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KBFPC STAFF
STAFF BIOS Michelle Waneka, Director: From auspicious beginnings as an occasional but
dedicated volunteer to the present all-consuming responsibilities of
executive directorship, the adventure continues to be oh-so rewarding.
I love and believe in what the Clinic stands for: personal
responsibility, active participation in one's own health, empowerment of
the individual, shared experiences, and the autonomy, worth, and the
freedom of choice for each of us - whether client, or staff or board
member. My job is to promote well-being - what begins in a smaller
circle expands to the greater whole - and why not? Our community
deserves the best of what a grass-roots reproductive care clinic can
be--unique and vibrant, striving for excellence, and committed to
offering our best to each person who walks through our doors. Sooo....I
hope to continue creating just that. Catriona Lowe, Clinic Manager: I’ve been working at the Clinic since January 2003, and the time has flown by. All of the Staff wear many hats: I love the variety of mine, and the way they fit. From case management to HIV counseling, billing, client intake, who knows what I’ll be working on at any given time? My favorite aspect of working here is empowering clients to make well informed choices about their health care. Before KBFPC, I was lucky enough to work at several other Homer area non-profits, including the Pratt Museum and Kachemak Heritage Land Trust. I am the parent of two boys, and enjoy playing and learning with them. When I’m not at work, you’ll see me out and about on my bicycle or running. I can also be spotted tap dancing with Off The Wall Studios or playing broomball at the Kevin Bell Ice Arena.
Julie McCarron, CNM-Practitioner: As a certified Nurse-Midwife/Advanced Nurse Practitioner I care for women across the lifespan and young children in my jobs at KBFPC and Homer Medical Clinic. I have been here at KBFPC since fall of 2004. I can’t think of a better place to work and grow as a practitioner and for women to come for women’s health care. It is such a positive place to work and I hope we make it a positive place for women to get their care too. I enjoy helping women make good health decisions to achieve their best state of health in all aspects of their lives. I am also the parent of 5 children ranging in age from 18 to 6. In addition to spending time with my husband and kids I enjoy hiking and camping, watching my kids sports games, reading and walking and skiing.
Sonja Martin-Young, CNM-Practitioner: I am a certified nurse-midwife. I split my time between doing well-woman visits at KBFPC and full scope midwifery at Homer Medical Clinic. I started practicing at KBFPC in spring 2002 and really enjoy working here. I have a passion for helping women achieve their optimal health. I value the opportunity to empower clients in making reproductive health choices that work for them. When I am not being a midwife, I spend time with family, my dogs and horses and enjoy reading, hiking and skiing. I am very happy to be part of the Homer community.
Shay Hoffman, Clinic Assistant: My illustrious career with KBFPC began in 2000, when, fresh off the boat from California I wandered by the little house on Main street in search of good deeds to do. From coaching Latina teenagers through their pregnancy and birth to working in a sperm bank, I’ve been drawn to the field of women and health for some time. As volunteer, board member and now bonafide clinic assistant, I’ve felt fortunate to be involved with an agency that provides such accessible, high quality care to the community. On days off, I might be found pulling weeds, stringing beads or trying to learn a thing or two from my son.
Marla McPherson, Clinic Assistant: I joined KBFPC’s staff in 2006, after ten years working in outreach and development with other local nonprofit organizations including the Pratt Museum, Cook Inletkeeper, and Kachemak Heritage Land Trust. I believe that health care is a fundamental human right, and am proud to be part of a clinic that makes quality reproductive health care more accessible. I love living in Alaska, where I can pursue all the activities that make my life richer -- backpacking, cross country skiing, natural history, homesteading, dancing, music, and coaching the high school debate team. Theresa Miller, Clinic Assistant: I traveled to Homer in the summer of 2010 from Austin, Texas where I worked as an archaeologist. I started working with KBFPC as a volunteer in the summer of 2010. I was drawn to KBFPC because I wanted to help empower individuals and advocate for reproductive rights. I helped organize the breast cancer run and was so impressed with the community involvement that I wanted to take part in this wonderful organization. I was fortunate enough to be hired into the outreach program. Going door-to-door providing information about the clinic, as an outreach worker, was awesome experience! Now, as a clinic assistant, helping to counsel individuals and working to provide reproductive health services has proved to be extremely worthwhile and fulfilling. On my spare time I can be found hanging out with friends and family, watching live music, reading, riding bikes, playing volleyball and broomball, and eating and cooking good food.
Jillian Rogers, Clinic Assistant: Shortly after arriving in Homer in the spring of 2009, I was approached at home by Women’s Health Outreach advocates and I knew then that KBFPC was something I wanted to learn more about and become involved in. In October 2010, I joined the Outreach initiative as an advocate and moved over to the clinic in late December 2010. My experiences in both facets of KBFPC have enabled me to learn from, listen to and educate members of this great community about various health issues and concerns. At the risk of sounding trite, I must say that I am continually amazed at what a phenomenal asset KBFPC is to Homer and the surrounding area, and how gracious its staff, clients, board members, volunteers and supporters are. When not at KBFPC, I train and race my 26 Alaskan huskies as well as write and photograph for various publications. Chris Fontaine, Outreach Project Director: I have been lucky to be working as Outreach Project Director at KBFPC since 2003. The positive atmosphere here and supportive, caring co-workers make this job a treat. Doing one-to-one outreach around the southern Kenai Peninsula is always an adventure, with so many opportunities to connect with the wonderful members of our diverse communities. This job keeps it fresh and interesting for me, as finding new ways to reach people means something different every day. As for the rest of my time, I love hanging with my son, playing soccer, x-country skiing, and spending time with my beautiful friends and family. KBFPC Outreach staff: Marie Herdegen, Marfa Molodih, Kathy Morton & Heather Petrino. "ALTERNATIVE" STAFF BIOS
Michelle Waneka Michelle recently left a long-time career in crab fishing, after becoming famous on the TV series Deadliest Catch. Michelle is best known as the fearless captain leading an all women crew on the F/V Guinness, and is revered for her unwavering leadership in the high seas of the Bering Sea. The new-found fame on Deadliest Catch was not a natural fit for this modest women, so Michelle reluctantly left her long-loved career in commercial crab fishing and moved to Homer to create a new life for herself. The KBFPC board quickly snatched her up, knowing that her experience as a crab boat captain would be a perfect fit for Director of the Family Planning Clinic.
