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Wareham Nurse Midwives
By Louise Bastarache, CNM, NP, MS
A Focus on Prevention and Health
Even though my passion is "Birthin' Babies" at Tobey Hospital, I do provide other services in Women's Health Care. Being an OB/GYN nurse practitioner, as well as a Certified Nurse Midwife, I have been involved in caring for women throughout my career. Annual pap smears and gynecological visits for problems are the likely encounters that women have with healthcare providers in office settings. Here at the Wareham Nurse Midwives' practice, all those services are available and more. The midwifery model of a holistic approach to enabling women -- young, middle aged, and mature -- to be as healthy as they can be, is provided. This care starts at the first GYN visit and continues through the years. You can think of prenatal care starting before a woman is pregnant. This preconceptual care truly begins as soon as a woman becomes sexually active. Even if there is no possibility of pregnancy, the importance of decision making and choices are addressed because this will impact a woman's reproductive life in the future.
Healthy lifestyles should be the norm, but in our society, there are many obstacles. We are responsible for taking care of ourselves and keeping healthcare costs down. It should be part of our nature to live our lives focused on wellness and take charge of the things we have control of. The medical model is focused on disease and sickness. The midwifery model chooses to focus on prevention and health. Therefore, part of the comprehensive visit is spent teaching in the gynecological setting by the nurse-midwife, or in a prenatal care visit. Drugs, alcohol, and multiple partners at an early age may be a concern, environmental hazards and exposures need to be explored, and employment issues with all their stressors need to be addressed.
A major focus is on eating habits. Nutrition is one of those areas that we need to take charge of. There are many movements underway, like improving school lunch programs, granting vouchers for Farmers' Markets for WIC families, and the availability of more organic choices in local supermarkets, but it is not enough.
Louise Bastarache, CNM, NP, MS
Wareham Nurse Midwives…
Empowering Women to Birth NATURALLY
Wareham Nurse Midwives, PC
332 Main Street
Wareham, MA
If you would like to make an appointment or for more information, please call (508)295-3088.
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