BIOTE PROVIDER

Dede Chism is the co-founder and Executive Director of Bella Natural Women’s Care.

Her passion for women and their dignity led her to a career in nursing.

She earned her Master’s Degree in Nursing with a specialty as a Perinatal Nurse Practitioner from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

Dede has worked as a Nurse Practitioner specializing in high risk pregnancies for over 18 years with Obstetrix Medical Group and Swedish Medical Center prior to the conception of Bella. Dede participated in extensive continued medical education offered through the Pope Paul VI Institute.

Dede’s career in Nursing has taken her from critical care obstetrics and transporting pregnant women in helicopters with AirLife to authoring “The High-Risk Pregnancy Sourcebook” in 1997 through Lowell Publishing House, to expert medical consulting and to the high Andes of Peru coordinating medical missions.

An active member of the Christian Life Movement, Dede served on their council from 2009-2012 and participated as a US delegate and presenter for the Christian Life Movement at the International Plenary Assembly in Guayaquil, Equador in 2009 and has been asked to return as a US delegate for

the next Plenary Assembly Arequipa, Peru in 2015.

Dede has a 30 year history in youth ministry and has been able to combine her nursing and youth ministry skills at World Youth Days in Denver, Paris and Toronto as well as serving for over a decade at Steubenville Youth Conferences. Dede was a contributing author on a book on Prayer published through LifeTeen.

Dede and her husband Ken have been married for 36 years and are blessed with 3 grown children, their spouses and 9 grandchildren.

Dede and Ken love wine and chocolate!

They love to travel, spend time in the outdoors hiking, biking, snowshoeing, fishing, reading and enjoying God’s majestic beauty from mountains to seas.

Abby is the co-founder and Associate Director of Bella Natural Women’s Care.

She graduated from the University of Colorado with her Masters in Science and is a Board Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Regis University, Abby worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse for seven years.

Abby has completed the Nurse Practitioner Medical Consultant training through the Pope Paul IV Institute and is a Creighton Model Practitioner Intern and is committed to excellent obstetric and gynecologic care that promotes the dignity of Women.

Abby’s passion for preserving the dignity of women started long before her career in medicine.

She has been involved in youth and young adult ministry since high school.

Abby served for a year as a missionary with the National Evangelization Teams (NET Ministries) and has spoken at conferences throughout the country to young women affirming their beauty and dignity.

As a teenager, Abby had the opportunity to see the birth of a baby where she “felt as if angels were dancing around the room.”

She was drawn to the way the medical team worked in cooperation with the woman and family.

One of these team members was her mom, Dede.

She knew that one day she would be a part of that team.

Abby and her husband Justin are missionaries at heart and have served with the Christian Life Movement’s medical missions in Ayaviri, Peru.

Not only does her work and ministry life focus on women’s issues, but Abby and her husband have three young daughters Olivia, Madelynn and Mary Belle.

Abby is blessed among women!

Abby enjoys camping, swimming, snowboarding and being surrounded by the ones she loves.

Leigh Bauer is a board certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist. She attended undergrad at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and then went on to medical school at Des Moines University. Dr. Bauer was blessed with the opportunity to do her obstetrics and gynecology rotation with Dr. Hilgers in Omaha, NE which helped her decide that she wanted to specialize as an OB/GYN. Dr. Bauer embraced helping women figure out their menstrual cycles and helping them as they worked through infertility. After a four-year residency in Buffalo, New York, Dr. Bauer accepted a position in a hospital based OB/GYN practice in Northern Minnesota for three years prior to coming to Colorado.

Dr. Bauer was drawn to be a prolife physician as a teenager when her primary care doctor thought it was her obligation to council her about safe sex and being on birth control. It was frustrating for her and her mother when they assured the doctor she was committed to abstinence until marriage and the doctor told them all teenagers are sexually active. Dr. Bauer then met a wonderful family physician who encouraged abstinence until marriage and believed in them and their commitment to wait for marriage. It was so refreshing to have such a great doctor. This physician then invited her shadow her at a prolife clinic and Dr. Bauer witnessed the compassionate care to women from all walks of life that she herself desired as a physician.

Dr. Bauer and her husband, Jordan, are originally from Minnesota. They have three children: Seamus, Virginia and Danika. They are so excited to be living in Colorado and are having so much fun exploring the city of Denver and getting out into the mountains for hiking and exploring. Dr. Bauer is an avid runner and loves to spend as much time as she can in the beautiful Colorado sunshine!

Dr. Hodack is the family medicine physician at Bella Natural Women’s Care and Family Wellness. Sarah received her undergraduate degree from Colorado State University (Go Rams!) and she attended medical school at Creighton University. Dr. Hodack worked at a family medicine clinic in Greeley, Colorado for 5 years before joining the Bella team in 2016.

She pursued medicine because she finds the human body fascinating and she loves helping others through their medical issues so that they can live life to the full. Dr. Hodack views her job as a physician as a mission to serve every patient with dignity as a beloved child of God.

She is certified in family medicine and loves the wide variety of patients she is able to see all across the lifespan. She especially enjoys caring for obstetric and pediatric patients.

Dr. Hodack has been married to her husband, Troy, for five years. They have three children: Lucy, Finn and Clare. She is originally from Buena Vista, Colorado and loves reading, running, swimming and traveling.

Sharon is a Colorado native and was raised in Loveland CO with her three sisters. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1982 from the University of Northern Colorado. Initially, Sharon worked as a Labor and Delivery Nurse until entering her graduate program through Regis University, she graduated in 1992 as a Perinatal Nurse Practitioner.

For 25 years, she worked with high risk obstetrical patients in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Sharon enjoyed the joys and challenges in managing complicated pregnancies to provide the best outcome possible for every pregnancy.

Sharon began working for Bella in Oct 2016. She especially enjoys educating pregnant women in promoting maintenance of healthy lifestyle, not only during pregnancy, but throughout a woman’s lifespan.

Sharon and her husband John have been married for 30 years and have three grown children. They enjoy spending time with their children and large extended families, as well as spending time in the great Colorado outdoors hiking, sailing, snow shoeing and traveling to new places. Sharon also enjoys gardening, cooking and reading.