Lakeside Women's Health Center Finds a New Home at 707 North Washington Avenue

Our dream has been realized. We have moved to our new office. We opened to patients on June 9, 2003. It is wonderful to have such a large, warm and private setting so near the hospital and within the Ludington community.

We will be making final finishing touches throughout July and will have some Open House Celebrations in August. We are glad to show visitors around our facility when able. It is wonderful to have room to accommodate women and their families' health needs in an easily accessible office. Our Memory Garden is growing day by day and we are incorporating healing plants in our landscaping for educational purposes. It's so nice when dreams come true.

Services Available:

Infertiltiy treatments including intrauterine insemination

Massage therapy by Sally Chaponis

Incontinence therapy and diagnostic testing in a warm and private setting

Office procedures including skin lesion removal, endometrial biopsy, ultrasound, colposcopy and LEEP therapy

Enhancing Your Sexual Self Talk by Dr. Pat Groessl Was a Terrific Time!

Our first women's health talk was a great success! We had a great time and learned a lot. Dr. Pat is very funny and gave us a great deal of useful information. We hope to have another talk by Dr. Groessl soon.

Monday, June 30th at 7 pm, we met with Dr. Groessl and were provided with many useful ideas about enhancing our sexual lives. It was friendly and funny and not intimidating. We all felt pretty brave for attending a lecture about “SEX”. (Our husbands had great expectations for us that evening…) I have listed her bibliography, web site recommendations and her outlines that she emphasized. We were reminded of ways to gently approach our partners with stressful conversation topics, like sex. Dr. Pat stressed that we must make time for our intimate relationship, and make it a big priority. We enjoyed the funny cartoons and interesting ideas about ways to incorporate more “play” into our lives. We should find affection, ways to receive it and ways to show it throughout the whole day with our partner.

It was interesting to see the new massage oils, toys, and other intimate items that are popular with Dr. Groessl's clients. She stressed how important openness and spontaneity are for couples' intimate relationship.

Bookmark bookstore has ordered extra copies of the books she told us were the best: The Guide to Getting it On by Joannides: Goofy Foot Press and The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman. We suggested to Dr. Groessl that she return with a lecture for us to attend with our daughters: “How to Pick the Right Sexual Mate, and Sexual Savvy for Girls”. Let us know if there are other topics of interest out there. We will announce our next lecture soon!

Rachel Brock, Artist in Residence at Lakeside Women's Health

We are so lucky to have Rachel Brock's creative juices flowing through our Health Center!! While Dr. Holladay had many ideas about what kinds of décor might enhance her vision of a women's health center, she could not come up with enough themes for each of our four examination rooms, our two consultation rooms, our two private offices and our bathrooms.

Rachel is the creative force of REAL IMAGES photography. Rachel has great ideas! We are enjoying the creative process that is her own...especially the “Wild West” room. Rachel invented different “brands” for each of her children (one more waiting for design…) and for Dr. Holladay's family. The warm chocolate colors and celestial theme of the “Angel Room” are very relaxing. We can't wait to see how the “Baby Wall” turns out! She is making our children into flowers, cats, and various other critters.

Maternity Massage by Sally Chaponis

Massage therapy is often prescribed by Dr. Holladay. We are fortunate to have many excellent massage therapists in our community. Massage has no real risks to pregnant patients when performed appropriately by a professional massage therapist. Care is taken to position the pregnant woman for optimal health to the baby. Lakeside Women's Health Center has a pregnancy pillow that allows our patients to lie on their stomachs for body work. Sally Chaponis uses a massage chair for upper back and neck work.

Massage therapy can help resolve headaches in pregnancy without the risks of drugs. Morning sickness is improved and fatigue alleviated by body work. It can be a real treat to have a massage for back pain and leg spasms/ swelling . It is always healthy to have good circulation of blood and lymphatics. It is beneficial to keep the muscles relaxed and toned during pregnancy.

Dr. Holladay finds that massage can help pregnant women get better sleep. The oils and relaxing techniques used are very beneficial to pregnant women. Our pregnant patients all can benefit by receiving massage. Many insurers cover massage therapy for headache and back pain treatment.

