It took Kristen Conroy, CNM several years assisting births as an RN before she realized her true calling: nurse-midwifery. Kristen received her BSN in 1994 and was content raising her family and continuing her work as an RN. That is until her family relocated to Allen, TX and she discovered the Allen Birthing Center.
Allen Birthing Center is a full scope midwife-owned free-standing birth center in the Dallas area. It specializes in Out-of-Hospital (OOH) births, including home and birthing center births. Allen Birthing Center also allows its Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) hospital privileges to provide care to clients whose risk profiles rule out OOH births. This unique type of care was new to Kristen.
“I did not feel that the world needed another hospital CNM,” said Kristen. “When I saw the difference birth center care and OOH birth made in the lives of women and realized how few CNMs were called to that type of midwifery, I knew I had to go back to school and join their ranks.”
Kristen chose to attend Frontier Nursing University (FNU) for the flexibility that it gave her with location and schedule. She was able to afford FNU’s nurse-midwifery program and still put her two kids through college.
Kristen delivering a child in an Out-of-Hospital birth
Kristen also connected specifically with FNU’s mission, in a position where she serves many culturally and economically diverse women at the birthing center.
After graduating MSN class 103 in 2014, Kristen was officially hired as a nurse-midwife in her same workplace. The transition from birth assistant to midwife was challenging, but highly rewarding. Kristen’s clientele are women who desire a different model of care from the medicalized obstetric care prevalent in the area- often after having a traumatic first birth experience. She and her fellow CNMs strive to make every woman feel comfortable and safe regardless or race, religion or sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, Kristen also gives back to FNU. She quickly discovered that though she was in a distance education program, she still needed her classmates for support, advice and networking. Through the connections she made at the Frontier Bound orientation and thanks to social media, she is massively supported by the FNU Network. Now, Kristen is a Wide Neighborhoods Ambassador for FNU.
Kristen’s goal is to make OOH births more visible to the mainstream medical community and show that midwifery care with CNMs is a great alternative for birth. Her calling was made possible by FNU.
Thank you, Kristen, for serving your community and honorably representing FNU!
At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community who are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).