O'Keefe has been a nurse for 30 years, working in Perinatal Nursing and Education for the past 25 years doing clinical nursing, patient and staff education.

O'Keefe is an important leader on several levels for the March of Dimes.  O'Keefe started volunteering with the March of Dimes in 1998, first as a Team Captain for the hospital for the annual Walk America in Merrillville.  She then joined the committee for the WalkAmerica and currently serves on the Divison Board of Directors for the Northwest Indiana division.  She also helps as co-chair for the annual Perinatal Nursing Symposium for Northwest Indiana and Leadership Awards.   O'Keefe also brings her knowledge to the Indiana Chapter State Board of Directors and serves with the Chapter Program Services and Public Affairs Committees, and the Prematurity Summitt Committee for the annual Volunteer Leadership Conference. 

Says O'Keefe, "I do this because as a nurse working in Labor and Postpartum I have been dismayed to see the increase in prematurity that has occured over the last 20+ years.  In medicine we have improved technology in so many ways to help those with heart problems and cancer. I just don't understand why we cannot lick prematurity. To see these little babies is just mind boggling. They are so defenseless. So I am looking to the March of Dimes to help solve this problem. That is one main reason why I volunteer," she says. 

For more information about the work of the March of Dimes in the Northwest Indiana division, email Sandy Story or click here.