Date: December 13, 2024
Re: Appointment of Director of Corporate OB Women's Health Service Line
We are pleased to share that our systemwide initiative to enhance and champion the quality and safe care of our hospital-based women’s health services has expanded with the establishment of the position of Director of Corporate OB Women’s Health Service Line.
Laura Taylor, DNP, CNM, PMHNP-BC, has joined McLaren to assume this new role, which will report to the system Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Medical Director of Women’s Health.
Supporting service line leadership, Laura will further the program’s growth and development through innovation and continuous improvement. She will collaborate with subsidiary hospital administrative and clinical leaders, including obstetric, gynecologic, neonatology, and newborn clinicians, along with nursing leaders to ensure programs align with the goals set by the Maternal & Neonatal Health Steering Committee.
In addition to those responsibilities, Laura will pilot a perinatal mental health program, an initiative to address the mental health crisis in pregnant and postpartum women. Perinatal mental health conditions are the leading cause in over 75 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States, specifically by suicide and overdose. As a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Laura can evaluate, treat, and counsel women through various perinatal mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, bipolar, and others. The program will pilot through McLaren Northern Michigan and be evaluated for expansion to other McLaren Family Birthing Centers.
After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Michigan State University, Laura joined the United States Navy. She served as a maternal-child unit nurse and nursing manager while stationed at several military medical facilities throughout the country and around the world. She would ultimately earn several distinctions for advancing military care within the communities she was stationed, including being awarded with the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
While serving, she earned a Master of Science with a concentration on Nurse-Midwife from Georgetown University, ultimately becoming certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board. Following her discharge, she continued in her education, earning a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and a Post-Master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree, both from Michigan State University. Having become active in community volunteerism while in the Navy, she continued to give back upon her return to Michigan, founding the Perinatal Support
Group of Northern Michigan in 2023, through which she has reached more than 1,500 people in rural northern Michigan providing valuable resources, education, and support for perinatal mental health, and serves as a board member of women’s advocacy group Zonta Club of Petoskey since 2018.
In addition to her certification in midwifery, Laura has earned certifications in Perinatal Mental Health (Postpartum Support International) and as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-BC (American Nurses Credentialing Center).
Laura will join Dr. Tesler in meeting and familiarizing herself with the Family Birthing Centers and OB programs throughout McLaren in the coming weeks and months.
Join us in welcoming Laura to McLaren and please offer her your full support.
Click here to download the full memo.