Nurse/Midwife from United States
Erica was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. She spent the decade after nursing school working as a labor and delivery nurse in a handful of different cities across the US including Nashville, Boston, Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Washington D.C. and San Diego. In 2023 she graduated from Midwifery school from the University of Minnesota with her Doctorate in Nursing Practice. Erica currently resides in San Diego, California and works as a hospital based Midwife at the University of California- San Diego Medical Center.
Being 20 minutes from the US/Mexican border and the busiest border crossing on the southern border, Erica loves the opportunity to interact with people coming from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds both at work with the pregnant individuals she cares for and also outside of work in her community.
Erica was first introduced to Guatemala in 2010 while in undergrad when she traveled with nursing school classmates to work with Guatemalan physicians to provide primary care in rural communities. She fell in love with the culture, people, food and beautiful scenery of the country and sought opportunities to go back after graduating nursing school. Several years after working as a nurse she did find an opportunity to return as a volunteer at a birth center in San Juan Laguna staffed by indigenous Comadronas (Midwives) and birth assistants from the Tz’utujil indigenous Maya community the clinic serves.
Between 2018 to 2020 Erica spent 2-3 months every year in Guatemala at the birth center assisting with staff trainings, reviewing protocols in collaboration with the off-site Medical Director and helping with general day to day clinic tasks. Erica loved her time working alongside the traditional Comadronas (Midwives) and birth assistants of the birth center and learning about their approach to pregnancy and childbirth. While working with this birth center Erica crossed paths with the Safe Motherhood team who were doing similar work in a nearby community and a lasting friendship was formed!
She is excited to be a part of the Safe Motherhood Project team and participate in her first Comadrona training with the team in 2025.
