An annual exam is an important yearly check-up that emphasizes illness prevention, and provides screenings for many of the most common conditions effecting women. Your annual exam with the nurse practitioner will include listening to your heart and lungs with a stethoscope, a breast and pelvic exam, and a pap smear. In addition, a urinalysis will be done to check for blood, sugar and protein in the urine, and a blood sample will be taken to test for anemia. If you are over 50, a hemoccult will be done to screen for colon cancer.

As a teen, you probably have questions about your body, relationships, and making decisions about whether or not you are ready to be sexually active. If you are a teen, you can come to WomanKind free of charge for any services that have to do with these sometimes tough questions.

At WomanKind, you can talk to a non-judgmental adult and get information about making the decisions that are best for you. You can also get checked out to make sure you are healthy, learn how to protect yourself from infections that you can get if you are having sex, and choose birth control methods that help to reduce the chance of pregnancy. Our services to you are confidential and we honor your privacy.

When Stress escalates, it is not uncommon for people to have symptoms that interfere with work performance, relationships, sleep and/or their energy level. Talking with a licensed mental health professional can often help to identify areas of life where we get stuck, and give tools to make positive life changes. At WomanKind, counseling is available to women, men, teens and couples. Fees are nominal and appointment times are flexible. Your first session will be a confidential mental health assessment between you and your licensed mental health counselor.

This assessment will cover the major issue(s) causing you to seek counseling; family and relationships, past counseling treatment, and medications you have or are currently taking. Your second session will determine an individualized treatment plan that you and your counselor will follow so you can reach your mental health goals. Follow-up sessions occur usually every 1-2 weeks until your goals are met.

Prevention and early detection are absolutely essential for women to find and successfully treat breast cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends a clinic al breast exam as part of every woman’s regular health screening.

At WomanKind your breast exam is done by the Nurse Practitioner and consists of a visual examination of both breasts to check for irregularity or distortion in the appearance and contour of the breasts, and a manual examination of both breasts to check for lumps or other abnormalities detectable by palpation (feeling). If you are 40 or over, have a family history of breast cancer, or the nurse detects any potential problem, she may refer you for a mammogram.

As women, we have the ability to plan and appropriately space healthy pregnancies through the use of the birth control methods that is right for us. At WomanKind, the nurse practitioner can prescribe various forms of birth control: birth control pills, Depo Provera Injection, contraceptive patches, contraceptive ring, diaphragm, and male and female condoms. She will discuss the use of each form with you to help you determine which will work best for you. Condoms are available free.

Menopause is a transitional period in a woman’s life when many physical changes can be accompanied by uncomfortable symptoms. At WomanKind the nurse practitioner will discuss the signs and symptoms typical of menopause with you. She will also discuss your particular symptoms and the treatments that are available, as well as the pros and cons of those treatments.

Some women choose to take HRT to minimize or eliminate uncomfortable symptoms associated with menopause. If you are peri-menopausal (around the time of menopause) or menopausal, the nurse practitioner can prescribe hormone replacement therapy for you.

This could be a combination of estrogen and progesterone, estrogen alone if you have had a hysterectomy, or estrogen vaginal cream. She will review your history and discuss the methods and dosing and the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy with you.

Accidents happen, such as a broken condom or missed birth control pills, and this can leave you worried about an unintended pregnancy. Emergency Contraception (EC) is a safe and effective birth control that can help to reduce the chances of pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Ideally EC should be taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse to help prevent an ininteded pregnancy. We encourage women to take a pregnancy test before taking EC and offer this test at WomanKind.

STIs are infections passed from one person to another through sexual contact. They often don’t have any symptoms and are very common. More than half of us will get an STI at some point in our lifetime. Living with an untreated STI can have very serious consequences, including infertility, cancer, and even death. At WomanKind, we encourage sexually active women to use condoms to protect themselves from STIs, but also to be screened regularly.

The most frequently ordered tests are for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, HIV, and HPV. Vaginal cultures or urine are used to diagnose Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, cervical swabs for HPV DNA, blood tests for Syphilis, and either blood or oral tests for HIV. With the exception of HIV, which is referred to a specialist, the nurse practitioner will treat your STD.

HIV testing is important because when people learn they are infected, they can take steps to protect their own health and prevent transmission to others. At WomanKind, before a patient is tested for HIV, they meet with a trained counselor to discuss the test, explore their risk factors, and talk about what the results mean.

The test is done either orally or through a blood sample, and patients return to the office to receive their results. Through a partnership with AIDS Help, WomanKind also offers free, walk-in Rapid testing on Monday afternoons. This test provides results in 20 minutes.