Holy Family Healthcare expands to offer women’s health services

Anna Nieboer, a board certified nurse-midwife, worked as a labor and delivery nurse before furthering her education. Her personal areas of interest within the scope of women’s health include fertility awareness, hormonal balance, nutrition counseling, alternative birthing choices, and lactation support.

“We realize health is holistic and we’re working to support the women of our communities physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually,” says Nieboer. “Women don’t tend to take care of themselves first. We want to form an easily accessible community of support encouraging mothers to take care of themselves too because if you take care of the mothers it does trickle down to the children, to the family and to the community.”

Currently, its Women’s Services can cover prenatal and postpartum care, including ultrasound and newborn care up to 30 days after birth. Holy Family Healthcare is exploring opportunities to offer labor and delivery services in the future.

To best serve the needs of mothers in particular, Nieboer sees patients at the Caring Network (Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo facility), Kalamazoo, on Tuesdays, Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, as well as by appointment at its Hartford location. She accepts various insurances and Medicaid as well as patients without insurance.

As a certified nurse midwife, Nieboer is able to begin treating females starting with menarche. She can also serve as a woman’s primary care physician and can help with a wide range of health concerns, including routine exams, cancer screenings, menstrual concerns, mammograms and natural family planning services. She is a Fertility Education Medical Management (FEMM) health medical provider.

One program Nieboer feels fills a particular need— the need of community and support — is a support network of women’s groups. These groups will bring women together to learn a variety of topics from NFP to health living while also offering an opportunity to support other women. Future plans call for mother and child cooking classes.

Holy Family Healthcare is currently working to put together a team of trainers certified in both FEMM and Theology of the Body. 

Holy Family Healthcare is especially busy during the summer months as they kick their migrant farmworker family ministry into high gear. Its s-box ministry fills boxes with staple and shelf-stable food products to deliver to families through the Telamon Migrant Head Start program. Each box also includes a handmade welcome card and information on community resources. Donations of $15 will fill one box and are still needed. On alternate Thursdays, a team of a HFH employee and volunteers deliver water and Gatorade to the workers in the fields. The other Thursdays they visit camps to distribute food and clothing.

Volunteers wanting to get involved should contact: For more information visit: www.holyfamilyhealthcare.org or contact Holy Family Healthcare, 269-621-0011.