WHAT WE OFFER

We provide quality healthcare services for women in Peterborough, Haliburton, Northumberland Counties, and the City of Kawartha Lakes. The Women’s Healthcare Centre is dedicated to the well-being of all women in the communities we serve. Our mission is to be a key resource which enables women to enhance their quality of life and to make choices in their healthcare in a positive and welcoming atmosphere.

We offer information, support, counselling and treatment to help women prevent health problems and understand their choices when problems occur.

The Women’s Health Care Centre is holistic in its approach. We believe that a person’s health is affected by many factors – physical health, emotional health, and spiritual health, as well as the social and economic conditions of their lives. At the Centre, we encourage women to consider all of these factors when making decisions about their health.

WHO WE ARE

The staff and volunteers at the Centre are committed and knowledgeable women with training and understanding of women’s health issues. We refer people to other health professionals and organizations in the community as needed. Our interprofessional team includes:

  • Nurse Practitioners

  • Physicians

  • Registered Nurses (RN)

  • Social Workers

SEEKING CARE

The Women’s Health Care Centre offers the following services at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC):

Colposcopy Clinic services can help women if their pap test results are abnormal. An abnormal result means there are cells on some part of the vagina or cervix that are not normal.

The doctor in the clinic uses a piece of equipment called a colposcope to look at the vagina and cervix to find out where the abnormal cells are. After these cells are tested, the woman and doctor discuss the treatment that is needed.  Treatment is done by freezing the abnormal cells or by removing them with electrosurgery.

The Colposcopy Clinic provides testing, treatment and follow-up, as well as information and support. Here’s what you need to know about your colposcopy appointment.

You must be referred to the clinic by a physician. The clinic can be reached at 705-876-5117

Learn more about the Sexual Assault Response Team at PRHC 

Our counselling service can provide confidential help for women who were sexually abused as children, or who feel that their past abuse is affecting them as adults. In counselling, a woman and her social worker work together to help the woman feel better about herself. They look at all parts of her life in a non-judgmental way to explore the effects of the abuse.

The Unplanned Pregnancy Program can help women who think they may be pregnant. The service provides:

  • Pregnancy testing
  • Counselling to help women look at all their choices about their unplanned pregnancy
  • Referral to supportive community services for women who decide to continue the pregnancy
  • Therapeutic abortion services or referral
  • Counselling, follow-up and support after an abortion
  • Medical and surgical procedures

We offer professional and confidential help. Our staff will not make judgement or be critical about a woman’s situation.

A physician’s referral is not needed to access these services.

Contact information for abortion services and pregnancy counselling: 1-800-419-3111 or 1-705-743-4132

This clinic offers patients IUD insertion and removal, pap smears and more. It is accessible by appointment only.

This clinic offers nonstress test clinics for women in pregnancy, biofeedback and urodynamics.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

At the Women’s Healthcare Centre, we believe in the following principles:

  • Quality healthcare is a right

  • Education and empowerment are essential for women to achieve their full health potential

  • Women should have the opportunity to share experiences and to give and receive support

  • Health service providers should be skilled, attentive, sensitive and adaptive to the changing health needs of women

  • Discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, ethnicity, financial ability, sexual orientation, religion, ability or age impede women’s achievement of optimal health

  • Healthcare should include alternatives to traditional medical options

  • Women have the right to make choices related to their social, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being – this includes the right to make informed choices in all aspects of sexual and reproductive health

  • Healthcare should be accessible and available to all women

  • Women have the right to seek and maintain wellness as defined by them

RESOURCES

  • Sex and U, a resource for sexual and reproductive health