Faculty

Jan has worked in in all areas of maternal child health (except the NICU) since 1972, and currently maintains her private practice which she started in 1985. She worked as the lactation consultant for Wheaton Pediatrics for 23 years. Jan has served on the IBLCE board and exam committee and was the 1990-92 International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) President. She is the co-author of Blueprints, and Clinical Instruction in Lactation.

Carole was a lactation consultant for a local agency WIC Clinic for 17 years. She then became a Regional IBCLC for Indiana WIC. She now does training and webinars for Indiana WIC. She also mentors new health professionals desiring to become IBCLC for the Illinois WIC program. She has participated on the NWA Breastfeeding Committee and spearheaded several of the breastfeeding position papers for NWA including 

• Enhancing Breastfeeding Support in WIC: The Case for Increasing the Number of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants
• Six Steps to Achieve Breastfeeding Goals for WIC Clinics
• Six Steps to Achieve Breastfeeding Goals Checklist

 Carole represented NWA on the United States Breastfeeding Committee.

Rhonda has worked in the maternal-child health field since 1998.  She has worked as an RN in labor/delivery, mother/baby, and the special care nursery- level 2E.  Rhonda began her career as an IBCLC in 2003.  She currently works as a hospital IBCLC at UnityPoint Health – Methodist in Peoria, IL.  Her practice involves seeing dyads in the inpatient & outpatient settings as well as a weekly clinical mom support group called UPH Milk Drop In.  She enjoys collaborating with other IBCLCs, local WIC employees, and mothers on the Central Illinois Breastfeeding Task Force.  Rhonda lives with her husband Bill in Washington IL.  She has 3 amazing children – Issac, Josie & Caleb.  Izzy Mae, a husky/malamute mix joined the family in 2016.  

Mendy started her lactation career in 2002 working for the Marion County WIC programs as their breastfeeding coordinator. At WIC, she assisted the WIC staff with breastfeeding education and taught them how to incorporate this knowledge when working with families. She started a drop-in clinic in Marion County. In 2005, she became an IBCLC. After her WIC experience, she went from outpatient lactation to inpatient lactation. In 2005, she joined the lactation department at Community North Hospital in Indianapolis IN where they are proud to claim that they are the number one delivering hospital in the state of Indiana for the last 5 years doing over 3500 deliveries a year.  She still works at Community North and she also has works supplemental at Riverview Health Hospital in Noblesville, IN. From 2007 to 2011, she also worked supplemental St. Vincent Womens hospital in Indianapolis. She feels that by working at different hospitals she has gained a knowledge of how to see lactation in different stages in the hospital network and has learned how to help advance the knowledge of breastfeeding to staff and administration. Mendy has worked with moms and babies in several areas of lactation. She has worked postpartum, the NICU, the SCN, support group, assisted in staff breastfeeding education, teaches Breastfeeding Basics Class, and is a member of the Community Hospitals Breastfeeding Council. Mendy helped to begin one of the things she loves most about being a lactation consultant, mother and baby support group. She started this weekly breastfeeding support group 15 years ago and has been running this group since then. Support group is very special to her not only enjoying connecting with the moms and babys but also working with mothers and babies to achieve their breastfeeding goals. 

Jo Ann is a seasoned professional in maternal and child health. She began her career as a pediatric nurse in 1978 and later developed a strong interest in obstetrical nursing. Jo Ann has been an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 1994.   Jo Ann’s professional experience includes Research Specialist in UIC College of Nursing on Preterm Labor and H-Hope projects, clinical nursing experience in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatric Emergency Department and Outpatient Departments. She worked as a Healthy Steps Specialist (Child Development Specialist) in Chicago. She has presented on nursing, infant care and infant-feeding topics with emphasis on different approaches health care providers can use to promote and support human milkfeeding. 

She recently retired from her clinical staff nurse position at University of Chicago in the Woman’s Care Center.  Jo Ann also retired as OB clinical instructor and research specialist for the University of Illinois Chicago UIC), College of Nursing in Women’s Health. 

In her current position as clinical program coordinator she provides care for families in the Englewood community on the southside of Chicago where she was born and raised. She enjoys spending time with her very large family and she is the proud mother of one son and grandmother of a two-year old granddaughter. 

She has promoted and supported breastfeeding especially in marginalized populations for over 4 decades. She is proud of her community service as a member of Community Engagement Research Incubator and Strategy Hub (CERISH). 

Past Co- Chair Chicago Region Breastfeeding Task Force (Current Active Member).

Co-Author-Structural Racism and Barriers to Breastfeeding on Chicagoland’s South Side, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, Feb. 2020

Proud recipient of Daisy Faculty Award 2018

Nursing Spectrum award in 2012 

RN certification in Maternal and Neonatal Nursing

Past Co-Chair of March of Dimes Perinatal Advisory Council 

Sarah has spent her nursing career caring for moms and babies in northeast Indiana since 1985. Her main focus has been Labor and Delivery, Post-Partum and Newborns, working many years in a small community hospital, and later in level 3 facilities. She currently works for the Dupont Hospital, Lutheran Health Network in Fort Wayne Indiana. She became an IBCLC in 2014 and developed policy to drive the 10 steps of successful breastfeeding in her facility, while working as an inpatient beside lactation consultant. She was instrumental in bringing the use of pasteurized donor human milk to her facility for use in the newborn population. In 2017, she moved to develop and grow an outpatient lactation support program at Dupont. She currently serves the Fort Wayne region to support moms and babies in their breastfeeding journeys. Besides seeing patients for lactation, she helps facilitate a very active weekly Mom to Mom Support Group. She is active in her Northern Indiana Lactation Consultants Association, serving in an officer’s role and serves on the advisory board for Healthy Families of Allen County.  She facilitated the opening of a Donor Milk Express at Dupont Hospital. She is also internationally certified in Childbirth Education, and teaches prenatal classes through the Dupont Resource Center.  She is mom to 3 grown sons, who have blessed her with nine grandchildren.