Two are part of Clinic’s expanded Women’s Wellness Program
We’re excited to offer more specialist options to local women. I caught up with Dr. Homewood to hear her thoughts about caring for women at the Clinic.
The Clinic has always offered prenatal care. But what’s new for women’s care?
For one thing, The People’s Health Clinic has begun offering complete family planning services for the first time in its history. That’s really significant.
And now when a general practitioner and patient have gynecological concerns, the woman can see either Dr. Thomas or me “in-house”. And if it turns out to be something serious and we need more resources for diagnosis or treatment, the Clinic Coordinator can help find the easiest and least expensive way to get testing done, to afford medication, etc. If your doctor recommends an ultrasound, but you can’t afford it, the road really stops there. Here we can continue down the way to diagnosis and treatment.
One wonderful option for diagnosis will be mammograms at no cost to the patients over 40 years of age, thanks to the Susan G. Komen grant.
What other challenges do uninsured women face when it comes to their healthcare?
Being uninsured or low-income are great risk factors for lots of health problems, and cervical cancer is one of those. If a woman has not had a pap test for 6 or 7 years, she’s much more likely to have cervical cancer, and at a more advanced stage. And many of the women I’ve seen in my shifts at People’s Health Clinic get minimal preventive care – I have a 55-year-old patient who has never had a mammogram. There is a great need in our area that the Clinic can now help to address.