During Women’s History Month, it’s important to acknowledge the impact that women’s health has as an area that covers a range of aspects, including physical, mental and social well-being.
We recently met with three of our Bon Secours women’s health care providers – who share their diverse perspectives and extensive experience – as they explain why women’s health matters to them as caregivers as well as how it benefits our patients, their families and the communities we serve.
Meet Amy Wagner, DNP, administrative director of women’s and children’s services at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital.
“My job is so diverse,” Dr. Wagner (pictured above, middle) says. “I get to interact with so many different people: administration, nursing leadership, bedside nurses, ancillary staff and, of course, most important, patients. I love it because I get to touch so many different lives in different ways. I think taking care of people is the best thing I could do. I knew when women’s health was where I needed to be, and here I am 20 years later, not at the bedside any longer, but still working in women’s health and still loving it.
She continues, “Even though the United States is such a developed country, we still rank more than three times higher than comparable countries for maternal morbidity and mortality. With that being said, we have to keep that focus on taking care of our patients and making sure that we’re bringing health initiatives into that maternal population to reduce the risk of disparities.”
Dr. Wagner adds, “The way I do that is through bringing new initiatives. We’re currently working on a postpartum initiative to bring back to all of our new moms to help work through depression, making sure they get all the resources that they need to get the help that they need. And we will continue to bring different initiatives into focus as long as we keep the core of our Mission: to take care of our patients and to decrease any risk of morbidity and mortality.”
Next is Samy Iskandar, MD, medical director of women’s services in our Greenville market.
“I love the fact that the majority of what I do is help happy and healthy people, deliver babies and perform different procedures that help patients later on in life,” Dr. Iskandar (pictured above, left) says. “The majority of time it’s a good outcome, and everybody’s happy with what happens. And you get to take care of those people for years.”
He adds, “I think there are aspects of health specific to women that they need more expertise and more training. And I’m glad to be a part of that, because I think everybody deserves care: women, children, men. But if I can carve out my section to take care of women to best of my ability, then I’ll do it.womens health,
Dr. Iskandar adds, “Sometimes in obstetrics things can be emergent, and there’s been a couple of cases, fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve been a part of in my career that have been emergent and had a good outcome. And to see those moms and kids graduating from high school and college, knowing that their start was a little rough, but you were a part of keeping them here and helping them lead a happy, healthy life, is pretty fulfilling.”
And finally, Heather Hoy, MD, an OB-GYN in our Greenville market.
“My favorite part of working in women’s health is educating my patients that I see in the office about their health and teaching them why things are happening a certain way,” Dr. Hoy (pictured above, right) explains. “A lot of the time you can really see a light bulb go off in their heads, and they’re like, ‘this suddenly makes sense to me, this makes sense what’s happening and why I’m having these symptoms and I understand now why this recommended treatment will help me.’“
She adds, “I think it makes patients feel empowered to make good choices for their health care, and I always love having those conversations with people, and seeing that moment where everything just kind of falls into place and clicks for them.”
Read more stories celebrating our team members during Women’s History Month.
Learn more about the women’s health services we provide at Bon Secours.women