Intrauterine Insemination

Dr. Holladay knows how frustrating it can be to want a baby. Sometimes getting pregnant can be very difficult for couples with different health situations. When fertility awareness and medications fail, there are techniques available to enhance fertility. It is important to work closely with your doctors and health practitioners in becoming knowledgeable about your fertility cycles. Intrauterine insemination helps when the couple has low sperm count or previous ovulation and hormone medications have failed. The intrauterine insemination can NOT be used if a woman's tubes are damaged or closed.

Used correctly, the intrauterine insemination can help overcome barriers to pregnancy. Doctor Holladay works closely with couples to ensure their hormones are balanced, the woman's fallopian tubes are open, and that access of sperm to the released egg is enhanced. Sperm is collected early in the day and washed in a nutrient media made to enhance sperm motion. The healthiest spermatozoa, (the best “swimmers”) are harvested into a syringe. Using care the sperm can be injected into the womb through the cervix.

It is hoped that our new infertility services will help the Ludington Community grow!

Osteopathic Medicine, what is a D.O.?

You are more than just the sum of your body parts. That's why doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.s) practice a "whole person" approach to health care. Instead of just treating specific symptoms, osteopathic physicians concentrate on treating you as a whole.

Osteopathic physicians understand how all the body's systems are interconnected and how each one affects the others. They focus special attention on the musculoskeletal system, which reflects and influences the condition of all other body systems.

This system of bones and muscles makes up about two-thirds of the body's mass, and a routine part of the osteopathic patient examination is a careful evaluation of these important structures. D.O.s know that the body's structure plays a critical role in its ability to function. They can use their eyes and hands to identify structural problems and to support the body's natural tendency toward health and self-healing.

Osteopathic physicians also use their ears -- to listen to you and your health concerns. Doctors of osteopathic medicine help patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don't just fight illness, but help prevent it. Millions of Americans prefer this concerned and compassionate care, and have made D.O.s their doctors for life.

Professional Education

To become an osteopathic physician, an individual must be a graduate of one of the nation's osteopathic medical schools. Each school is accredited by the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association. This accreditation is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council on Post-Secondary Education. Typically, applicants to osteopathic medical colleges have a four-year undergraduate degree, and complete specific science courses. Applicants must take the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Osteopathic medical schools also require a personal interview to assess the student's interpersonal communication skills.

The osteopathic curriculum involves four years of academic study. As a reflection of the osteopathic philosophy, the curriculum emphasizes preventive medicine and comprehensive patient care. Medical students learn to use osteopathic principles and techniques for diagnosis and treatment of disease throughout the curriculum.

After completing osteopathic medical college, D.O.s serve a one-year rotating internship, gaining hands-on experience in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, family practice, pediatrics and surgery. This experience ensures that osteopathic physicians are first trained as primary care physicians -- even if they plan to pursue a specialty. The internship provides every D.O. with the perspective to see and treat every patient as a whole person.

Most D.O.s then choose to complete a residency program in a specialty area such as internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, radiology or pathology. A residency typically requires from two to six years of additional training.

Dr. Holladay chose to study osteopathic medicine after her family Dr. Didocha, D.O. mentored her about this branch of medicine. The emphasis on preventive medicine is appealing and integrated best into her thinking. It was especially helpful that osteopathic medical students begin hands-on treatment/ training the first day of medical school. Michigan State University has an osteopathic medical school and coordinates many residencies, including the obstetrics and gynecology program she attended. Many of the doctors on staff at Memorial Medical Center are D.O.'s or doctors of osteopathy.

Licensure

All physicians (both D.O.s and M.D.s) must pass a state medical board examination in order to obtain a license and enter practice. Each state board sets its own requirements for the physician to practice in that state.

Complete Care

D.O.s are complete physicians. That means they are fully trained and licensed to prescribe medication and to perform surgery. D.O.s and allopathic physicians (M.D.s) are the only two types of complete physicians in the United States.

D.O.s practice in all branches of medicine from psychiatry to geriatrics to emergency medicine. However, D.O.s are trained to be generalists first, and specialists second. The majority are family-oriented, primary care physicians. Many D.O.s practice in small towns where they often care for entire families and whole communities.