Certified Nurse Midwives

Jennifer Wright, CNM Jennifer became interested in midwifery while studying Anthropology at Mills College in Oakland, California.  She completed two years of service for the Peace Corps in Central African Republic working in maternal and children's health.  During her time in Africa she was able to begin her informal midwifery training with the local midwives.  She formally trained at the Yale University School of Nursing receiving her Master's in Nursing in 2000.  Jennifer is a Certified Nurse Midwife.  She has practiced in several different hospital-based settings including the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, private practice in Rapid City, South Dakota and a community based clinic in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Jennifer is native to the Pacific Northwest.  In Africa Jennifer met the love of her life and they are the proud parents of twin boys.  She is now living closer to her family in Portland and has been with Bend Obstetrics & Gynecology since December 2006.
Jessica A. Nelson, CNM Jessica is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and joined the practice at Bend Obstetrics & Gynecology in November 2008.  She grew up in the Midwest and decided to become a midwife at the end of high school.  She attended Oberlin College in Ohio and then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where she completed a two year direct-entry midwifery training program.  After attending home births for 4 years in the Salt Lake Valley, she decided to go back to school and become a Nurse-Midwife.  Jessica graduated from the Master's program at Yale University in 2004 with clinical training in the hospital and also at Best Start Center in San Diego, California. Jessica's first job as a Nurse-Midwife was on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, serving Native American women at an Indian Health Service hospital.  Jessica looked at several practices around the West when she decided to move from Arizona.  "Bend was my first choice because of the providers and the incredible hospital-based practice that Jennifer Wright, CNM has built with the support of the physicians at Bend Obstetrics & Gynecology, LLC.  Having worked in a variety of settings, I am excited by the options here for women when they are choosing midwives, doulas, childbirth, educators, and physicians." Jessica lives in Bend with her boyfriend and 2 dogs.