Our Nurse-Midwives
All of our nurse-midwives are professional healthcare providers and registered nurses (RN) who have graduated from one of the advanced programs accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). Nurse-midwives must also pass a national certification examination and meet strict requirements set by state health agencies in all 50 states.
Megan Cleveland: Owner & Nurse-Midwife
Megan was raised in Burlington, Vermont. While earning her bachelor’s degree she volunteered as an emergency medical technician.
Megan became passionate about birth and women’s health while studying abroad in Uganda during nursing school. She worked side by side with local midwives and attended births in rural community hospitals.
She attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree in nurse-midwifery and women’s health. After graduating she taught undergraduate nursing and worked as a triage nurse in a high-risk obstetric clinic in Philadelphia. In 2016 Megan joined a busy midwifery practice in northern New Jersey that focused on low-intervention birth and waterbirths, both in the hospital and out-of-hospital settings.
Megan joined Southwest Midwives in May, 2018 and is excited to continue to provide midwifery care and support birth in the Four Corners region. She feels it is a privilege to serve women and families during birth and to be a part of their stories. Megan lives in Durango with her husband and son. They enjoy fly fishing, hiking, and sharing meals with family and friends.
Carole Nighswander: Nurse-Midwife
Born and raised outside of Chicago, IL, Carole made Durango her home in 1992. She is the youngest of six with two older sisters and three older brothers. Carole has three grown children- two daughters and a son, all born at home, attended by expert midwives.
She studied Anthropology and French at Fort Lewis College. She graduated from the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics with a specialty in natural medicine and bodywork. Following the transformational experience of childbirth and motherhood, her pathway to becoming a midwife began. Carole graduated from the National College of Midwifery in Taos, NM and practiced home-birth midwifery for nearly 20 years. After a fulfilling and successful career attending low-risk women at home, the desire to broaden her scope of care impelled her to return to school to study Nurse-Midwifery. She obtained her Bachelor’s in nursing followed by her Master of Science in Nurse-Midwifery from the University of Colorado.
Carole has been attending births since 1999 and has attended to two generations within families. Her midwifery and nursing experience throughout the rural Southwest, Jamaica, Haiti, and Asia exemplified the depth of strength and wisdom within birthing women in every environment.
Carole loves her family, her friends, her dog and cat, cooking, eating, gardening, and adventuring outdoors. She is endlessly fascinated by moms and babies and passionate about learning how to care for them in ways that facilitate trust, faith, and empowerment.
Haley Yerxa: Nurse-Midwife
Haley was born and raised in Switzerland, Belgium and the U.S. After graduating high school, she studied Biology and Environmental Studies in Minnesota, but through training as an EMT, she gravitated towards birth and reproductive health. After working in California, Nicaragua, and Oregon, she completed her nursing and midwifery studies at Yale School of Nursing, finishing her clinical rotations in Navajo Nation. She then moved to Alaska and practiced as a nurse-midwife for nearly three years, providing care in a hospital and freestanding birth center. Haley finds it a privilege to join the long tradition of midwifery. To her, midwifery means safeguarding normal physiologic birth, working with people in a personal and supportive way to make informed choices for their own health, and bearing witness to the strengths of individuals and families every day. In her time off you can usually find her in the mountains with her partner, daughter, and dog. Haley joined Southwest Midwives on June 1, 2021.
Heidi Zink: Nurse-Midwife
Heidi met perinatal wellness and birth expert Dr. Michel Odent when Heidi was 20 years old. The meeting was a catalyst for her and she soon became passionate about birth and women’s health. This passion started Heidi on a career path that would allow her to follow in two generations of nursing footsteps – those of her grandmother and mother.
Since 2004, Heidi has shared her talents, skills, and knowledge at Southwest Midwives. Heidi’s clients have appreciated her attention to each woman’s uniqueness along with her guidance for women to know the innate power of their bodies.
Heidi’s accreditations include a BA in biology, with minors in wellness and psychology from the University of Denver, an accelerated BS in nursing from Regis University, and an MS in nurse-midwifery from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center with honors from Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society. In 2020, Heidi completed Dr. Aviva Romm’s Women’s Functional and Integrative Medicine Professional Training Program.
Heidi enjoys Durango, which is home to generations of her family. She spends her free time with her husband, friends, and family. She also enjoys the exploration and solitude of hiking the trails with her dog, Rosie
Ashley Iverson: Locums Nurse-Midwife
Ashley Iverson, CNM, MSN is helping Southwest Midwives by filling in for other midwives’ time off.
Amy Ginn: Founding Partner & Nurse-Midwife, Retired
Southwest Midwives Inc. has been midwife-owned since 1999. Amy retired on October 30th, 2023. She is grateful and honored to have worked with so many families in the Southwest Colorado area. Many people have helped support Southwest Midwives over the decades, including our own families, colleagues, and support staff in the office. The future is bright for the practice, as it goes into the hands of some incredible midwives who are just as dedicated to women’s health as Amy has been over the years.
Amy will continue to live in Durango with her husband, two sons who live close by, and some four-legged friends. There are lots of hiking, gardening, reading, sharing meals with friends, and general escapades in the coming years.
Mary Louise Walton: Founding Partner & Nurse-Midwife Emerita, Retired
Mary Louise Walton retired from Southwest Midwives on June 1, 2014. However, she then provided one day of coverage each month in June and July, ending her career on July 22, 2014. A native of western Colorado, she has lived in Durango since 1976. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in English. Later she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Colorado Mesa University, then went on to earn her master’s degree in nursing from Case Western Reserve University. Mary Louise obtained her nurse-midwifery education from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. She worked with mothers and babies for more than 37 years, first as a labor and delivery nurse, and then as a midwife.
Mary Louise and her husband Guy Walton have two grown children — a son and a daughter. She loves to knit, hike, read and garden.
Photos of Nurse-Midwives by Kelly MacNiven