Sara Wood Smith, R.N.
Hand in Hand Associate and Trainer
Sara Wood Smith has been working with children and parents for over thirty
years. Sara graduated from Pitzer College in 1966 with a BA in Anthropology
/Sociology. In the 1960’s, Sara did volunteer work in Liberia, West
Africa and in Madras State, South India. Upon return to the US she acquired
her Elementary School Teaching Credential, with special training in working
with children with special needs.
In 1970, Sara’s daughter Lisa was born. In the 1970's, Sara and
her husband periodically worked in a rural medical clinic in Mexico. In
1974, upon return to Palo Alto, she and her friend Patty Wipfler ran a
parent co-op preschool that became an after-school program, following
the same group of children from preschool through eighth grade.
In the 1980’s, Sara received her license as a Registered Nurse.
She worked as a Labor and Delivery Nurse for ten years in the Birth Center
of Community Hospital in Santa Cruz. Sara became the coordinator of the
Maternal-Child Health Education Department at the hospital, and taught
childbirth classes in English and Spanish.
In 1990, Sara founded the Family Health Education Center in Santa Cruz,
CA and for 10 years served as the Director of this multi-faceted program
that provided education and support programs for families with young children.
Over the years of parenting, Sara has been married, divorced, a single
parent, a welfare mother, a step mother, a co-parent for a child with
special needs, a working parent going to school, a parent with an “empty
nest,” and a dedicated advocate for many children and families.
For the past two years, Sara was been working closely with the Parents
Leadership Institute (Hand in Hand), as a consultant assisting with organizational
development and strategic planning. She is a Hand in Hand Associate Lecturer. Sara
speaks English and Spanish.
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