Susan Harris honored by her colleagues
for excellence in midwifery and women's health

Susan Harris, RN, CNM, has received an award for excellence in midwifery and women's health from the Maine Chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM). The award was presented June 26 at the Maine Hospital Association annual meeting, held this year at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

Harris, who lives in Appleton, retired from the Pen Bay Women's Health practice in 2007. But she hasn't given up caring for people in our community. She now delivers home-based care for Pen Bay Healthcare's Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice.

Susan began a career of serving women and families in the 1970s while working in the greater Cleveland, Ohio Free Clinics. In 1977, she completed nurse midwifery training at the Frontier School of Midwifery in Hyden, Kentucky, where she was a clinical instructor and midwife.

After falling in love with the coast of Maine, Susan permanently relocated to the midcoast area in 1982. She became the first nurse midwife to practice at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport and remained a presence for women and families in this community for 25 years. More than 1,500 children were welcomed into Susan's hands.

"Susan is a model and mentor of sensitive, respectful, approachable, safe care," said her colleague, Clara Buescher, CNM, in her nomination of Susan to the Maine Chapter, ACNM. "Her commitment to healthy mothers and infants included years of ongoing efforts and statewide collaboration to promote smoking cessation. Her interest and expertise in gestational diabetes guided many women to healthy births."

Caption information: Susan Harris, RN, CNM, poses with Roy Hitchings, Pen Bay Healthcare president and chief executive officer, at the Maine Hospital Association annual meeting June 26, after Harris was honored with an award from the Maine Chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives.