WomanCare

07/22/2024

So apparently my account has been hacked. Sorry for this. Anything from "me" in the last days is not from me. I am trying to change my password, but somehow the way to do this is eluding me. I am open to suggestions. Thanks.

01/09/2024

It's a New Year and a new reality. For a plethora of reasons, I have joined the practice of Peggy Willis NP and Kenny Barron MD. Their practice is called The Center for Advanced Gynecology. I am seeing patients at their office, on Wednesdays. The office is located at 630 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Cville, 22911.

The good news is they (me) they take all insurance including Medicaid!

You may be pleased to know; they have an online scheduling option: https://www.virginiagyn.com/

You also can contact them directly to schedule appointments, inquire about medication refills or other questions: 434 234 4903.

As you will be a new patient to their practice, there will be new patient information and forms to fill out. So sorry, but this is unavoidable.

Please let me know if you encounter any bumps in the process--it is a new one.

Thanks for your patience with this.

Sorry, I am sure this isn't the best of news. I have very much enjoyed caring for you in my lovely home office these last 23 years. But the modern world has become less accommodating to outliers, and wearing all the different worker hats finally became too much.

I look forward to seeing you at my new digs.

I hope you can roll with this.

The Center for Advanced Gynecology is a medical practice located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Schedule an appointment today and come meet our team in person!

09/20/2023

I am passing along this post from a Perinatal Epidemiologist Dr. Marit bovbjerg. I found it a good read.

NEW BOOSTERS Epidemiologist opinion--get one.

I'm waiting a few more weeks for novavax. (aside: Current variants, there are two, present either with sore throat/stuffy nose/etc OR as massive GI issues. That poopy plane? Probably cvid. Keep an N95 on your face in public spaces. No one needs to breathe that in.) Background--Pfizer and Moderna had new mRNA boosters approved by FDA on Monday and by ACIP (a CDC panel) yesterday. Novavax (a protein-based vaccine, more like your normal kind of vaccine) was approved by ACIP on Tuesday with the other two, but we're still waiting on FDA. Should be within a month; they have submitted the data, and the data look very good. From my read of the data, all three will keep you out of the hospital, and all three are a decent match to variants currently circulating. BUT Novavax does a better job at preventing infection in the first place. Which means it's better protection against long cvid, which honestly is what I'm worried about at this point.

We are very good at treating acute infections now (partly this is because many folks have already died, so the ones who are left are healthier, but also healthcare workers have learned a lot in the last 4 years), but there's a 10-30% risk of medium- and long-term nasty complications with each infection. You want to risk it? Novavax is also more variant-resistant, and immunity doesn't wear off as quickly as it does with the mRNAs.

Finally, Novavax is being trialed as a treatment for long cvid, so if you have a prior infection, it may help with any viral persistence issues you're having. Novavax has fewer side effects, too, but that is not part of my calculus; I'd happily take the horrible 24 hours post-mRNA if they were otherwise better. But I don't think they are. Previously, novavax was only approved as a booster if you hadn't already had an mRNA booster. I'm really glad ACIP got over themselves and is now allowing it for everyone 12 and up.
--Marit bovbjerg MD

12/31/2022

Hi all.

I want to clarify, to those that seem a bit confused. I am NOT closing my practice. I want to assure my current patients, I am here, seeing patients on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am answering emails and addressing needs on Mondays and Wednesdays. I did decide that I have enough patients, and that by continually adding more, I was being less available to my current patients than I wanted to be. Thus I am not taking new patients.

It is true that I am expanding my services. I am also providing Psychedelic Therapy using Ketamine -the only currently legal psychedelic. This is exciting work bringing deep healing through altered states of consciousness. This work is happening at The Center for Wellness and Change. For information, please visit our website: https://www.wellnessandchange.com/ketamine-assisted-psychotherapy

In order to expand my practice into the therapy realm, I completed a certificate program in Psychedelic Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies (2021). I am now getting close to finishing close to 2 years of study in Compassionate Inquiry. This is the trauma informed therapeutic approach of Gabor Mate. Learn more here: https://compassionateinquiry.com/the-approach/

I am offering Compassionate Inquiry focused individual therapy in my WomanCare practice. I am accepting a limited number of new clients for this.

It's almost 2023. Let it be a year of rest and reflect. Of turning inward in personal growth and outward in caring and compassion. We all can make that be so.

With warmth and love,
Claudia

What Is Compassionate Inquiry®? Compassionate Inquiry® is a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté that reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. Using Comp...

