UPMC Kane welcomes Julie Szymanski to Women’s Health Team
After years of working in women’s health throughout the state, Julie Szymanski is returning to her hometown of Kane to practice women’s health as part of UPMC Kane’s rural health initiative.
Szymanski moved to Kane in the fourth grade. She has lived here ever since, although her work in women’s health care has taken her across the state from St. Marys to Waynesboro.
In 1981, after graduating with a nursing diploma from Saint Vincent School of Nursing in Erie, Szymanski began her nursing career at Kane Community Hospital. She worked as an OB/Med-Surg nurse for years before deciding to become a midwife. “I’ve always loved labor and delivery. I felt I needed to be able to deliver,” says Szymanski, who has delivered over 1,000 babies in her career.
Nurses do everything pre- and post-delivery, and Szymanski wanted to be able to provide continuity of care for her patients. As a woman who has three children, Szymanski felt she was uniquely suited to be an advocate for her patients.
Advocacy is something Szymanski is very passionate about. “Women tend not to talk about things that are going on with their bodies, and just assume the things they are going through are normal,” she says, “I want them to know there are steps we can take to help with their challenges.” She likes to focus on education for preventative care and small lifestyle changes that can make women, “feel so empowered.”
Szymanski “loves” delivering babies but felt recently the call to focus more on women’s health. When she heard of an opportunity to once again work in Kane, as a part of the rural health initiative, Szymanski felt like it was meant to be.
This winter, Szymanski joined UPMC Kane in their initiative to advance women’s health care in the area. Szymanski is thrilled to be joining Dr. Sherice Young, her collaborative physician, and is excited to build women’s healthcare in Kane. “I truly believe with all my heart that I am meant to be serving here,” she says.
Szymanski strives to make every woman she works with feel comfortable. No matter the reason for their visit, Szymanski says, “I listen, and I hear. If there is an issue, we will work it out.” She never wants a woman to feel that they are judged or alone.
Since moving to Kane, Szymanski has embraced the Monday through Friday lifestyle that she is experiencing for the first time in her life. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday she is in the Johnsonburg office, and Thursday and Friday, she practices at UPMC Kane Summit Medical Park. The transition has been, “wonderful” and Szymanski is excited to be able to see patients whose babies she helped deliver years ago in addition to new faces.
Szymanski holds a master's degree in midwifery from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Hyden, Ky.; a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; and a nursing diploma from Saint Vincent School of Nursing in Erie, Pa. She is a member of the American College of Nurse Midwives and is certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board.