National Park Medical Center Welcomes Certified Nurse Midwives

National Park Medical Center (NPMC) announced today that certified nurse midwives (CNMs) Shalyn Calaway, CNM, and Renee Yeager, CNM, have joined their medical staff.  Calaway and Yeager bring a new service to the Hot Springs area with hospital-based midwifery.

“We are very excited to add Renee and Shalyn to our existing group of OB/GYN providers and to bring a hospital-based midwifery program to the Hot Springs area,” said NPMC’s CEO, Scott Smith.  “Their experience and specialty is a great addition to our OB/GYN services and we are excited about the option they add for women’s healthcare to our community. They are indeed helping us to fulfill our mission of Making Communities Healthier.”

Certified Nurse Midwives are licensed and credentialed healthcare providers with hospital privileges.  Their practice includes women’s healthcare at every stage of life including well woman care, family planning, prenatal care, midwifery care during labor and birth, postpartum care and gynecological care.  Yeager and Calaway specialize in low-risk obstetrics and childbirth care, and their OB patients deliver in the hospital setting.

Originally from Hot Springs, Renee Yeager, CNM, began her nursing career as a neonatal ICU nurse at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, then spent five years as a labor and delivery nurse at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock prior to obtaining her Master of Science in Nurse Midwifery from the University of Cincinnati.  For the past 5 years she practiced as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Certified Nurse Midwife at UAMS.  “The term midwife actually means ‘with woman,’” said Yeager.  “I practice with the understanding that low-risk childbirth is a normal, physiological process which requires little intervention.  We want to help understand each woman’s desire for her childbirth experience and to honor those desires.  That typically also means pain control, which can absolutely include an epidural.”

Shalyn Calaway, CNM, began her nursing career in the critical care and labor and delivery settings.  She became a birth Doula in 2018 prior to obtaining her doctorate of nurse practice in nurse midwifery from Baylor University this May.  “Experience as a labor and delivery nurse is a pre-requisite for becoming a CNM,” says Calaway.  “It’s also what inspired me to continue my training and become a midwife.  I love delivering babies, but I also desired to have a longer relationship with my patients, to include prenatal, labor and delivery, postpartum and ongoing healthcare.  As a midwife, it’s a privilege to be a part of my patients’ lives throughout every stage of womanhood.”

“There are a lot of common misconceptions about midwifery, as the term and specialty has existed for hundreds of years and has changed significantly over that time,” said Yeager.  “For example, some people assume midwives assist only with childbirth patients, perform only home births and do not use pain medications.  But certified nurse midwives deliver babies in the hospital setting, utilize pain control methods which include epidurals, and provide women’s healthcare at all stages of life, not exclusively childbirth.  I am so proud to bring certified nurse midwifery to my hometown and care for the women of the Hot Springs area.”

Yeager and Calaway are accepting new patients.  For appointments, call 501.623.6455.