Kathy Austin is a retired registered nurse who relocated to the Raleigh Durham area three years ago.  She received her BSN from the University of Michigan and her MSN from Grand Valley State University.  Her career in maternal child health spanned nearly 40 years across numerous states.  She practiced as a Labor and Delivery Nurse, a Nurse Educator, and a Nurse Administrator.  One of her earliest accomplishments was building a birthing center within her community hospital in Michigan where women could labor, delivery, recover and spend their postpartum stay in one room.  She added a C/Section Suite on the unit to decrease the time to start an emergency C/Section.  After starting a pediatric hospitalist program, she added a Level II Nursery to be able to care for sick and premature newborns that didn’t need intensive care.  She enjoyed mentoring new nurses and nursing students and paved a way for the staff nurses to be certified in their specialty.  Kathy obtained approval to start add 3 lactation consultants to the staff to promote successful breastfeeding.  At the end of her career, Kathy launched a Women’s Health program and built a clinic with staff specializing in women’s midlife health.

Much of the success of these programs was focused on the education and empowerment of nurses.   She believed and believes that until you can confidently advocate for yourself as a nursing professional, you cannot effectively advocate for mothers, families, and children.

Kathy is a covenant partner at Umstead Park United Church of Christ where she first heard about the work of Curamericas Global last year.  As a retired professional dedicated to promotion of health for women, families, and children here in the U.S., she is excited to be able to use her background and expertise in volunteering with Curamericas.  She is a wife and a grandmother and enjoys travelling, reading, cooking, and playing Mah Jongg.