Women's Health Services

Shannon Bell, Summer 2011

This summer has been such a great experience for me. Community Women’s Health Services is a center that supplies UC nurses to staff 14 different low-income clinics throughout Cincinnati. I mostly worked with one exit nurse at Lincoln Heights Health Center (LHHC) and Price Hill Health Center (PHHC), which both have large Hispanic patient populations. I really enjoyed that because I was able to talk with patients in Spanish when the interpreter wasn’t available and I learned a lot of medical OB/GYN-related Spanish.

My main project was to translate several documents, including the clinics’ Welcome Packets, into Spanish for the Hispanic ladies at the clinic. This was really beneficial to the patients because very few of them can speak or read English, and I was able to provide them with literature in their native tongue. I also spent some of my time shadowing nurses at various clinics at University Hospital including the Diabetes and Pregnancy Program, the Dysplasia Clinic, the Medical Complications of Pregnancy Center and the Perinatal Center. It was very interesting for me to learn about all kinds of medical issues and fetal malformations that can complicate a pregnancy.

Probably one of my favorite activities this summer was my time spent working with the Centering Pregnancy Program, which is based in Hoxworth. This program enrolls a group of 8-12 pregnant teens who are all due the same month and has 10 different sessions with them. Before the program begins, they have a one-on-one meeting with their doctor, followed by the 10 group sessions. During the group sessions, the women are empowered to take control of their health by taking their own blood pressure, weighing themselves and recording the data in their pregnancy notebook each week. Each session has a circle time discussion focusing on a different pregnancy topic ranging from how to take care of themselves to how to care for a baby to the common aches and pains they experience during pregnancy. At the end of the 10 sessions the girls have found friends who are going through the same life-changing experience and are prepared to have and raise a baby. I loved being part of these sessions and really getting to know the patients and answer their questions.

As my internship progressed and the staff became more comfortable with me, one of the Certified Nursing Midwives (CNMs) would let me measure fundal heights and use the fetal Doppler to assess fetal heart rates. She even offered to let me go with her to Labor and Delivery one day and I ended up helping her deliver a baby, just the two of us! One of my favorite parts of being at Labor and Delivery that day was seeing 2 patients from LHHC give birth, who I had gotten to know really well over the previous few weeks.

During the last 2 weeks I was given the autonomy to talk with patients on my own. After the entrance nurse saw the patients, I went in and taught them about SIDS and infant mortality. This part was very rewarding for me, because I had been dying to have one-on-one time to teach patients. Also, it really surprised me how many women didn’t know about either topic, so I felt that I was able to make a difference in their lives and in their babies’ lives.