful addition to the team.

Erin Grossman

Administrative Assistant

Erin moved to the area from Atlanta, GA with her husband and 3-year old son, Lucas.She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing in 2005 from Georgia College & State University.  Erin plans to attend nursing school in hopes of one day becoming a CNM.  She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family.

Rose Campagnola, Boutique Manager

Rose Campagnola grew up in Colorado and moved to North Carolina in August 2006. She graduated from the Healing Arts Institute in Fort Collins, CO as a Certified Massage Therapist (CMT) in May 2003, and then as a Certified Doula (CD) in February 2005.  Rose previously managed a little health food store where they hosted lectures and small classes on health and nutrition.  She now works managing the Birth Center Boutique across the hall from Women's Birth & Wellness Center’s clinic.  She is the helping hand you will need when picking out your birth, breastfeeding and baby supplies.

Sarah Coonley, Boutique Sales Associate

Sarah Coonley was born in Florida but has moved many times since then!  She received her Bachelor's of Nursing degree in 2000 from the College of Mount St.Vincent in Riverdale, NY.  She and her husband moved to Durham in 2002 where she worked as a pediatric oncology RN until the birth of their daughter (at the birthing center!) in October 2006.  They also have a three year old daughter and a son who was born in October of 2008.  Sarah has long had a passion for cloth diapers and enjoys sharing her experiences with those new to the cloth diapering world.  Being part of the boutique team is a great way for her to spread the word!

Ronda Ferrell, Boutique Associate

Ronda Farrell was born and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  She is an outgoing and optimistic person who loves to meet new and interesting people.  She has a two year old daughter, Kaylee, who keeps her on her toes.  In addition to working at WBWC, she is working on her bachelor's degree in education.  Ronda enjoys helping people in the boutique and especially loves getting to see all the beautiful babies.

Missy Swanson, RN

Missy earned a BA in literature from Boston University in 2003, and a BSN from Duke in 2006. She works as a Mother/Baby Nurse at WBWC & Alamance Regional. 

Missy had baby Elliot at WBWC in May 2008.  Outside of work, Missy enjoys art, reading, yoga, vegetarian cooking, travel & spending time with family.  Her future plans include midwifery school, more babies and traveling.

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