Birth Center Focused Midwifery Led Resuscitation Provider Training Faculty
Lead Course Faculty
Julie Moon, MS, CNM
Julie is the owner and lead facilitator at Midwives Untethered. Julie is a Certified Nurse Midwife and NRP Instructor Mentor who has been teaching NRP since 2001, specializing in community-based birth since 2014. She started her career in EMS, has a Bachelor's in Nursing, and has a Master's in Midwifery. In recent years, she has taught maternal and newborn content for Paramedic academies, provided education for local city and volunteer departments, and written and collaborated on content at the national level to help guide the collaboration of midwives and EMS. She has spent years working towards making the transfer and transport of birthing families as seamless as possible by working with EMS and midwives to develop skills and protocols. Julie is passionate about helping to provide birth and resuscitation education wherever it is needed to help make birth a safe experience for the family and the care providers involved. She is driven to serve and guide midwives, birth workers, EMS, and all caregivers to optimize their care and their own well-being. She knows the key to this is caregivers who are self-aware, compassionate, and empowered to perform within functional systems while being well-educated to assess needs and perform safely in those systems. She is honored to guard physiologic birth and the traditions of midwifery while advocating for safe, quality care.
Olga Ryan, RN, MS-NL
Olga has been nursing in the birth center model since about 2006.
She earned her nursing degree thanks to an Air Force ROTC scholarship and served 8 years in the Nurse Corps of the United States Air Force.
Birth center work was a natural fit for her with family centered care, the community orientation, and adherence to evidence-based practices. Olga is an experienced birth center leader and has worked as birth assistant, CenteringPregnancy co-facilitator, nurse manager, and administrative director. She has been a volunteer on AABC’s Standards Committee and has volunteered and worked for the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers since about 2007, especially in sentinel event review.
She has been an NRP instructor for more than 20 years and teaching it “attached to the cord” since 2008 thanks to the mentorship and lessons learned from midwives!
With a sister and daughter in paramedicine as well as her military background, Olga works hard at fostering interdisciplinary training and finding ways to collaborate across systems and cultures. She believes that beauty and connection help to nourish and extend the power of the human spirit.
Lisa Pontious, CNM, MSN, APRN
Lisa has recently joined our instructor team. As a passionate advocate of individualized education and health care, she brings decades of experience in serving birthing families within various roles and settings, including community hospitals, urban/academic/university hospitals, accredited free-standing birth centers, and in clients’ homes.
Lisa was first certified in Neonatal Advanced Life Support (NALS), the program that preceded the current Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), over 30 yrs ago. She began her nursing career as labor and birth nurse, while also teaching community childbirth education classes. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master’s in Nurse Midwifery, with a graduate certificate in Public Health.
Her professional interests include increasing access to sustainable community birth options, reducing healthcare disparities, and raising awareness of maternal child public health needs.
Favorite quote:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead, anthropologist