Every baby deserves a healthy mother for the long term.
The Women’s Health Council of RI recommends recasting women’s health from a focus on conception to long-term comprehensive care regardless of child-bearing status.
The leading cause of death for women is heart disease, yet most provider and payor focus remains on breast and gynecological health.
Symptoms experienced during pregnancy serve as a window into long-term health risks like heart disease, COPD, obesity and diabetes.
Early awareness for both provider and patient can help change behaviors and start preventive care early across a wide range of women’s health issues.
Link obstetric care to on-going primary care.
Encourage providers to train across disciplines and systems. Include obstetrics in the medical homes model.
Improve communication between the various health care disciplines.
Recognize the early signs of risk from pregnancy health results such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, and environmental issues like smoking, poverty and domestic violence. Include these notes in patient’s files when transferring from OB-GYN to PCP.
Recommend a PCP visit one year following pregnancy.
Obesity continues in large part because all the systems – healthcare, education, food distribution and physical locations – conspire to make the healthy choice the most effortful.
Violence against women continues because it is ages old, on-going, systematic and often culturally sanctioned.
When obstetric results are not linked across disciplines through primary care, women’s future risks for diabetes, obesity, depression, hypertension and heart disease are ignored and care opportunities missed.
And when the aggressive marketing tactics of tobacco companies are combined with the addictive nature of nicotine, simply suggesting a patient quit their lethal habit is seldom enough.
Research shows that focusing on numbers and spending millions of dollars on health education has not created change. Rather than publishing papers and articles, focusing on behavioral tactics bring results because they:
Today, New Policies developed by Council members and presenters are improving the availability of health care, improving the presence of healthy food, limiting the reach of tobacco, and de-stigmatizing domestic violence so it is no longer hidden.
In the Clinical Care setting, New Tools provide screening language, data and procedures that help providers create an environment in which their patients may make better choices.
On-going Education via Events for providers includes data and statistics, but also teaches the language that establishes trust with patients while screening, creates and takes advantage of teachable moments and helps patients choose behavioral change.
For people who take care of women: This Inaugural Conference introduced a new approach to providing quality women’s health care well beyond the traditional breast and gynecological focus.
Buffet Dinner 5:00-6:00 PM
Symposium 6:00-9:00 PM
Carrie Bridges, MPH, is the Team Lead for Health Disparities and Access to Care in the Division of Community, Family Health and Equity at the Rhode Island Department of Health. Through policy development and direct service to local communities, her team focuses on eliminating health disparities disproportionately impacting racial and ethnic communities and other vulnerable populations.
Mary Reich Cooper, MD, JD, is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Quality Officer of Lifespan, and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Research) at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. In her current position, Dr. Cooper is responsible for articulating the quality and safety strategy for Lifespan and working closely with the state government and quality organizations in Rhode Island to improve safety and quality of care for the citizens of Rhode Island.
Linn Freedman, ESQ, practices in health care law, privacy and security law and complex litigation. She advises healthcare providers, primarily hospital systems, hospitals and physicians on issues involving physician discipline, patient-related legal issues, behavioral health, regulatory compliance, Medicaid fraud, litigation and the federal health care reform legislation (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA) enacted in 2010. She serves as General Counsel of the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
Amy Gottlieb, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and OB/GYN (clinical) at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the Director of Primary Care Curricula and Consultation in the Women’s Primary Care Center at Women & Infants Hospital. She is also the Chair of Women & Infants Hospital’s Domestic Violence Task Force.
Miriam E. Nelson, PhD, is Director of the John Hancock Research Center for Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention, and Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policies at Tufts University. She is the author of the international best selling “Strong Women” book series. Dr. Nelson is a Luminari Health expert.
Barbara Roberts, MD, FACC, has been the Director of the Women’s Cardiology Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI since 2002. Dr. Roberts is the author of “How to Keep from Breaking Your Heart: what every woman needs to know about cardiovascular disease” and “Treating and Beating Heart Disease: A Consumers Guide to Cardiac Medicines.” She has lectured widely on cardiovascular disease in the United States and abroad.
Barbara Roberts, MD, FACC, has been the Director of the Women’s Cardiology Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI since 2002. Dr. Roberts is the author of “How to Keep from Breaking Your Heart: what every woman needs to know about cardiovascular disease” and “Treating and Beating Heart Disease: A Consumers Guide to Cardiac Medicines.” She has lectured widely on cardiovascular disease in the United States and abroad.
Aimee Thompson is the founder of Close to Home, a domestic violence prevention organization in Boston. At Boston Medical Center, Aimee developed a group therapy program for children and their mothers, and provided training for Boston police officers on children and trauma. Aimee has provided workshops on Close to Home’s approach throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Uganda, South Africa, and the Caucasus.
Pregnancy as a Window to Future Health: Karen Rosene-Montella, MD – Detailed data on the kinds of pregnancy complications that can impact women’s future health.
2010 Women’s Health Report Card: Snapshots into areas such as mandated cancer screening which have been successful, and lung cancer, COPD and Heart Disease where RI women are doing poorly.
Pregnancy as a Window to Future Health: What long-term health issues to watch for based on a patient’s pregnancy history.