Joanne Hasman remembers the moment as if it were yesterday.

She was working as a nurse-midwife at McKeesport Hospital in Pennsylvania. Standing in the break room, a feeling of purpose overwhelmed her.

"In that moment I knew in my heart that I was doing exactly what I was meant to do," she said, recalling her thoughts that day. "I was called to do this."

Joanne, who grew up in Rochester, New York, has been a midwife for 30 years. "My mother was a nurse, and I never seriously considered any other profession," she says. She began her nursing training right after high school and received her Associates Degree in Nursing in Mississippi. After a few months as a pediatric nurse she followed her then husband to Stillwater, Oklahoma and there she had her son, John. Her birth experience, as well as the friendly nurses in the obstetrics department, prompted her to try labor and delivery nursing.

She took a job at the same hospital where she gave birth to her son, working 2 nights a week. During this time, Joanne discovered her special gift for caring for women in labor, and learned about midwifery.

With her son, she moved back to Mississippi where she received her Certificate of Midwifery from the University of Mississippi at Jackson. From there she took a position as a nurse-midwife in Pascagoula.

After 2 years, she moved to Pennsylvania so that she and her son could be closer to their family in New York. She joined a practice at McKeesport Hospital and worked there for 18 years. "We had a wonderful nursing staff that supported our families and the midwifery model of care."

Also, during that time she earned her BSN from California University of Pennsylvania. In 1996 she was named in Who's Who of Students.

In 2001, Joanne started at Special Beginnings.

She was immediately drawn to the atmosphere here.

"We get to spend time with our clients here", she said. "We get to know them and their families, and they are able to get to know us. The bond of trust we develop is important", she said.

Joanne's philosophy on her profession is simple: "If you promise midwifery care, it's 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."