Meet Our Midwives & Staff

All of our midwives collaborate to collectively support you in pregnancy through labor. This team-coordinated approach allows you to know each staff member and also ensures that you have the most rested midwife for every part of your maternity care.

Our team is comprised of of both Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Direct Entry Midwives.  All of our midwives hold state and national certification.

Our birth center is also CABC accredited, ensuring that we are practicing the highest quality of care.

Dana Brown has enjoyed birth as long as she can remember. Growing up on a ranch in Nevada, she witnessed horses and many other animals being born throughout her childhood.

Dana began her midwifery practice by supporting women during home births in Wasilla, Alaska from October 1986 to February 1988. In 1988 she returned to Fairbanks to practice midwifery in collaboration with a family physician for ten years at the Alaska Family Health & Birth Center (AFH&BC).

Today, Dana still loves and appreciates nature, enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, traveling, photography and gardening. She also enjoys beading, reading, music, and spending quality time with family and friends.

Dana is grateful for the opportunities to give birth to her own children at home and to attend the births of her grandchildren.

Dana says, “I love and am deeply rooted in my community as a community midwife.”

Since 1992, Cheryl Corrick has enjoyed different roles at Alaska Family Health & Birth Center (AFH&BC) ranging from full-time to part-time midwife, part-time administrative director and childbirth educator.

Cheryl is a lifelong Fairbanksan and became interested in becoming a midwife when she had her second baby at AFH&BC. She enjoys the great atmosphere at the birth center. Cheryl says, “I love seeing the new babies being born and the beautiful bonding between the moms, dads, and the babies.”

She enjoys activities with her kids, reading, movies, Alaskan summers, bike riding, traveling, cooking and spending time with family.

Julie Moon has been a Midwife at AFHBC since 2014.  Before that, she worked as a labor and delivery nurse and childbirth educator in Ketchikan and Kodiak for 14 years.

Julie has had a passion for birth since she was a young girl listening to her mother and aunts talk about birth and babies as each cousin was added to her family. Julie believes pregnancy and birth are all a process to help a couple grow themselves as parents, and she loves nothing more than helping couples find their path as parents in the way that is right for them.

Julie has three young children and an amazing husband who retired from the Coast Guard and stays at home with their children while she pursues her dream of midwifery.  She enjoys yoga, kayaking, hiking, camping, and traveling with her family, reading until the early hours, gardening, and experiencing new things.

Julie had her last child at home, and is grateful to be able to help other women find their way to the right birth for themselves and their babies.  She is also excited to offer well-woman care to AFH&BC, and to be able to provide holistic, evidence-based medical care to women from puberty to menopause.

 Erin Keiper is a certified nurse midwife and an Advanced Practice Nurse with a specialty in women’s health.  She was born and raised in Iowa, but spent the last five years living in Hawaii.  She was inspired to become a nurse while providing complementary medicine therapy for breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer patients.  As a nurse, Erin worked as a sexual assault nurse examiner to improve the quality of care for victims of assault.  She was drawn to the birth center by her belief that birth is a crossroads; when women can learn to trust their own strength.  They think it can’t possibly be done and then they do it!  After moving to Alaska, Erin met and married the love of her life Jeffrey Keiper. In her free time, she enjoys running, biking, climbing, cooking, and painting.

From a young age Amanda Penwell, who goes by Manga, loved pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.  As one of 7 kids, she saw the process played out in a way that made it a wonderful and fulfilling part of life.  Her mother did not instill a fear of birth, but let her be a part of it as the normal part of life that it is.  This is Manga’s foundation for knowing that birth is a normal and wonderful piece of family life.

Manga started her midwifery journey at 18.  She attended midwifery school and was grateful that women graciously allowed her to be a part of their births.  She learned that women are strong and birth works!  Since then, she has continuously worked as a midwife both in the US and overseas.  She has enjoyed her journey.

Manga has now returned to Fairbanks with her husband, Zak, and her two children.  Both of Manga’s children were born at home with midwives.  Manga and Zak were married 12 years ago in Fairbanks and left to travel the world. They are so excited to be home and to be raising their kids in Fairbanks.  They look forward to many years of serving and being a part of this wonderful community.

Kate Parks has been a part of the Fairbanks community for nearly 20 years.  She is married to local musician and business owner, Dave Parks.  They live in Goldstream Valley with their two children, Ella and Lucien.  Kate had been a practicing doula for 7 years before apprenticing as a midwife with AFH&BC since the fall of 2013. She is a firm believer in the midwifery model of care.  It was her own experience home birthing her son, as well as attending births as a doula, that helped her embrace her dream of becoming a certified direct-entry midwife. She loves working with the inspiring midwives and staff, as well as the wonderful mothers and babies that come to the clinic for their care. Kate became a licensed midwife with the state of Alaska in October 2016 and is honored to continue serving her community as part of the Alaska Family Health & Birth Center team for years to come.

Joy Keller lives on a community farm in Delta and primarily serves mothers also living there by attending their births, either at home or at Alaska Family Health & Birth Center (AFH&BC). She also occasionally fills in for the staff midwives at AFH&BC.

Joy was born at home and was 12-years old when she experienced her first home birth with a midwife. While growing up, she witnessed home births and took every opportunity to study childbirth-related topics while in high school. She taught elementary school children before training to become a midwife.

Joy has always loved and enjoyed nature which has greatly influenced her as a midwife.

Our Students

Kluane Tozier is a lifetime Alaskan and a student midwife who attends Mercy in Action College of Midwifery. She was born with Dana and the midwives at AFH&BC in 1993 and is very excited to be trained by, and working with all the wonderful women who are part of this practice. Kluane became interested in maternity care after working for a chiropractor who specialized in caring for women during pregnancy. She started talking to different people in maternity health care and decided to pursue an education in midwifery. Kluane loves to play and teach piano, spend time with her family and younger siblings, travel, eat Thai food, and drink coffee.

Hannah Brown is a recent transplant to Alaska, hailing from Idaho. She is a student midwife at AFH&BC and attends Mercy in Action College of Midwifery, which is run by Vicki Penwell, one of the midwives that trained Dana. Hannah and three of her siblings were born at home. She is excited to be serving the women and families of the Fairbanks area and is honored to assist them in having a wonderful birth experience.

Administrative Staff

• Jamie Gray, Office Administrator
• Monica Mazakis, Receptionist and Administrative Assistant

 

• Irene Schallock, Facility Manager
• Teresa McClean, Quality Assurance Manager

Our Board of Directors

• Gerald Culp, President
• Jenny Cross
• Dawn Tozier
• Jacquelyn Makinen
• Bruno Grunau
• Jennifer Grimes Waters
• Taryn Luskleet