Women's Health Services

Stefany Hernandez, Summer 2018

I started my summer working with the Division of Community Women's Health through the UC OB/GYN Health Department thinking that I was going to learn clinic aspects of working with the underserved population in OB/GYN. However, my summer experience had an incredible amount of depth that allowed me to gain more insight into what it truly meant to work with underserved patients who desired equitable medical treatment. The Division of Community Women's Health focuses their resources on providing obstetric and gynecologic treatment to underserved women throughout Cincinnati. I was able to personally work in 9 different clinics, all strategically placed in the heart of many lower-income neighborhoods giving these patients higher accessibility to receive medical care. I was able to begin my summer learning the ins and outs of the multiple clinics that the Division of Community Women's Health works through scattered throughout Greater Cincinnati. Basing my project off the needs of the community and the specific population that the division serves, I was able to develop and structure a one-on-one breastfeeding intervention for expecting mothers. The mothers that I was serving do not have many resources at their disposal, many of which found it difficult to show up to their doctor's appointments due to lack of transportation let alone learn about all the health benefits of breastfeeding. Through my presentation, I was able to sit down with the patients and their families for 20 minutes after the conclusion of their appointment to go through the benefits of breastfeeding for mom and baby, the proper techniques to have a good latch while breastfeeding, and the recommendations for mothers to use when thinking about pumping, storing milk, and the duration in which they plan to breastfeed. The interactions that I was able to have with the expecting mothers was a unique opportunity to listen and understand what social determinants of health inhibited these mothers from wanting to breastfeed. While doing my research on the barriers that these mothers experienced daily, I was able to identify lack of knowledge and lack of support as key factors that need to be changed in order to support these mothers during their pregnancy. Through my educational session with these women, I was able to boost their knowledge on the benefits of breastfeeding while providing them with a resource to ask questions and gain support in making these early decisions. Before and after speaking with each patient, I was also able to obtain information on whether they were able to retain the information presented to them, grew more confident in their decision to breastfeed, and identified the interaction as beneficial. My data was then presented to a group working within the Division of Community Women's Health in the hopes of continuing the educational intervention to help mothers learn about the benefits of breastfeeding and how to implement breastfeeding techniques to feed their baby properly. The responsibility of providing educational knowledge for underserved women is a key value that I will continue to carry with me as I pursue my career in medicine. I know that I will look back at this time working within this division as a time that allowed me to dig through the root of many barriers for these women and allow me to continuously try to break down these barriers one step at a time to provide equitable care to my patients.