08/21/2022

Hi All,
So. my facebook presence has been a covid casualty...Too much to do, so little time....I am still up and in practice, however, I am no longer accepting new patients--it has just gotten too busy....Sorry. But if you are an established patient, visit my website for practice details: womancareva.com or email me at cvillehealth@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Claudia

04/10/2021

This is a great piece by Arwa Mahdawi, part of her This Week in Patriarchy column.
I have always maintained that 37 is when I have seen women start taking some more time to get pregnant, nice to finally have some data to support this.
The data showing continued significant fertility of women until 40 is quite lovely.
Clinically I am also seeing both later menopause and earlier that typical menopause. Interesting. We are changing...

A new study has extended women’s reproductive life spans to 37.1 but the earlier figure was always arbitrary and unscientific

03/30/2021

Today Governor Northam signed HB 1817 into law--with no restricting amendments!!! This bill allows for the autonomous practice of Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Midwives beginning July 1, 2021. New graduates attending births have a 1000 hours of required supervision by a CNM or physician.

I have been a CNM in Virginia for 33 years. This has been a long time coming. This bill means that CNMs can work under their own license without the need to find a MD to agree to let them practice.

It is a big deal.

Thank you all for your support--in all ways. I appreciate you!

03/28/2021

HB 1817 made it through the General Assembly without restrictive amendments.
It awaits the governors signature. There are still parties trying to restrict CNMs practice. Gov.Northam has until March 31st to sign the bill. Let's encourage him to sign it without amendments...
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/

Constituent Services, Commonwealth, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Northam, Ralph Northam

03/02/2021

If you have a minute to help make my practice be secure please read on.

House Bill 1817 has passed the Virginia house and the senate. It provides for independent CNM practice in Virginia. I would no longer need a consultant agreement signed by an MD in order to work. This is no small thing for me--some will remember when I was forced out of practice for a year over this issue--back in 2000.

The governor is being heavily lobbied by the medical society of Virginia to not sign the bill or amend it,in unclear ways. They have been trying to do this from the start, without success. They claim a consult agreement keeps CNMs in safe practice. In truth our skills training and experience, keeps us in safe practice. Our compassion and caring and consulting with the appropriate provider when needed--not just our consultant MD, keeps our practice safe.

Consultation agreements keep MDs as the gatekeepers of the healthcare system. It keeps them in control. That is why they are going all in--AFTER losing their fight in both the House and Senate. This is a restraint of trade issue. This is about speaking truth to power. It is about leveling the playing field--and that is what some MDs just can't abide.

If my consultant MD becomes unavailable, it is unclear if I could find another. If not, without this law, I would have to close my office.

MDs often don't want to sign consultant agreements due to perceived liability risks. In many parts of the state, they just don't want the competition. In some places they just don't get or like CNMs. I have seen MANY CNM practices close for lack of a consultant MD agreement.

Please send the governor a note--asking him to do the will of the General Assembly to sign HB 1817 as is, without any restricting amendments. Let him know why you support CNMs.

Thank you,
Claudia
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/

Constituent Services, Commonwealth, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Northam, Ralph Northam

02/27/2021

From the New England Journal of Medicine. A sobering piece of news--COVID reinfections with worse symptoms on the second round.

Reinfections: Five residents of a Kentucky skilled nursing facility who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during an outbreak in July 2020 tested positive again during a second outbreak more than 3 months later. All five had at least four negative PCR tests between their first and second positive tests. That — plus the lengthy interval between the positive tests — suggests that the second positive tests represented reinfections, researchers write in MMWR. All five patients had more than three underlying health conditions, although none were immunocompromised. During the first outbreak, three of the five cases were asymptomatic and the other two had mild symptoms. During the second outbreak, all five experienced worse illness, and one patient died. The researchers write, "These findings highlight the importance of maintaining public health practices that reduce transmission risk, even among persons who have previously received a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result."

02/04/2021

February 2001 WomanCare opened!

Happy 20th anniversary to me!!!!

I am visioning a party with a band and dancing all night with all the wonderful, interesting, creative, caring, inspiring women who come here--you all need to meet each other!!!
You are wonderful!!
I send thoughts of appreciation to all you great women who have come here and entrusted your care to me.
You make my work a joy, every day!!
Thank you!!
Claudia

11/20/2020

Open enrollment for ACA -the Affordable Care Act -Obamacare is NOW until December 15th. Go to https://www.healthcare.gov to sign up. Please spread the word. The current administration is doing no outreach. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege.

Many states now have expanded Medicaid which increases the income qualification for fully subsidized insurance.

If you are unemployed or underemployed and have lost your insurance, you qualify for this--and if your income has dropped, this can be very affordable.

Unfortunately it is not very affordable for middle and upper income earners. Perhaps it will become so as it morphs into Bidencare....we can hope.

Official site of Affordable Care Act. Enroll now for 2021 coverage. See health coverage choices, ways to save today, how law affects you.