Julie McCarron Julie joined KBFPC after completing her Ph.D. in biomedical research at the University of Rochester Medical Center. At Rochester Medical Center, Julie interned for William Bonnez, M.D. in research that helped lead to the invention of the HPV vaccine, which now prevents a type of cancer that affected 225,000 women worldwide each year. Julie also homeschools her five children, and serves on the President’s Council for Women’s Health, where she helped found womenshealth.gov.
Sonja Martin-Young Sonja grew up in the San Diego Zoo, where her mother was a zookeeper that specialized in primates. Sonja traveled with her mother throughout the world to study primates in the wild, and it was during her childhood in the Republic of Congo where Sonja discovered her passion working with people. Sonja and her mother lived with family friends who ran a health clinic in Kinshasa. When Sonja’s mother would go to the mountains to study gorillas, Sonja stayed behind to help at the clinic. At age 13, Sonja helped deliver her first baby, which lead to her career in OBGYN and midwifery. When you come in to see Sonja, please bring a 16 oz skinny Alaska Chai and wear purple underwear. Catriona Lowe
Shay Hoffman Shay grew up on a farm near Austin, Texas, where she would escape after a hard-days work to indulge in the cowboy poetry and country music scene in this famous music-capital. Her poetry and song-writing talents were recognized by her high school teacher, who introduced her to Bonnie Rait’s manager in 1990. Shay wrote several hit songs performed by famous female singers such as Bonnie Rait, Kathy Mattea, and Allison Krausse. Her career as a song-writer for such influential female artists made Shay uniquely aware of the strengths, hopes and desires of women. She began volunteering with women’s health clinics, primarily serving the immigrant Latino population in the inner city. It was here that she found a new passion for working with women and families in public health. She completed a nursing degree and while working as a traveling nurse, she landed in Homer. She fell in love with this beautiful place, and with KBFPC. Theresa Miller: We first heard of Theresa Miller, while reading in Smithsonian Magazine about her groundbreaking archeology work in the Sacred Valley of Peru that revolutionized our understanding of Incan women and gender in ancient Incan society. Theresa landed in South America, from her home in Austin, Texas, when she moved to Venezuela to study contemporary South American politics, anthropology and Indigenous nutrition. Theresa is most proud of work with women in Venezuela & Peru to open a chef school that serves as a shelter and job-training center for single women and their children. After publishing her research in several astute journals (and publishing her recipes in several gourmet cookbooks), she was invited to Alaska to present on nutritional and feminist anthropology. She fell in love with Homer, its fine cuisine and its fine reproductive health clinic, and just this year was thrilled to build her first snow man. Jillian Rogers: Jillian was born and raised in the wilds of Canada, along the remote shores of the Yukon River. The stuff of legends, Jillian grew up among the wolves and the ghosts of gold-rush era miners. One cold winter’s day, a 9-year old Jillian was harvesting spruce boughs on the banks of the frozen river, to make a bed for aurora-gazing for her and her husky, when a lone woman and her majestic dog team appeared out of the darkness. The woman introduced herself as Susan Butcher, they exchanged a few kind words, shared sips of hot chocolate, and as Susan rode away she called back “see you on the trail.” A few months later, Susan won her first Iditarod. A few years later, Jillian had her first dog team and was breaking records as Canada’s youngest musher to run the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race, the Marmora Classic, Percy DeWolfe Memorial Race, and the Yukon Quest which brought Jillian to Alaska for the first time. Jillian moved to Alaska to found a dog-mushing school for young girls, in memory and honor of Susan Butcher, to empower young women to run and raise sled dogs and to learn winter and wilderness survival skills. She now applies her previous work to empower women and men at KBFPC to live life healthily and fully. Chris Fontaine Chris Fontaine’s journey to Alaska started in Chicago, where she worked as a fashion model for the magazine industry. She quickly discovered the dark side of the model industry, and how it drove women to starvation, depression, and self-hatred. She stuck with it long enough to fund her college education, where she was completing a degree in journalism from the University of Chicago and published a shocking expose on the dangers of the modeling industry on women’s health. Her story was picked up by Ms. Magazine, and she became a regular contributor to Ms. Magazine on issues of women’s health and empowerment. In 1994, Chris traveled to Alaska to complete research and write a piece on the innovative work of the clinic in reaching out to medically underserved women. She fell in love with Homer and the clinic and returned to lead-up one of the most unique women’s health outreach programs in the nation.
Marla McPherson Marla was raised on a sheep ranch in rural Colorado. At a young age, she followed a handsome Argentina sheep-herder to South America, where she traveled with a band of gypsies, learning tango, Spanish guitar, and the fine art of Les Trapézistes. In 1995, Marla began her career as a trapeze artist in the Circ Mundial de Buena Aires. When she wasn’t performing, she volunteered with rural development projects to preserve the sustainable agricultural lifestyles and practices of rural indigenous farmers. When Marla and her handsome sheep-herder returned to the U.S., she landed in Homer and in the outreach position at KBFPC, where she applies her background in entertainment and community development.
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3959 Ben Walters Lane, Homer, Alaska 99603 Phone: 907.235.3436 Fax: 907.235.8346
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