Meet Us
We believe every woman deserves to direct her own care and experience a joyful birth.
Amie Hernandez, APN/CNM
Director of Midwifery
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My name is Amie Hernandez and I am a Certified Nurse Midwife. My deep love for midwifery was first kindled when I became pregnant with my first child in 1994, and had planned a home delivery with a CNM in Des Moines, Iowa. I was a nursing student enrolled in a BSN program, and my midwife/mentor made such a huge impact on my life, that I remember thinking that I wanted to make that sort of a difference in the lives of others, like she had made in mine. Not long after my second child was born at home I began studying the role of a doula and childbirth educator and basically anything I could get my hands on related to midwifery, childbirth and breastfeeding. After I graduated with my BSN in 1997, I went to work as a labor and delivery nurse in a local hospital. Through various life circumstances, my husband and I moved to Arkansas where I worked on the local hospital as an OB nurse. It was there I providentially met a licensed midwife named Candy and began apprenticing and attending home births with her in 1999. After meeting all of the requirements for licensure and passing the NARM exam, I became a licensed Arkansas midwife in 2002. Life circumstances took our family to Rolla, Missouri where I once again worked as a labor and delivery nurse at the local hospital. I was also active with La Leche League and participated in lobbying to help pass the Missouri CPM licensure bill. My husband was recruited and hired by Caterpillar in Peoria where we currently reside and where, providence would have it again, I became involved in the homebirth world. It was there I met and began to work with Brande Ruskusky, CNM and Bernice Keutzer, CNM as one of their birth assistants while also continuing to work as a labor and delivery nurse. Both of these amazing women and friends encouraged me to complete my Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on midwifery, which I did in 2015 with a degree from Frontier Nursing University. Looking back on my life I see the clear hand of God leading and directing me on my journey to become a certified nurse midwife by giving me all these years of experience working with moms and babies in many different hospitals, places and environments that have helped to shape me into the midwife I am today. Serving mom’s and families is my greatest passion and joy. There is nothing more deeply moving to me than helping to empower and make a difference in the life of one woman/family at a time, just as my midwife made such a huge difference and impact on my life and family long ago.
Amy Hill, CNM
Certified Nurse Midwife
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Amy is a Certified Nurse Midwife. Amy began her nursing career in 2005 after graduating from Graham Hospital School of Nursing. She worked at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois for 2 years in medical/surgical pediatrics and the neonatal step-down unit. In 2009, Amy accepted a position in labor and delivery at Pekin Hospital’s, the Baby Place. It was there that her passion for women’s health, breastfeeding, and midwifery care blossomed. Over her years as a labor and delivery nurse, Amy realized she had a calling to work with women and support them throughout all physiologic transitions of life. In 2013, she graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Kaplan University. After much research and consideration she chose to continue her journey at Frontier Nursing University. In 2016, she graduated with her Masters of Science in Nursing and earned her certification as a midwife through the AMCB. Using the midwifery model of care and a shared decision-making process she is able to offer holistic centered care for the families she serves. Amy respects the natural progression of labor with minimal interventions offering a peaceful environment for the laboring women. In addition to her passion for midwifery, she enjoys spending time with her husband Steve and their 3 beautiful children.
Stephanie Harper, BSN, RN
Manager
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After graduating from Mennonite College of Nursing with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2004, I began working in women’s health. I enjoyed working in an OB/GYN clinic setting for over a decade caring for, supporting and educating women. I have believed in the midwifery model of care since first working with midwives early in my career, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to join to the team of incredibly devoted health care providers at the Birth Center of Bloomington Normal. When not at the Birth Center, my world is being with my husband, Andrew, and children Annalyn and Alec. We enjoy going to sporting events and spending time outdoors together.
Buffy Fleming
Office Coordinator
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Buffy is one of our Office Coordinators at the Birth Center. She began her career in healthcare in 2000 and has had many roles throughout the years, but so happy that she landed at the Birth Center. She enjoys connecting with the families and watching them grow. She is an animal lover and has a dog Gunner that she loves to spoil. She enjoys spending time with her husband Mike, and their daughter Kylie. They live to be spontaneous and enjoy life to the fullest!
Joe Santiago, MD
CEO
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Dr. Joe Santiago is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He owns Obstetrics and Gynecology Care Associates SC. He has been an OBGYN for over 30 years.
The core of Dr. Santiago’s practice is his minimally invasive, highly personal approach; he gets to know each patient and aims to treat her successfully with as little intervention as possible. Recognizing midwifery care as an excellent compliment to this approach, Dr. Santiago has been working with midwives for a decade, long before it began to catch on as a safe alternative model of care in the mainstream medical community. He is a visionary and an agent for change in women’s healthcare in our community.
Dele Ogunleye, MD
Medical Director
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Dr. Dele Ogunleye is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He owns Advanced Women’s Healthcare here in Bloomington, where he provides a wide range of obstetric and gynecologic services, including managing fertility issues.
Dr. Ogunleye was educated in the UK, where the midwifery model is the standard of care for pregnant women. He was surprised, when he began working in the US, by how medical doctors were involved in normal, healthy birth by default. He has helped to bring midwifery programs to hospitals he has worked in.
Family-centered and patient-directed, the midwifery model of care is a safe and proven, centuries old, alternative to hospital care for low-risk pregnancies and is still the main model of care in most of the world. The opening of the Birth Center of Bloomington Normal makes that safe, lower-cost model of care available to families in our community and complements existing hospital-based care.
Our owners, Dr. Joe Santiago and Dr. Dele Ogunleye have lived and practiced medicine in Bloomington Normal for decades and each owns an independent obstetrics and gynecology practice. They opened the Birth Center to provide an environment where women with low-risk pregnancies could receive high quality, high value and highly personal birth experience.
The Birth Center works with local ambulance services and nearby OSF St. Joseph Medical Center should a need arise which requires a higher-level care for either mom or baby.
The Birth Center of Bloomington Normal celebrated its first birthday on October 26, 2017 with, what else…. A birthday party!
Birth Center Birthday PartyHappy Birthday to The Birth Center of Bloomington Normal! A full year and over 75 births!
Posted by Jessica Worland on Monday, October 30, 2017