Get acquainted with our skilled, caring and passionate staff. Our team, led by highly qualified and experienced Midwives, love what they do and consider it a privilege to provide quality care for the Eugene-Springfield community.
Crystal's passion for midwifery began with the birth of her oldest daughter in 2001. Her birth experience inspired her to pursue nursing with a focus on women and children's health. After graduating nursing school in 2006 Crystal began working as a registered nurse at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Labor and Delivery where she received certification in high risk in-patient care (RNC) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). She cared for low and high risk obstetrics patients during their labor and birth, facilitated as Charge Nurse, cared for antepartum and postpartum patients, served as a preceptor to many new nurses and students, served on sustainability committees, and contributed to the creation and implementation of an emergency response team for postpartum hemorrhage prevention. During her last 6 years at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Crystal also worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit caring for premature neonates and is certified in Neonatal Resuscitation (NRP). Crystal currently holds a certification in Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO).
In 2012 Crystal graduated from Grand Canyon University with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. With her advanced skills in labor and delivery and her passion for birth, Crystal decided to pursue her dream of being a certified nurse-midwife. She obtained her Master's in Nursing from Frontier Nursing University nurse-midwifery program in 2015. During her three year program her clinical experience included a six month intensive hands-on training with advanced midwives where she learned the art of water birth and a focus on non-interventions in the absence of complications. Crystal is passionate about helping women feel empowered and have the best birth experience possible.
Crystal began offering homebirth in Lane County 2015 when she identified a gap in services to birthing families. In 2019, with the closure of the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center, this service became even more important. Crystal was the only CNM in Lane County from 2019-2022 to offer out-of-hospital birthing services. This service proved vital during the Covid-19 pandemic when hundreds of families received out-of-hospital services and care they otherwise would not have had access to. This included many of our most vulnerable populations such as Medicaid which is the primary source of insurance for over half of birthing families in Oregon. She is passionate about women's rights to choose their birth experience and feels all birthing families have the right to receive high touch low intervention care.
Once again, answering the call in her community, Crystal teamed up with Kelly Rickman in 2021 and began the process of opening a licensed birth center. Together in January 2022 they opened Oregon Birth and Wellness Center, the first licensed free-standing birth center in the community in over 2 years. OBWC is proud to be the newest community resource for out-of-hospital birthing services and Crystal is excited to be part of this history. In the first month of opening Crystal and Kelly caught ten babies together and our family of OBWC clients continues to grow showing how absolutely vital this service is in our community.
Beyond birthing services Crystal specializes in GYN care with a focus on Fertility and Hormone Imbalances. She takes a holistic and natural approach and has helped many families realize their dream of becoming parents.
Crystal's other passion is teaching. She has taught in several ADN Nursing programs as an academic and clinical nursing instructor. She regularly precepts midwifery students at the center. She is currently expanding her own education. Crystal is a Post-Master's student at Maryville University completing her Family Nurse Practitioner Certification with the goal to expand her practice to include the family. Her personal interests include spending time with her three girls, dancing, laughing, and singing, nutrition, fitness, hiking, camping, and pretty much anything that involves the outdoors.
Emily Joy Tyde is a nationally Certified Professional Midwife, and a Licensed Midwife with over fifteen years experience attending births and providing holistic healthcare to mothers and families. She attended Bastyr University's Master of Science in Midwifery graduate program and holds a Bachelor Degree in Public Health and Community Health Education from Portland State University. She has completed training and holds certifications in Advanced Life Support, Neonatal Resuscitation, Managing Birth Emergencies, VBAC and Vaginal Breech birth, Early pregnancy care and miscarriage management, IV Nutrient Therapy, Blood Ozone IV Therapy, Medical Herbalism, Nutrient Deficiency assessment and treatment, Medical Assisting, Reiki and Massage Therapy. Emily's great passion is providing high quality, relationship based maternity care, natural birth and out of hospital birth. The vast majority of her clients choose water birth and other strategies to gently welcome their infants into the world.
She combines the best of classical midwifery, relying on relationship, intuition, herbal medicine, vitamins, massage, reiki and psychology as the foundation for the artfulness of her practice. She relies on the very best, most current, evidence-based research and medical technique as the foundation for the medical aspect of her practice.
She is a believer in and advocate for true informed consent and informed refusal. She supports Vaginal Birth after Cesarean for well prepared, low risk, fully informed and consenting families. She believes that the process of becoming a parent, of giving birth, is a once-in-a-lifetime, transformative, powerful experience that can be empowering for mother, baby and family, or it can be dis-empowering. No matter the experience, the mother often remembers every detail, every nuance of her prenatal care, labor, delivery and postpartum care. With the right quality of attentive, responsive medical care, given at a pace that matches the mother's rhythm and needs, a family can walk forward in life feeling supported, loved, strong and deeply bonded, no matter what curve-balls labor throws their way. Emily always strives to raise the standard in women's healthcare and family health.
When she isn't at the clinic or attending births, Emily loves spending time with her family, raising her two sons in the same town she attended highschool.
