 Pat
and Walt Sonnenstuhl live in Olympia, WA, and have been together over 35
years. They have lived in WA since 1983, and find it to be a beautiful
and peaceful place. Washington State is green and lush, with many beautiful
natural wonders and water areas. Some of our favorite places are: The Olympic
Peninsula, Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands. Pat and Walt live in
a "Country Art Deco" style home in West Olympia. They have many developing
collections, and their home is an eclectic mixture of antiques and memorabilia.
Pat and Walt have two adult sons: Chris and Eric. Chris lives in Olympia,
and Eric and his wife Victoria live in Austin, Texas. Of course this bio
wouldn't be complete without mention of the two calico's Kit and Caboodle
who know they have a good deal with this family. Pat has always had a connection
with cats, so you will always find one or two around.
Pat and Walt
encourage each other to develop their interests and special gifts. Through
the years this has lead them along many interesting pathways.
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Pat's
Current Projects
 Pat
is always involved with many projects. Getting Women's
Health Care Around the Neighborhood was the most major event
of 1998. Pat learned she loved designing and maintains web pages, and has
branched off into developing related web links. In 1998 she also took over
being WebMidwife for the Washington State Midwives Web Pages:www.cnm.wa.org.
Pat helped with the writing of FAQs for Sci.med.midwifery, and now these
and other information of interest to midwives can be found in the About
Midwives section: http://www.members.home.net/cnmpat/aboutmw.htm.
Pat is involved with several internet 'mailing
lists', and her interests center around networking with midwives, women
and those with specific health needs and concerns such as maintaining a
healthy diet and balanced eating. Pat recently received her MS degree from
through Philadelphia University
. This was an innovative Master's
Completion Program through the Institute
of Midwifery, Women and Health. Three quarters were spent studying
Insulin Resistance and it's implication for midiwves. She is wrote and
has published on the web, Evidenced Based Clinical Practice Guidelines
for practitioners working with obese women. This program is a very
unique and innovative Distance Learning Program. See Innovative Midwifery
Programs http://www.cnm.wa.org/edprograms.htm
for
more information. Pat has started writing curriculum for other nurse practitioners,
and is currently involved with Oak Tree Health Oaktree Health :http://www.oaktreehealth.com/
with
Katherine Camacho Carr, CNM, Ph.D., FACNM. In the past few years,
Pat has been writing
Professional
Book reviews and these are posted on her Web Pages. She enjoys these
interactions with authors and feels she is learning about the authors and
the books.
 For
the past three years, Pat has been involved with what she has termed Balanced
Eating. This way of eating is based on 40-30-30 Fat Burning Nutrition
by Joyce and Gene Daoust, The Zone by Barry Sears, Ann
Louise Gittleman and Protein Power by Michael and Mary Eades,
and . The essence of these concepts are: balancing carbohydrates, proteins
and the 'good fats' to help the body's hormonal system to stay in balance.
A second aspect of eating in a balanced way is developing a positive attitude
about food and health. Pat's lifetime of trying to determine the best way
of eating for herself has gone through many evolutions. Knowing true and
long lasting weight loss for some folks is no easy task, she has developed
a focus on eating in a way that is most helpful for the body. The study
of current resources, herbs and nutrition, has led to an interest in Syndrome
X, Insulin Resistance, PCOS and Diabetes. As a nurse practitioner, Pat
has been able to blend this nutritional information into her counseling,
and is presently involved with leading support groups for those interested
in these areas. The recent publication of the book Different
Bodies, Different Diets, as lead to a clarification that we are all
so very different, and different diets work for different folks. A favorite
site of hers is: Karen's Kitchen :
www.karenskitchen.com
 Pat
is also interested in all aspects of women's health, most especially the
prevention of disease and the maintenance of good health. She considers
herself a Holistic Practitioner, as education for lifestyle changes and
self care, support for complementary approaches and support for conventional
drugs and surgery as needed are cornerstones of her practice. She is involved
with leading support groups in the Olympia area and providing health care
as needed to her clients. She is a midwifery consultant and regular writer
for for www.obgyn.net, and monitors
several newsgroup covering such topics as GBS and a technical support group
for low carbohydrate eating.
 Pat's
interest in the computer started several years ago when she discovered
e-mail and newsgroups. Currently she is working with Office 2000 and is
SIG leader for a monthly MS Office Special Interest Group. She became
involved with OMUG (Olympia Microcomputer Users Group) http://www.olymug.org
in 1997 when her computer expert son moved to Austin. The group is a great
resource for anyone learning about computers, and meets folks at all levels
of needs. In addition to monthly meetings, the club offers a Web Development
SIG, Women's Networking SIG and Internet SIG. She is available to help
members with problems that are within her understanding. Through her interest
in computers she expanded her knowledge to include the development of web
pages. In addition to her own pages, Pat's Neighborhood, she maintains
the pages for the Washington CNMs, and developed and maintains the web
pages for The United Churches
of Olympia.
 Midwifery
and women's health care have been a long time interest of Pats. In 1965
Pat graduated from nursing school, and has been working in the field ever
since. In the late 1970's after the birth of her two sons, Pat developed
her interest in midwifery, and in 1981 graduated with a Certificate in
Nurse Midwifery. In 1983 she obtained her BSN in Nursing, and has practiced
as a nurse practitioner/nurse midwife since then. She has worked in a variety
of settings, usually in small CNM groups with one or two other midwives.
Settings have included rural areas, home births, birth center births and
hospital births. She has worked for an HMO, and for hospitals. She remembers
many beautiful births, and feels her clients teach her much about birthing
and life. Several years ago, Pat expanded her interest in hypnosis and
completed the intermediate level of hypnotherapy with Roy Hunter,MS/CHt
(Charles Tebbetts Method). She will use hypnosis in labor as women request
it for pain relief, and also for relaxation. She is available for locum
tenens work, and is especially interested in working with midwives from
rural areas.
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Personal
Interests
 |
 In
her spare time, when not in front of her computer, Pat can be found:
reading, watching TV, writing, spending time with family and friends, and
doing special needlework called Bargello. Both she and her husband share
interests in all types of music, especially rock and roll, Dixieland
and piano. Walt is especially
blessed with musical ability, and plays the harmonica, clarinet, saxophone,
bass recorder and banjo. Walt has played music for groups and church services,
and most recently has discovered Klezmer music. They are members of The
United Churches, and the Olympia Art Deco Society. They have a special
interest in the Art Deco Period, especially the Roaring 20's and
1939 World's Fair. Pat wishes to thank all of the wonderful folks who have
helped her with development and birthing of this site |
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