New 'Caring for Women' healthcare facility opens Monday

A new healthcare facility opening Monday will serve as a "hub" for women's healthcare and OB/GYN services for many Lakes Region residents.

The "Caring for Women" OB/GYN & Women's Healthcare operation, located at 723 North Main Street, next to the Laconia Clinic, will coordinate the work of several local healthcare providers who specialize in women's services. The 12 team members are now working at several locations: the Laconia Clinic, Lakes Region OB/GYN, Moultonborough Family Health and Integrative Women's Health of Franklin; some will continue part-time work out of their current facilities but all will be moving into the new Lake CIty facility .

Andy Patterson, executive director of the new clinic and LRGHealthcare's vice-president of provider relations and contracting services, said it was "pretty exciting" to think that patients would be coming into the operation starting next week.

"But there's still some work left to be done in the next three days," he said.

That was evident looking around yesterday morning. Some areas of the building still needed to carpeted and painted. Much of the modern comfortable furniture was still covered with plastic. And workers were scrambling up and down the two-story staircase.

The idea of combining local women's healthcare and OB/GYN providers into a single network arose out of conversations that began among the group members in 2008, Patterson said. Eventually the team came up with the concept of bringing its work into what would be a "virtual practice" that would allow each one to share medical and scheduling information between their many bases.

But that same year, LRGHealthcare began leasing the old office building at the corner of Main and Harvard street from the Laconia Clinic, and officials at the hospital started talking how to best use the space.

"We thought of putting our business offices here or maybe the physical therapy practice," Patterson said. "But eventually we thought this would be the perfect place to serve as the flagship of that (virtual practice) operation."

The new facility will provide a wide range of services, from OB/GYN, midwifery and primary care to menopause counseling, incontinence care and treatment, bone density testing, ultrasound and non-stress testing, digital mammography, mental health counseling and health education services.

He noted that while not all the practitioners will be in the new Caring for Women OB/GYN & Women's Healthcare facility everyday, it will be staffed on a daily basis. "So if your provider is on vacation you can still talk to someone who has access to your medical records and everything else they need to help you," he said.

Yesterday Patterson led a small group of people on a tour of the renovated facility, which now looks nothing like the outdated 1960s-style red brick office building it once was.

Glass doors and a large window greet you as you approach the front door, and immediately inside is 1,800-square foot entrance area that includes an elevator for patients who may difficulties with stairs, and a large window that lets sunlight pour into both floors.

"This large window in front is very similar to some at the Laconia Clinic building," said Patterson, who credited architect Peter Stewart of Gilford with the redesign work that has created a 10,000-square-foot space. "So that's nice."

Inside are the office and waiting room areas, where most of the floor space is comfortably carpeted. The interior is bright and modern, accented with warm colors create an ambiance of calmness.

On the first floor is the check-in/check-out waiting area as well as office suites for several nurse practitioners. The digital mammography, ultrasound and bone density operations are located in different rooms.

"There's also a non-stress room for pregnant patients so the provider can monitor the heartbeat of the infant in a quieter area," Patterson said. "You might think of it as a kind of EKG for a baby."

The first floor has a meeting room where staff can gather during the day, and where the public can be invited in for educational meetings after 5 p.m., the director said. "It could be on subjects like pregnancy, nutrition, whatever..."

The second floor has space for pregnancy counseling, mental health counseling and nutritional counseling as well as other services including the uro-gynological services room.

The new facility will not be adding any healthcare professionals to the local area — two OB/GYN physicians were added last year after Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro shut down its care in that field — but at least two more support positions have been created, Patterson said.