Selena is Oregon Birth and Wellness' Practice Manager. She wears many hats at our clinic. She helps organize the office, coordinate insurance benefits, works with our billing office, sometimes cooks for our birthing families and so much more. She had spent over 20 years licensed in the Mortgage and Financial industry, helping her clients to realize their dreams of home ownership so that they could start their families. She has carried this same love over to the Clinic. Selena is passionate about people and our community. It fills her heart to see families grow and is always excited to welcome the newest addition to the world.
Selena was born in Missoula, Montana and moved to Oregon as a child. She has lived in Lane County for most of her life. Selena has been married since 2002 with two children and three fur-babies. She has an interest in holistic care and healthing. She dreams of turning her property in Creswell into a working mini farm, loves to camp, fish, hike, and give new life to discarded furniture by refinishing them.
Bryan is a native Oregonian, born and raised in Lane County. His drive to help others comes from his late grandfather, who retired as a lieutenant from the Eugene fire department. His passion for medicine led him to volunteer on a medical mission trip to Africa in a remote village of Kenya, where he provided education and patient care to men, women, and children. Bryan began his career at 18 years old as a resident firefighter/EMT at a local fire department. As an EMT, his medical background includes over 15 years of experience in emergency medicine. He worked 10 years in the emergency room at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center. There, he successfully co-founded the Health and Wellness Committee, represented paramedics for the unit practice committee, and became a bargaining team member for SEIU Local 49. Bryan recently attended an Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics training and is ALSO Certified as well as ACLS, and Neonatal Resuscitation.
With the home birth of Bryan's first child, he began his relationship as a client with the Oregon Birth and Wellness Center. He was impressed by the professionalism, expertise, and personal care that were provided and joined the team later that year. Bryan is committed to upholding the values and mission of the birth center while providing personalized patient care to ensure positive outcomes for our clients.
Katie has had a passion for pregnancy, labor, and babies since she was a kid, and after taking a Human Sexuality class in college knew she wanted to be involved in birthwork. The birth of her own daughter was also a life affirming event furthering her aspirations to help others have the birth they envision. Her passion for birth work combined with her empathic nature and love for helping people led her into becoming a birth doula, work that she finds very humbling.
Katie's Ultimate goal is to become a Certified Nurse Midwife and she is excited to take the next step toward that journey as she starts nursing school at Lane Community College in the Fall of 2023. Katie has been a birth assistant with Oregon Birth and Wellness Center since 2021.
Katie feels she is a "forever" student and is always looking for ways to further her education. She loves supporting our families and Katie recently completed training in Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics and holds an ALSO certification. Additionally, she is trained and certified in Neonatal Resuscitation and Basic Life Support.
Katie, originating from Santa Cruz, CA, moved to Oregon in 2012 falling in love with Eugene, the rain, and all the outdoors here have to offer. It has been her "home away from home" and where she has put her roots down. She follows many passions and wears many hats, but mother is the hardest, most rewarding one of all, and drives her passion deeper to help other parents in this journey.
Morgan (she/her pronouns) has been a Certified Nursing Assistant for over 15 years. She gained extensive knowledge caring for patients during her time working for one of the local hospitals. She graduated from the University of Oregon with her Bachelors of Science in Biological Anthropology in 2022. She is currently attending an Accelerated Bachelors of Nursing program with hopes of one day becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife. Morgan is Certified in Basic Life Support and Neonatal Resuscitation
During her life, she was frequently supporting friends and family during their pregnancy and birth. When she attended her first home birth as a videographer she discovered her passion for helping birthing people. She has since become a birth doula, birth photographer and midwife assistant. Morgan can generally be found outside with her husband playing with their dogs or working in the garden.
Laura has served as a birth doula in Lane County for over 14 years. Throughout her years as a birth worker she has attended a wealth of trainings and workshops on various birth subjects including: Spinning Babies, water birth, Hypnobabies, Sacred Postpartum, and perinatal mood disorders.
Laura's passion for birth has propelled her into the role of midwifery assistant and apprentice as she continues her studies to become a midwife. Laura has opened the first doula agency in the area, Blissful Beginnings.
Laura has an amazingly supportive family who she enjoys spending time with, whether it's heading up creek to their favorite swimming hole or snuggling up together to watch a movie.
Holly specializes in lactation, postpartum and newborn care. She has worked with moms and babies for many years and brings a wealth of education and experience, including births at home, birth centers, and the hospital. She has a passion for teaching and leads our monthly breastfeeding class. She will come to your home for a visit in the first few days after your birth to make sure you get off to a great start in your breastfeeding journey. You can also find her on Wednesdays during Milky Weigh, our weekly drop-in baby weight and feeding clinic hours.
When she isn't working with us or at the hospital, she enjoys spending time with her two young boys, gardening, and working on projects in her new home.
Rachel began her wellness journey after searching for answers to improve her health, and after seeing over 15 doctors, found help in the holistic health community. Her background in Human Physiology and Biological Anthropology from the University of Oregon, made her interested in furthering her knowledge of holistic health which led her to pursue her MS in Complementary Alternative Medicine at the American College of Healthcare Sciences. During this time she got pregnant with her first child, and after experiencing allopathic prenatal care, she directed her studies to focus on how holistic health impacts conception, prenatal, and postpartum stages of life. After experiencing the lack of good evidence-based information during her first pregnancy, she wanted to share her knowledge with other birthing families.