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(Honesdale, March 30, 2009)…Sheela Porter-Smith, a certified nurse midwife with more than a quarter century of experience in nursing, has joined Women’s Health Care of NEPA, the newest division of Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers (CHC). All the women who deliver babies at Wayne Memorial Hospital, approximately 450 a year, are cared for by the staff of Women’s Health Care.

      “Wayne Memorial is a really nice place to work,” said Porter-Smith. “The hospital offers a small family-centered setting where the nurses are truly concerned about their patients as well as being open to midwives.”  The word “midwife” means “with woman,” said Porter-Smith.  She noted that midwives have been helping women give birth for centuries, providing both physical and emotional support.  In cases where medical intervention is necessary, Wayne Memorial also has doctors on staff to support its patients and midwives.

      Porter-Smith has an expansive background in nursing. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin, she went on to earn a Masters/Nurse Practitioner degree in Women’s Health from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo and her Nurse-Midwifery accreditation from SUNY Brooklyn.  Porter-Smith also earned a post-Masters certificate as a Family Nurse Practitioner from College Misericordia. Most recently, she completed a mentorship program in colposcopy through the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.  A colposcopy is an exam performed with a colposcope (electric microscope) to detect abnormal cell changes inside a woman’s cervix. It is usually recommended following an abnormal PAP smear.

      Prior to joining Women’s Health Care, Porter-Smith worked for Maternal & Family Health Services in Wilkes Barre. It was here that she developed her passion for preventing cervical cancer. “No one needs to die of cervical cancer,” she said, “It is totally preventable with regular PAP screenings.”