Clinic for women reopens in Midway

Motherhood to Menopause in rebuilt Lloyd’s Pharmacy building

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When Lloyd’s Pharmacy rebuilt at the corner of Snelling and Minnehaha Ave., the small clinic providing services to women housed in the building reopened, too.
It emerged with a new name and broader mission.
Under the leadership of Catherine Mascari, the Menopause Center shifted from a focus on menopause to meeting needs of women from motherhood on. With that came a new name: Motherhood to Menopause Midwifery Care.
Mascari was one of the Menopause Center’s first clients. She now owns the practice at 1576 Minnehaha Ave. W.

Tell us about your background and how you ended up in this field.
Mascari: I am a master’s prepared nurse-midwife, licensed in the state of Minnesota as an RN (1987) and Advanced Practice RN (APRN), and then nationally certified as a nurse midwife (CNM) through the American Midwifery Certification board since 2004.
My initial nursing career started out in oncology and medical surgical which laid a foundation of “disease management.” Then I practiced in gynecology and surgeries; onto labor, birth, post-partum, and the newborn. My current licensing status affords me to practice as an independent and autonomous provider.

What do you most love about your work?
Mascari: The longer I am “with woman” the more it becomes clear of having two ears to listen. Women deserve to have their lifetime healthcare needs met in a manner that is respectful without significant time constraints. Providing choices and informed consent are important for their care. When exploring options for relief of symptoms, she decides to pursue or not.

Tell us about the transition from Menopause Center to Motherhood to Menopause.
Mascari: This was a simple and clear one: Menopause Center clients were asking for more services and Motherhood to Menopause (MTMMC) now offers those to low-risk clients: consults, medication management, well woman exams, drawing blood, ordering mammograms and DEXAs (which screen for bone loss).
MTMMC appeals to women of all ages.
Prenatal services are driven by the homebirth community for those low-risk client services, midwife-to-midwife care, for consults, labs, dating ultrasounds eight weeks and more, biophysical profiles and fetal monitoring.
I offer services for all age groups of women from their reproductive years to post-menopausal.

What are common questions you hear from women you serve?
Mascari: With peri-menopause/menopause usually it is: I should be over this (meaning their debilitating symptoms). The relief they feel when informed their symptoms have other physiological reasons rather than just loss of ovarian function. That women deserve relief from their symptoms.
Women are smart and can understand the research.
Unfortunately, huge pieces of the research for peri-menopause/menopause are based on synthetic hormones.

How did the fire at Lloyd’s Pharmacy affect your business and how have you rebuilt?
Mascari: Definitely, visits went appreciably down because there was this limbo state of how to get their appointments done. Unfortunately, health insurance carriers were the driver of where appointments could take place, and once teleconferencing was in place there was a sense of relief not only on a client’s part but on mine. I did a lot of outreach to past clients and continue to do outreach to past clients about the changes. I look forward to new clients, and the expanding and broadening of services.
The community and clients were amazing, not just with their support but showing up, as well.
Learn more at motherhoodtomenopause.com.

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