As a health system that reaches across great swaths of prairie, farm and frontier land to meet patients, Avera is designed to provide care, near home, for women and children.
“When you see the services, like birthing, that we keep in rural communities, rather than always bringing patients to Sioux Falls, you can tell that's where our passion lies,” said Mara Hermiston, DO, Chief Medical Officer for Avera Medical Group.
The Need for Expanded, Tailored Care
Women’s health encompasses a tremendous breadth, starting with puberty and continuing throughout the lifespan, encompassing everything from obstetrics, gynecologic health and family building to menopause, bone health, breast health and complex conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Women are also often core medical decision makers — for themselves, their children, their spouses and parents.
“Healthy families, healthy moms, healthy women — that is the basis for everything else,” said Katherine Wang, MD, Avera neonatologist and Clinical Vice President of the Women’s and Children’s Service Line. “Our mission of caring for women and children started with the Sisters and we carry this work forward.” Avera utilizes a service line model to unify and bring together clinicians from Avera hospitals and clinics that offer care to women and children.
Close and Consistent Care
Avera’s continuum of care for women and children ranges from family practitioners, family practitioners who offer obstetrics, obstetrician/gynecologists, midwives, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, internal medicine for women, urogynecologist, neonatologists, gynecologic oncologists, breast specialists, pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists and more.
”From the moment I started at my job here in South Dakota, I was automatically connected to all other physicians across the whole footprint, and I really got to develop those relationships. So when my patient needs care at a tertiary center, I know the doctor who's going to be taking care of them. That is just invaluable to them to have that same level of trust,” said Amy Lueking, MD, Avera OB/GYN specialist in Pierre, SD.
Clinicians can count on an integrated network of support and expertise to help care for patients with a wide range of issues. “In Pierre, we cover a large area so we’re isolated, but we’re not an island. We’re not alone,” Lueking said.
The right care at the right time involves ongoing communication between rural clinics, community hospitals, the large referral (tertiary) medical center, highly experienced transport teams and subspecialists. This collaboration leverages everyone’s specialized knowledge, as well as innovative tools including telemedicine.
By keeping care local, when possible, with quality and safety, Avera helps women in rural areas experience the same high outcomes while remaining close to loved ones throughout their care journeys.
