The Vanderbilt Center for Women’s Health began serving patients at its new outpatient clinic at NorthCrest Medical Center in Springfield this week.
The integrative Vanderbilt Center for Women’s Health at NorthCrest will provide gynecology, urogynecology, obstetrics, high-risk obstetrics and infertility services by physicians and certified nurse midwives.
“This clinic will better enhance the women’s health service line at NorthCrest Medical Center,” said Randy Davis, president and chief executive officer of NorthCrest Medical Center. “We will be able to offer a full spectrum of women’s health provided through the Vanderbilt affiliation spanning the spectrum from maternal-fetal medicine all the way through urogynecology.
“With the addition of midwife services and an increase in providers, patients will have greater access to services and specialists that span their entire lifetime,” he said.
The Center for Women’s Health is the most recent clinic to open at NorthCrest following a 2011 agreement between both medical centers to broaden the scope of health care services within Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky and provide a more cost-effective, regional health care delivery system.
“The opportunity to collaborate with the leaders of NorthCrest Medical Center to provide additional maternal-fetal services for the citizens of Robertson County and southern Kentucky is an ideal representation of how our affiliation can improve the health and well-being of larger populations through greater convenience,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System.
The new outpatient facility is located across the hall from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center clinic on the second floor of the NorthCrest Medical Office Building at 522 NorthCrest Dr.
The Center for Women’s Health will occupy 9,600 square feet in one of the newest office buildings on the hospital grounds. The clinic will have 10 Ob/Gyn exam rooms and three rooms reserved for maternal-fetal medicine patients.
“We are very excited about this partnership,” said Robin Mutz, R.N., associate chief nursing officer for Women’s Services at Vanderbilt. “We are hoping that this service is able to meet the needs of this growing area.
“As the third largest employer (Vanderbilt) in Robertson County, we are hoping that this new women’s health practice will allow our employees the opportunity to be able to receive care closer to home,” she said.
The new practice will be anchored by two physicians, Shana Dowell, M.D., assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt, and Adam Huggins, M.D., assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt, and five certified nurse midwives.
Maternal-fetal medicine physicians will be tasked with reading all obstetric ultrasounds in addition to providing consults for high-risk obstetrics care.
Additionally, Ted Anderson, M.D., associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt, will offer minimally invasive surgical procedures while Rony Adam, M.D., professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt, will serve as the urogynecology specialist.
Both gynecologic subspecialists as well as the maternal-fetal medicine high-risk obstetricians will see patients at NorthCrest during regular office hours.
While women’s care has been available in Robertson County since 1956, the new integrative clinic at NorthCrest Medical Center allows for more in-depth services.
“That is the beauty of the affiliation with Vanderbilt — we are able to centralize and integrate women’s care,” said Tommy Crunk, M.D., chief of staff at NorthCrest.
“We will be able to offer a one-stop shop for the women in our community that complements the existing health care services currently available at NorthCrest.”
Obstetrical services at NorthCrest feature six labor and delivery suites all outfitted with hydrotherapy tubs and new, state-of-the-art electronic fetal monitoring systems.
The unit also includes a Level IB nursery, a surgical suite and 13 postpartum/post-surgical patient rooms.
Mutz believes the addition of certified nurse midwives to the Ob/Gyn health care team at NorthCrest will prove to be very beneficial.
“Not only will our nurse midwives provide 24/7 coverage of the labor and delivery service, but they really round out our practice and give women a choice of providers offering a continuity of care throughout all stages of their lives,” Mutz said.
Another advantage of the nurse midwifery team: two of the practitioners speak fluent Spanish.
“That is an asset that will greatly assist us in providing top quality, patient-friendly care to the growing Hispanic population in Robertson County and surrounding areas,” she said.
Patients can call 343-5700 to schedule appointments at the new clinic.
