The Women’s Health & Wellness Institute’s newly constructed Women’s Center offers female patients and their physicians a path to fully integrated care.
The new Women’s Health & Wellness Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center is designed to solve a persistent challenge facing physicians and patients alike: the fragmented delivery of women's health care. In a landscape where integrated treatment plans are scarce, both patients with complex medical needs and their caregivers grapple with the frustration of disjointed care, yearning for a comprehensive approach that addresses all facets of their well-being.
The ambitious goal of the new Women’s Center, whose official opening will be in October, is to transform women’s health care into a “one-stop” holistic model that serves the woman on all levels — physical, mental and spiritual — explains WHWI Executive Medical Director Tiffany Grunwald, M.D. “We want to ease the way of the patient while making it easier for physicians to help that patient,” she says. WHWI Executive Administrative Director Joni Chroman notes that women shoulder a disproportionate weight when it comes to illness: “Women carry a 25 percent higher disease burden than men, and yet clinical research to address these disparities barely exists. We need to change this, and the scope of the WH&WI is broad enough to engage all stakeholders in this critical work,” she says.
Says Providence Saint John’s Chief Executive Michael Ricks, “With the opening of the Women’s Center, we’re yet again delivering on the Providence Saint John’s Promise, to “know me, care for me, ease my way.” I couldn’t be more proud about the efforts of the WH&WI team to deliver extraordinary, holistic, personalized care and healing to women in our Westside community.”
Key to the transformation is a team of patient navigators who facilitate compassionate comprehensive care. Each Women’s Center patient will be paired with a navigator, who will help her with locating practitioners, scheduling appointments, following up on test results and participating in patient education. Translation services will also be available for those who need them.
The clinical facility itself is a bright and airy 7,000-square-foot building on Saint John’s campus that includes exam and consulting rooms, a physical therapy gym, and a meeting room where medical specialists can get together as a team to review the progress of patients under their care. Alternative medical therapies such as acupuncture and massage will be offered in “spa rooms.” Women will be able to schedule screenings such as mammography, pelvic exams and InBody body-compositions scans at the center. A small, carefully curated wellness boutique offers visitors supplies such as dietary supplements, home physical therapy equipment, lactation supplies and books.
Three pathways
The ultimate goal is to provide integrated care across all stages of women’s lives, but the initial focus, says Dr. Grunwald, is on three distinct pathways where the need is greatest: “fourth trimester” (postpartum) care, including lactation help; pelvic health, including incontinence; and cancer survivorship.
Dr. Grunwald anticipates adding a new care pathway every six months until the center eventually reaches a total of about 20, providing comprehensive care for women through all stages of the life cycle, from puberty and maternity to menopause and beyond. Additional pathways on the near horizon include fertility and hormone balance. The center will also be adding a program of community education events on women’s health topics, spearheaded by the women’s health and wellness team.
“Our center navigators serve as a portal to the delivery of integrated care within the wider community,” says Chroman. “We provide easy access to every physician and surgeon who cares for women at Saint John’s.”
To schedule an appointment for October and beyond, please contact 833-336-7437 (833-3FOR-HER) or visit providence.org/saintjohnswomens.
Female-focused, integrated health care is the mission of the new 7,000-square-foot Women's Center on the Providene Saint John's campus. The facilities include a physical therapy gym specializing in pelvic health, as well as exam, consulting and meeting rooms.
