Staff Midwives

Merrylee Morschhauser

Certified nurse-midwife
Quality assurance
Assistant clinical director
Merrylee grew up in a large family, and remembers being present at the home births of her younger siblings, which fueled her passion for midwifery and out-of-hospital birth. She graduated wth a BSN from Messiah College, and took a job in high-risk labor and delivery in Philadelphia while studying for her MSN in midwifery and women's health at the University of Pennsylvania. At Birth Care since 2010, Merrylee is our quality assurance coordinator. She lives in western Pennsylvania with her husband and her three children, all of whom were birthed out-of-hospital with Birth Care midwives.

Danielle Isbell

Certified Nurse-Midwife
Director of Midwifery
Danielle comes to Birth Care from the West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle; commuting back and forth weekly. Her passion for midwifery started as a direct entry midwife, then she furthered her education to expand into the role of a CNM. In addition, she comes to us with 30 years of nursing experience. 


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Rebecca Ailstock

Certified nurse-midwife
High risk coordinator
Rebecca is a go-getter with a seemingly endless supply of energy and enthusiasm. She brings her wealth of knowledge to the task of managing the higher-risk clients and coordinating physician consultations. She believes in low-intervention childbirth and finds working in a birth center deeply rewarding. ​Rebecca has 13 nieces and nephews and enjoys spending quality time with them when she has the opportunity. She is an animal lover and has two cocker spaniels and a cat.

Beverly Jarrett

Certified Nurse-Midwife
Bev has had experience with many aspects of midwifery and related fields. She has owned her own home birth practice, has worked at a maternal-fetal medicine practice counseling high-risk clients, and has even worked in the NICU. She is happy to work for birth care, both in the office and catching babies in the birth center. 

Heather Rice

Certified Nurse-Midwife
Heather became a midwife to empower women to make decisions about their own health. She graduated from Cedar Crest College for nursing and from Bethel University for CNM. She loves to travel, to read books, and to play field hockey.

Myra Deluca

Certified nurse-midwife
Myra has a wealth of experience and catches a great many babies. She moved to Lancaster County from Dubois, PA because of her passion for natural birth. Myra has a loving heart, and a gentle calm presence that is remarkably grounding to staff and clients alike.

Rachel Rodemaker

Certified Nurse-Midwife
​Rachel, born and raised in northwestern PA, has enjoyed living in central PA since 2013. She began her nursing career in 1999 and spent nearly 20 years in maternal-child health nursing. She is a graduate Frontier Nursing University where she received her MSN in 2019. Rachel has a passion for women’s health and natural birth. 
Rachel is a happily married mother of four and Mimi to one. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and crocheting. 

Mary Zimmerman
Certified Nurse-midwife

​Mary grew up in Central Pennsylvania. Her interest in midwifery began when she learned that women in some countries die in childbirth because there are no trained females to help and wanted to help! She was familiar with the wonderful care of midwives because her mom birthed several of her 10 babies at home or in a birth center. Her love for adventure and desire to help women in underserved communities started her on a 6 1/2 year journey through college to eventually graduate as a certified nurse midwife from Frontier Nursing University in 2017.
 
Her dream of working as a midwife in an underserved area was realized immediately upon graduation when she was privileged to travel to the war-torn Middle East where she spent the past 4 years working among the internally displaced people and refugee population as a midwife. She provided prenatal and postpartum visits to women in their tents. We sat cross legged on the floor and sipped chai while discussing pregnancy, breastfeeding or whatever else the women in the tent wanted to discuss. Prenatal care in those settings is different than our office settings in America, but the concerns and cares of pregnant women are similar around the world.