Deborah received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Northern Illinois University in 1973 and shortly thereafter began working at the 1st hospital in Illinois to allow fathers to attend their children?s birth. In 1974 she expanded her role by also becoming a certified childbirth educator. Deborah?s dream of serving women as a CNM became reality in 1982, and she received her Master of Science from the University of Illinois Chicago Medical Center in 1983.
She pioneered the concept of midwifery in the Aurora and Fox Valley area in 1987?working to give women choosing hospital births the same personalized attention and alternative choices of women choosing home or birth center deliveries. She has worked alongside various prominent Board Certified Obstetricians, Gynecologists, Perinatologists and Neonatologists in the area.
Pioneering again in 1997, she opened WomenFirst. WomenFirst has taken women?s healthcare into a new millennium with the old fashioned, fundamental values: respect and compassion, expertise and personal attention.