NorthShore Employee Spotlight: Valerie Allmon, CNM 

Valerie Allmon, certified nurse midwife (CNM) with NorthShore Health Centers, finds that caring for people comes to her naturally, especially when it comes to working to inform and accommodate patients throughout their health journey. 

Allmon, who works out of the NorthShore Health Centers clinic in Valparaiso, began her medical career in 2014, after obtaining a bachelor of science in nursing from Purdue North Central University. She started work with Methodist Hospital Southlake Campus, focusing on surgical nursing for a period before transferring to work as a labor and delivery nurse. This shift hooked her from the start. 

In 2015, Allmon moved to Northwest Health – Porter in order to work closer to home. There, she continued work as a labor and delivery nurse. 

For Allmon, her time in this area came from passion as well as a deeper desire to empower female patients. 

“Not at my hospitals, but I have seen places that don’t really have conversations with women. I didn’t like that. I feel health care should be individualized and all about shared decision making,” Allmon said. “It’s really important to explain why the recommendations are X, Y, and Z, and to provide evidence-based care. You also want to make sure that the patient actually understands those choices and feels like their input mattered for the process.” 

Allmon continued her work as a labor nurse with Porter Hospital for seven years until 2022. While Allmon found her passion for women’s health as a labor nurse, she knew she desired a larger responsibility throughout the process of pregnancy. 

“I wanted to go further because I wanted to be able to build better relationships with women,” Allmon said. “As a labor nurse, you’re only there for 12 hours at a time, so I thought it would be nice to be able to support women throughout their entire pregnancy and postpartum journey.” 

Through careful consideration, Allmon ended up deciding to pursue midwife certification. Certification requires both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so Allmon entered Frontier Nursing University’s program, eventually receiving a master of science in nurse midwifery. 

In 2023, Allmon began work for OGA as a midwife. The following year, OGA merged with NorthShore Health, serving as a specialized part of the NorthShore Health Center system focused on women’s health. 

The supportive nature of NorthShore’s Valparaiso location sticks out to Allmon as a key component to the clinic. 

“As midwives, we lean on each other and help support each other,” Allmon said. “We have different years of experience between all of us. We also have similar philosophies and mindsets that help us as a team.” 

Allmon’s time with OGA and now NorthShore Health Centers has allowed her to grow into her role as a women’s health provider, working to continue extending her knowledge and guidance to those that she meets with. She gives every patient the opportunity to speak to her about each part of the pregnancy process, developing a sort of guide for the birth.