Western, Traditional and Complementary Approaches:
All WHS practitioners are schooled in and knowledgeable of Western medical science. Our MDs and CFNPs hold medical degrees from some of the most prestigious schools in the country and have practiced extensively in hospitals, clinics and private practice. All are board certified in their specialties. In addition to Western medicine, our doctors and nurses are also familiar with and open to complementary, alternative approaches, including nutritional, herbal, homeopathic, bio-identical, plant and eastern-based approaches. Many of our practitioners believe that the time-tested traditional approaches, passed down from generation to generation, often have merit and applicability. Our providers take time to find out the patient’s health care philosophy and approach to well-being and offer individualized treatment options.

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Primary Care:
WHS is a primary care facility, providing full spectrum care from well-patient annual exams and preventive care to ongoing treatment of health issues. WHS brings a sex- and gender-specific approach to primary care. The hormones a woman's body produces create biological differences that affect almost every organ and function in her body from the day she is born through the childbearing years, menopause and old age. These differences result in striking divergences in how women and men metabolize everything from carcinogens, making women more susceptible to certain cancers, to pain relievers, some of which are less effective in women. Heart disease, diabetes, addiction, thyroid function and even migraines behave differently, and need to be evaluated and treated differently, in women and men. WHS is one of 14 nationally designated Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health.

The providers at WHS believe that the psychological, social and spiritual aspects of a woman's life affect her well being. At WHS, appointments are scheduled to allow providers and patients time to talk to patients and understand how the various aspects of life may be affecting a person's health.
Practitioners providing primary care services and currently accepting new patients are: Dr. Dutima Batra, Dr. B.J. Whatley-Manoff, CNP Naomi Landau, CNP Cristy Wickman, and Dr. Cecelia de La Vallee.

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Gynecology:
Due to WHS' emphasis on and dedication to women's health and our understanding that women's reproductive organs are not independent of the rest of her body, most WHS practitioners provide gynecological care as part of their primary care practice. This approach allows our providers to examine the often interconnected health issues women experience during adolescence, the childbearing years and menopause. Standard care includes annual gynecological exams, pap smears, breast exams, birth control, infertility counseling and treatment, STD prevention and testing and menopausal therapies.

Staff Gynecologist Dr. Cecelia de La Vallee provides specialized gynecological services and procedures, including colposcopy and endometrial biopsies. She provides treatment for abnormal pap smears, abnormal bleeding, urinary incontinence as well as providing diagnosis and consultation on a wide range of reproductive organ problems.
Practitioners providing standard gynecological care and currently accepting new patients at WHS are: CNP Naomi Landau, and CNP Cristy Wickman.

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Integrated Behavioral Health:
Research confirms that a patient's outlook and approach can affect both the onset and progression of an illness. Heart health is affected by stress; disease can heighten depression; obesity is aggravated by emotionally driven over eating, and the list goes on. WHS knows that a woman's physical health is deeply connected to her emotional and spiritual well being and vice versa. Beginning in July 2004, WHS put our belief into practice by adopting an integrated team-based model of care in which a patient and her health care provider work with a behavioral health consultant, when appropriate, to address a woman's combined emotional and physical needs.

So, rather than going to a 50-minute therapy hour which occurs in isolation from a patient's physical care, WHS patients can meet with an on-site behavioral health consultant in conjunction with their medical appointments. Typically, treatment is completed in one to three 15 to 20 minute sessions. This integrated health approach has been proven to improve outcomes for a variety of health and behavioral conditions including diabetes, chronic pain, depression and anxiety, while improving both patient and provider satisfaction. Integrated Behavioral Health can help patients address the barriers that hinder adoption of a healthier lifestyle and can provide patients with tools to hone skills and instill new habits. Some emotional issues require more intensive psychotherapy than can be appropriately handled in an Integrated Behavioral approach, and in those cases, WHS refers patients to other community resources. Because of our belief in the value of an integrated approach, WHS is happy to accept referrals for counseling for patients open to receiving their primary healthcare at WHS.

Carolyn Tjoland, LPCC, is currently accepting new patients upon referral by a WHS primary care provider.

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Community Education:
WHS' Community Education Program offers workshops open to anyone in the community. Learning opportunities vary throughout the year and may include the following:

• Living Well: A four-part series on incorporating healthy eating, exercise, emotional well-being and goal setting into your life to reap both physical and psychological benefits
• Heart Truth: Understanding risk factors and preventing heart disease
• Menopause: An Integrated Approach
• Coping with Holiday Stress and Blues (usually Nov-Dec)
• BodyWorks: A 10-week program for parents and caregivers of girls ages 9 to 13 to help girls and their families create healthier lifestyles
• Art & Leadership: In partnership with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, a summer program for pre-adolescent girls focusing on independent thinking, problem solving and leadership skills while nourishing and developing artistic skills

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Menopausal Therapies:
Women usually pass through menopause between the ages of 50 and 52. But the peri-menopausal transition can start as early as fifteen years before actual menopause and post-menopausal changes last for the rest of a woman's life. Some women appear to pass through menopause with very few physical or emotional complaints, while others are quite affected by its physical and emotional manifestations. The signs and symptoms of menopause are as individual as each woman, but can include hot flashes, mood swings, depression, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances, facial hair and acne, heart palpitations, headaches, urinary tract infections and decreased libido. At this time women are also at increased risk for developing osteoporosis and heart disease.

Many women experience changes that may be significant to their health and may warrant seeking medical attention, yet would prefer more natural and individualized approaches than are generally available through conventional treatment.

At WHS, many of our health care providers have chosen to place special emphasis on helping women cope with peri-menopausal, menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms and are knowledgeable and respectful of conventional and bio-identical hormone replacement therapies and alternative approaches, including Yoga and nutritional and herbal approaches.
Practitioners providing menopausal counseling and treatment and currently accepting new patients at WHS are: CNP Naomi Landau, CNP Cristy Wickman, and Dr. Cecelia de La Vallee.

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Bone Density Testing:
As people age, the amount of bone in their bodies steadily decreases. Women are especially prone to developing thin bone because they don't develop as much bone as when they were younger and their rate of bone loss is greater than in men. Osteoporosis, the name given to the condition of thinned and weakened bone, occurs in post-menopausal women as a result of estrogen deficiency (Type I) and in women and men (but about two times more frequently in women) as a result of aging and calcium deficiency over many years (Type II). Patients with osteoporosis have a higher risk of bone fractures.

Risk factors for osteoporosis include age and gender, Northern European or Asian ancestry, being thin or having a small frame, hyperthyroidism, anticonvulsant medications, cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol intake, a sedentary lifestyle, eating disorders and excessive exercise. The exact cause is unknown.

The most accurate way to test for osteoporosis is to have a bone density test, or a DEXA scan. This type of test can show early changes in bone density (it's sensitive enough to register decreases as small as 3%). Early warning can inform supplementing, nutritional or lifestyle choices that can act to slow the condition's advance. The scan exposes patients to very little radiation (about the same amount as taking a transcontinental airline flight).

WHS conducts on-site bone density testing to determine bone health. The test takes less than one hour and must be scheduled in advance.

CNP Naomi Landau oversees WHS' bone density testing.

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