Our Board Members
John - President
John a US Army war veteran served his country for eight years, including 2 deployments to Iraq. After being honorably discharged he completed a degree in Aeronautics and trained to be a Commercial Pilot and CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) in Charlotte,NC.
During the last 8 years John has traveled to 6 countries transporting medical supplies to medical facilities and volunteering his time to help improve global health.
When John is not flying in the Middle East he lives in Ecuador with his wife and 3 wonderful children. It was the homebirths of his 3 children that opened his eyes to the importance of compassionate care during birth.
Melinda - Fundraising Director
Melinda has been attending births for over 20 years. Melinda has a passion for serving women locally and globally. She has worked as a Midwife in several states and countries and owns a homebirth practice.
After being invited to Prague and attending the GLS (Global Leadership Symposium), Melinda gained knowledge about global governance and economics. She plans on using that platform along with her other areas of training to influence policies that support the International Childbirth Initiative and MotherBaby-Family Maternity Care.
She is married and has 3 wonderful adult children, all born at home with Midwives. She has had the privilege of attending the homebirth of her own grandchildren as well
Alyssa - Managing Director
Alyssa, a Licensed Midwife, has had the privilege of attending over 600 birthing women, primarily in the homebirth setting. She is faculty at the local Medical School where she provides the PA students with Maternity Health clinical education. She is also a guest lecturer for several other Medical residency programs and is a registered preceptor for multiple Midwifery education and certification programs.
She is married and a mother to 4 amazing children. Alyssa enjoys health related missionary work, teaching pregnancy, birth and lactation related courses globally and she is also currently completing a Postgraduate program in International Midwifery and Maternal Child Health.
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Heather - Secretary
Heather has worked as a secretary for her husband's business for the last 30 years. Homeschooling mother of 5 beautiful adult daughters, Heather has devoted her life to loving and serving her family. In her spare time Heather enjoys spending time with her 5 grandchildren, baking and chocolate making. Heather's love for children and babies drives her passion to help New Life provide safe and compassionate care in low resource areas.
Jill - Supply Director
Jill is a licensed midwife and has been attending births and serving women for almost 10 years. Being a midwife is actually Jill’s “encore” career! After 40 years of marriage, 7 children and 14 grandchildren Jill is serving women who want a voice in how they are treated during pregnancy, labor, delivery and beyond.
Jill spent 20 years of our marriage fostering over 30 children. The last five years she specialized in medically fragile babies.
When not catching babies Jill loves seeing her grandchildren, swimming and quilting.
More Team Members
Leiko -Full Time Volunteer/Student Midwife
Leiko has Master's Degree in Human Settlements and Environment and was working at the United Nations Population Fund when she was contacted to help organize logistics for a DONA Doula Workshop in her city. After learning how women's rights during pregnancy and childbirth are being constantly violated, she decided to become a birth doula herself to provide support to other women and advocate for their rights. She is a certified doula and a certified Evidence Based Birth Instructor. Leiko leads the local ICAN Chapter of the Dominican Republic, where she is a highly respected and passionate leader for women’s autonomy through evidence based care.
Claudin - Translator
Claudin originally from Haiti has spent the last 7 years working with birth centers to improve maternity care in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is married and is the father to two wonderful boys. He feels privileged that he was able to witness the labor and birth of his second child in a midwife run birth center. His compassionate heart and love for his family is what drives him to work for New Life. He enjoys family time and being apart of a organization whose goal is to bring about change in maternity care.
Carline - Clinic Support
Carline originally from the northern coast of Limbe, Haiti is married and the mother of two beautiful boys. Her children are the biggest miracle and blessing in her life. Carlines's love for children and fellow women along with her own prenatal and birth experiences allows her to care deeply for pregnant women and their children. She feels blessed and proud of her family and all the joy they bring her.
Sarah - Part Time Volunteer Midwife
Sarah grew up as a missionary kid in China where she met her husband Drew in 2006. Sarah and Drew have 3 beautiful children together. Greatly touched by her parents work with orphans, Sarah and Drew adopted a little boy from Ethiopia in 2013, 8 months after they had their first daughter born at home. Sarah is a passionate Midwife with a heart for women of all cultures. In 2005 Sarah worked at a birthing center in the Philippines helping women in the slums of Mania for a year and a half. It was there that she truly gained her love for making an impact on Global maternal health care. Since that time she has been working in various countries such as China, Honduras, Ecuador, Ethiopia and so on to improve maternal health care wherever she can.
Morgan - Operations Director
Morgan has been attending births for almost 10 years. Married and mother of three beautiful children she enjoys homeschooling, farm life, travelling and meeting new people. She has worked extensively in low resource countries providing compassionate medical care, it has been through her travels that she saw the need for midwife run birth centers that not only provide medical care but show Christ's love at the same time.
Patrick - Chiropractor/Part Time Volunteer
Patrick graduated from the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic in 2014 and worked 3 years in Delaware, New York, and Colorado. Before becoming a chiropractor, Patrick worked as a pianist aboard cruise ships for 3 years traveling the world. He also worked as a musician and English teacher in Beijing China for 1 year.
Patrick works in Ecuador and mainly uses classic diversified/Gonstead technique as well as activator and Webster for pregnant women. He adjusts people of all ages and conditions including infants.
Jennyfer - Translator/Student Midwife
Jennyfer works and trains at the Vilcabamba center as a translator and a student midwife. Jennyfer is fluent in both Spanish and English, while she is not translating she is studying. She admires how pregnancy, birth and the postpartum periods are all a perfect design. She enjoys photography, hiking, chocolates and desserts!
Veronica - Full Time Student
Hannah - Full Time Volunteer/Midwifery Student
Hannah graduated from Christian Heritage Academy of Midwifery and has been apprenticing since the fall of 2019 in a small town in central Illinois and now in Ecuador. In early 2021 she will move on to our Dominican Republic center to finish training and will become a New Life staff Midwife, somewhere in the world!
Midwifery has truly grown to be her passion and her heart. Hannah hopes to use these skills to touch lives of woman and families across the globe.
Ever since she was a young teen she knew she wanted to be a part of ministry and go wherever God sent her.
In her spare time and when she’s not traveling, she is with family and her many nieces on a small farm in Illinois.
Hannah also volunteers at two different youth centers as a leader mentoring teens, leading Bible studies and outreach opportunities.
Jeanna - Full Time Volunteer Midwife
Jeanna is an author, mother, midwife, and advocate for global maternal and reproductive health.
She has worked as a midwife in response to global refugee crises in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Bangladesh, and the border of Mexico.
Her passion for midwifery began following the birth of her two children and was reignited while she and her family were living in Turkey, near the border of Syria when the Syrian Civil War broke out. Jeanna saw firsthand the waves of refugees fleeing from war and violence and the need for compassionate maternal healthcare in crisis settings.
She returned to the United States and completed midwifery school in 2016 and has dedicated her career to serving women and children in crisis/disaster and under resourced settings.
Jeanna specializes in high risk and special circumstance cases where she combines her education, expertise, and experience to develop safe and innovative approaches to healthcare in the field.