Sarah Kohtio worked as a Certified Nurse Midwife and a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner for 11 years before retirement. Mrs. Kohtio has four children, three currently attending Bronxville School, Luciana (10), Leila (7) and Scarlett (4). Mrs. Kohtio worked at a free standing Birth Center in Austin Texas and at the University of Texas at Brackenridge Hospital as a CNM/NP.  She was willing to share information about her career and give advice to youth. 

Mrs. Kohtio took pre-requisite undergraduate courses in biology and statistics and obtained her BSN and MSN at Columbia University through their Entry to Practice program. She was able to obtain her RN and CNM/WHNP licenses all through the 3 year program. She noted that the most challenging part of her studies was caring for male patients while working on the RN portion of her studies because her passion has always been to care for women and infants.

When asked about the most rewarding aspect of her job, Mrs. Kohtio said, “The absolutely most rewarding part of my job was giving a voice and power to pregnant and/or laboring women who were disenfranchised or marginalized in any way,”. Mrs. Kohtio is so inspiring and continuously shows her deep commitment to giving every woman dignity, strength, and a voice during one of the most vulnerable and important moments in life.

One aspect of the job that Mrs. Kohtio found particularly difficult was working with people who weren’t practicing in a way that she considered ‘best practice’. She said, “As a younger employee I found it challenging to voice concerns over practices I believed were negatively impacting my patients. Being part of a large teaching hospital can be challenging because many practices are passed down through time and become routine but are based on old data,”. Overall, this aspect of healthcare can be complicated due to power dynamics but it is worth it for Mrs. Kohtio because of the passion she feels to help people.

There are many important traits for someone in healthcare to possess, however Mrs. Kohtio feels the most important is the ability to be patient and empathetic. Another important quality is dedication and curiosity surrounding current best practices/data and how it applied to their patients. She also states, “ It is vitally important for healthcare employees to be organized and efficient,”.

I asked Mrs. Kohtio how she feels about her career and if she could go back in time, if she would choose the career again and she said she would because although she has not been able to incorporate the hours associated with her past career into her current life, she knows that when her children are older she can find a way to assist women again. 

Mrs. Kohtio is a great example of what it means to be passionate about the field you work in, her  story highlights the impact and dedication behind a career in healthcare and women’s health. Her journey shows that being a Nurse Practitioner is not only about medical expertise, but also about compassion, advocacy, and lifelong learning. Despite the challenges she faced in navigating hospital hierarchies and outdated practices, her passion for empowering women and improving patient care remained unwavering. Mrs. Kohtio’s experience serves as an inspiring reminder that healthcare is as much about heart as it is about skill, and that even after stepping away, the drive to help others never truly fades.