A Lasting Impact
Kitty Ernst Retires from FNU Kitty Ernst’s history with Frontier began in 1951 when she attended the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery, which was part of the Frontier Nursing Service. Her official retirement in May 2021 marks 70 years of dedicated service to Frontier Nursing University.
From 1954-58, Kitty also served as a nurse-midwife for the Maternity Center Association (MCA) in New York City. After practicing as a nurse-midwife, Kitty turned her attention to advocating for nurse-midwives to play an important
Passionate about ensuring that all families receive the best possible care during pregnancy and birth, Kitty is a dynamic and committed pioneer in midwifery education and practice. Even as a young nurse, she knew that she wanted to work in a place where she could make a difference in the lives of women and families. After graduating from the Waltham Hospital School of Nursing in Massachusetts in 1951, Kitty made the decision to attend the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery of the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), in Hyden, Kentucky. During her time as a midwifery student at FNS, Kitty realized the important relationship of midwifery care to the health of women and families. Throughout her life, Kitty often told the story of how awestruck she was when she first witnessed the power of a woman birthing in her own mountain home. Those first births Kitty witnessed as a midwifery student set her on a lifelong course of promoting and supporting normal birth, in a safe and comfortable setting, and educating midwifery students in these principles. Following her time at FNS, Kitty went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from Hunter College in 1957 and a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University in 1959.
2 Frontier Nursing University • Quarterly Bulletin
“Passionate about ensuring that all families receive the best possible care during pregnancy and birth, Kitty is a dynamic and committed pioneer in midwifery education and practice.” and respected role in our society’s health care system. During this time, Kitty began working as a parent educator, teaching some of the first childbirth education groups of the International Childbirth Education Association. As a
field consultant for MCA, she developed the family-centered maternity care model which was demonstrated by an obstetrician and nurse-midwife team at the Salvation Army Booth Maternity Center in Philadelphia. Generations of midwives have learned from Kitty that birth centers are crucial to providing midwives with a place to practice true midwifery; as a safe, cost-effective, and satisfying place for families to grow; and as a part of the healthcare system. Kitty co-founded the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC) in 1983. As Director of the National Association of Childbearing Centers, she continued to be a leader in the effort to bring birth centers and midwives into the mainstream of health care delivery and helped to institute the Commission for Accreditation of Freestanding Birth Centers in 1985. In the 1980s, Kitty became particularly concerned about two issues: the small number of nurse-midwives being educated each year, and the fact that the majority of nurse-midwives were being educated in large tertiary care centers and had a lack of out-of-hospital experience. To address these issues, she led the design and implementation of the first distance education program for nurse-midwives, which was adopted by the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, now known as Frontier Nursing University (FNU). Starting with the inception of the distance program in 1989, Kitty graciously shared her personal story, her passion, and her vision with every single class of incoming FNU students.
