As advanced practice registered nurses with St. Bernards Healthcare in Jonesboro, Mable Prunty and Dimsey Brown help women navigate their way through pregnancy and delivery.
25
Average number of women seen daily at St. Bernards’ Women’s and Children’s Clinic
60
Planned capacity for the women’s clinic expansion
2016
Year the women’s clinic was developed
That might mean telling a patient where she next needs to go, but it also means providing supporting care and helping women make the best possible decisions regarding their health outcomes.
Prunty and Brown, who have been designated as Women’s Health Navigators, have been instrumental in the staffing, operation and success of the Women’s and Children’s Clinic at St. Bernards and helping women from concern to diagnosis to treatment and beyond.
In the past, pregnant women often arrived at St. Bernards only when delivery was imminent. Many were uninsured or on Medicaid and had been without prenatal care.
The hospital enhanced staffing and implemented an OB emergency program, but there were still women with needs unmet, and the Women’s and Children’s Clinic was developed in 2016.
The clinic has grown from an appointment-only facility for postpartum care to one that operates daily, with the help of Prunty and Brown and collaborating physicians.
Patients are evaluated and triaged on the labor and delivery floor, and appointments are made for women who need to see physicians. The clinic has seen about 25 women a day, but plans call for increasing capacity to 60, with other expansions also being planned.
Prunty and Brown are available during business hours to field calls from women of all ages through the St. Bernards Healthline. A sampling of the assistance they provide includes facilitating appointments, advising on choice of physicians and educating women so they have informed questions for their doctors.
Prunty and Brown, both Jonesboro residents, have applied their know-how and their understanding of St. Bernards and their community to positively impact the lives of thousands of women in all stages of life.