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Rhonda D. Thompson RN, LCCE, IBCLC
Rhonda graduated from Hawkeye Community College in 1988. She began her career at Covenant Medical Center in 1987 where she worked in Labor & Delivery from 1987 to 1999. She then started working with the lactation program from 1999 to present. Rhonda has been teaching the childbirth classes (Prenatal, Lamaze, and Sibling) since 1995. She is a Certified Childbirth Education through Lamaze International and became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2001. Rhonda also facilitates the childbirth group with teens at Young Parents Together on Monday's. Rhonda is married to James and they have four children and one granddaughter. Phyllis Oesterling, BSRN, ICCE, IBCLC
Phyllis graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1978 from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. She worked as staff RN at North Hills Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia. Phyllis has been a Childbirth Educator at Covenant Medical Center since 1987 and a Certified Childbirth Educator with ICEA since 1999. She became certified as a Lactation Consultant in 2008. Phyllis loves meeting new families and empowering them through the process of adding new family members in parenthood. She has been married to Rick for 27 years and they have three children. Debbie Kyler Debbie received her undergraduate degree in Dietetics from Southern Illinois University, and her graduate degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of Kentucky. Debbie became a registered dietitian with an interest in infant nutrition. She spent two years with the Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa working with a population of nearly 100 percent breastfeeding mothers. Debbie came back to the U.S. and became an IBCLC with a desire to help breastfeeding mothers. She has an 8-year-old adopted son. Sheena Carnes, BSN, IBCLC Sheena graduated from Allen College of Nursing in 1995. She began her nursing career at Covenant on the post-surgical floor, 5 General, then in 1997 worked for Bremer-Butler Hospice and the Cedar Falls Lutheran Home before returning to Covenant in 1998. In 2001 she began working in the Family Birth Center as a Labor & Delivery nurse and in 2002, worked primarily registry on the mother baby unit. In 2004 she became a Certified Breastfeeding Educator and began her role as breastfeeding educator in the Lactation Program. She was also accredited in 2002 as a volunteer leader with La Leche League International and leads a monthly mother-to-mother breastfeeding support group in Waverly. In 2010 she became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She lives in Waverly with her husband Jason of 15 years and her three girls. Susan Reulbach Wirtjes, RN, IBCLC
Susan earned her RN diploma in 1968 from Albany Medical School of Nursing in Albany, New York. Susan moved to Waterloo in 1970, started the La Leche League in 1973 where she maintained involvement until 1982. She taught Prepared Childbirth Classes for Hawkeye Tech (now Hawkeye Community College) from 1976 to 1981. She was a part-time NICU nurse and a Chemical Dependency nurse through 1995. Susan then moved to the Breastfeeding Educator position at Covenant’s Family Birth Center. In 1996 she became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and maintains her certification to date as she continues to work in Breastfeeding Support Services at Covenant’s Family Birth Center. Susan is an outspoken advocate for babies. She has three children, two grandchildren and two golden retrievers.
Ken Earnest
Ken received his first CPR teaching certification in 1979. He taught in Illinois for the American Heart Association from 1979 until 1988. Ken began teaching at Covenant in May of 1988, teaching both adult and child CPR. In 1998 he began specializing in the area of infant and toddler CPR, teaching classes for parents with children in the pediatrics department and the intensive care nursery. Ken has also taught many CPR classes for Covenant’s baby sitting program. Ken truly loves the interactions with both the adults and children he works with in these classes when teaching these lifesaving techniques.
Beth Hockey
Beth Hockey has been teaching the sibling class for three years and has worked in the Family Birth Center for almost five years. She feels this is a very important class as it embraces the development and growth of a family. Beth herself is a middle sibling and shares her own experiences with the class. It is an added bonus that Beth gets to teach the siblings and then see them in the hospital after the baby has arrived! Beth and her husband have three children – a daughter and twins – a boy and a girl. She has an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts and an Associate of Science in Medical Assisting. Buffy Constant
Beverly "Buffy" Constant graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a bachelor's degree in Health Promotion: Women's Health. She is a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and a Breastfeeding Educator. She has been teaching prenatal education classes at Covenant Medical Center since 2005. Buffy's source of inspiration comes from her own pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding experiences as well as her belief in the incredible design of women's bodies. Amy Tomlyanovich RN, BSN, LCCE
Amy graduated from Allen College in 2003 with her Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. She worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse for six years at the Covenant Family Birth Center. She is currently a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and has been teaching Lamaze since 2005. Amy loves to help parents prepare for this special time in their lives. She believes in providing families with up-to-date information. Amy is married to Tony and they have three children. Melissa Clark, RN Melissa graduated in 2003 from Hawkeye Community College with an RN degree. She spent six years working in the field of mental health and substance abuse, both on inpatient units and in the community. In 2009 Melissa became a birth doula and began the certification process. She has been working as a DONA trained birth doula since December of 2009. Melissa is honored to be able to work with women and their families to provide up to date information to help people make informed decisions about their birth experience. Melissa and her husband Steve have been married since 2007 and have two children.
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