Revolutionizing Women's Health

Brought to you by Kissal Communications Story by Katie Kissal | Photography Courtesy of DiscovHer Health

Women’s Health has historical legs. From the inception of Planned Parenthood in 1916 to the Women’s Health Movement of the 1960s, decades of effort have since followed to improve access to safe healthcare, medicalize childbirth and address inequalities in patient care and the workforce. Task forces, organizations and caucuses have been established to research how to address racial inequalities, career accessibility, technologies for female-specific vaccines and advancements in maternal health. However, it seems a new revolution is on the horizon.

TIMES ARE CHANGING

Even with the efforts over the past six decades, much of what falls under the Women’s Health umbrella is still considered taboo, spoken about in whispers or ultimately not widely addressed by the medical community. Gynecology and obstetrics are the commonly known fields within women’s health, primarily focusing on fertility, disease prevention and childbirth. While urology treats men and women, it is commonly known for its treatment of male sexual dysfunction. Viagra and its counterparts have long been popular on the market to treat male sexual dysfunction, but what about the treatment of women’s pelvic and sexual dysfunction?

with exposure to dysfunction and injury. Urinary and fecal incontinence, pelvic pain and dysfunction, vaginal dryness, dysmenorrhea, endometriosis and symptoms of menopause are few to name. Historically, these have been silently accepted as part of the result of childbirth and aging.

MEET NURSE JENNA

As a young girl growing up in Detroit, Jenna Perkins, RN, WHNP-BC, always had an interest in healing, “My grandmother was a reverend and practiced folk medicine. I grew up watching her help countless friends and families.” With a master’s degree in Women’s Health, she is also a board-certified Women’s Health and Gender-Related Nurse Practitioner and a well-known expert in urology, urogynecology, sexual health and pelvic floor disorders. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Nursing and teaches other clinicians at national conferences.

Her holistic approach to treating complex patients includes educating her patients with knowledge about their bodies and how they can be healed. Jenna explains, “I chose Women’s Health because of my own exam experience as a teenager with a family physician. I knew immediately I wanted to provide an experience that wouldn’t leave women feeling the way I felt, which was embarrassed, confused and wanting more information.”

A NEW FRONTIER IN WOMEN’S HEALTH

A new wave of practitioner advocates are speaking up and out for their female patients in order to normalize, treat and heal complex gynecological conditions and increase sexual health awareness. Having observed gaps in Women’s Health and urology, Jenna is one of those trailblazers. She opened the doors to DiscovHer Health in early 2022 to treat patients with complex gyn and sexual health issues.

“I want to revolutionize women’s health experiences. I want patients to have access to care that is committed to the 'taboo,' so they know what they are experiencing can be treated and they can heal,” she said. “Women need safe spaces where they can have their most essential functions (peeing, pooping, sex) addressed in a manner that honors femininity and offers the evidence-based solutions, without feeling embarrassed or shameful.”

HER OWN FEMINISM AS INSPIRATION

When Jenna is not treating patients, she is also a mother of two young children. “Having kids reinforced the danger and beauty of womanhood. I had a beautiful home birth with both my children, but suffered a postpartum hemorrhage after my first child that was terrifying,” she explained. “I was blessed to have the support of an amazing midwife to make sure I was safe, but not every woman has a good outcome or the same access to the care. It’s one thing to read about breastfeeding, postpartum mood changes, body image issues and all other symptoms, but it is completely different to experience it first-hand.” Her motherhood inspired her to create this new space for patients. “I truly believe that the pelvis, as the root chakra, is the seat of life and the center for creativity. I have never felt more creative than now. I started the practice when my son was six months old. I knew if I could create life, [I] could create anything.”

A SIMPLE VISION FOR HEALTH

While Jenna recognizes that some people can be discomforted by talking about these issues, she assures that it really is not that radical. “Intimate health is simply health and women’s health is health. I want clients and providers to be able to discuss and treat pelvic pain and incontinence with the ease and confidence that we do diabetes. After all, every human has a pelvis, and over half of those pelvises belong to those assigned female at birth.” DiscovHer Health offers services in three locations (Old Town, Alexandria, Washington, DC and Chevy Chase, Maryland) and also provides virtual consultations. For more information, visit www.discovherhealth.com.

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