The Future of Women’s Health
January 14, 2025 | Episode 30
Producer’s Note: The following is an AI-generated transcript of The Wellness Conversation, an OhioHealth Podcast
SPEAKERS: Lindsey Gordon, Kristina Stuecher, Marcus Thorpe, Dr. Jason Melillo
Lindsey Gordon 00:14
Make the plans, have the kids, raise the kids, have the big job, make huge contributions to the family, cook the meals, plan the vacations and, oh yeah, take care of your health and wellness too. It's all in a day's work for the 2025 version of the strong woman. Welcome to the Wellness Conversation an OhioHealth Podcast. I'm Lindsay Gordon.
Marcus Thorpe 00:33
And I'm Marcus Thorpe. All of that's no big deal, right? Well, not exactly, especially when it comes to that health and wellness journey. We've heard women in the OhioHealth women's health space say they want more. They deserve a journey that has a true partner, that means more access exceptional care. But what does that truly mean, and what does it look like? We have two of our top leaders in the women's health space here to share all of that. Dr. Jason Melillo is the vice president of women's reproductive health, and Kristina Stuecher is the vice president of the OhioHealth Women's Center on the Riverside Methodist Hospital campus. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Dr. Jason Melillo 01:13
Thanks for having me.
Kristina Stuecher 01:11
Thank you.
Lindsey Gordon 01:11
We're going to spend some time each podcast talking about women's health, the journey, the challenges and the triumphs. So, there's a lot to get through. Dr. Melillo, let's start with you. How did you find your way to OhioHealth?
Dr. Jason Melillo 01:23
I was drafted. I did my medical school training at Ohio State, and then at the end of medical school, you go through what's called the match, which is like a draft for doctors, but less cool, because we're just a big bunch of nerds. But I did my residency program here at Riverside Methodist in OBGYN. So that was four years. And then I got a job with an amazing practice in town located in Upper Arlington. So, I was with them for almost 20 years in private practice with some amazing doctors practicing primarily out of Riverside. And then in 2019 I was approached by OhioHealth because they needed a physician leader for their women's health program. And so, I took the job right before the world stopped spinning in 2020 and then shortly thereafter, we turned it into a service line, and that's where I met Kristina.
Marcus Thorpe 02:14
We were talking earlier, Dr. Melillo said, you've delivered maybe upwards of almost 4,000 babies...is that right?
Dr. Jason Melillo 02:20
Close to it, yeah, sometimes it felt like that many in one night, but over a course of 20 years, yeah, it was almost 4000.
Lindsey Gordon 02:27
It's remarkable to think about that, because for every baby you have, you know the family of that baby, so think of all the lives you've impacted, it's like 4000 times. So awesome, you know? Oh, it's amazing when you when you think about it like that. And Kristina thank you so much for being here today. This is a newer role for you, and a big one for women's health and reproductive health and what it should look like. Tell us a little bit about what you do at OhioHealth.
Kristina Stuecher 02:52
Yeah, so I've had the esteemed honor and pleasure to be working with the women's health service line for a while now and then, when the Women's Center got brought to life, really, under Jason's leadership, and we knew that this thing was a go, is when I got to be the Accountable executive for the hospital. And so, it's been really exciting. It's been full charging ever since, you know, we got the board said yes to the project, and so I've been really leading from an operational planning working with the construction team since about March of 2023, and now here we are coming well off the ground and starting to really think about how this thing is going to really come together and work for women in our community.
Marcus Thorpe 03:44
Kind of want to start with the OhioHealth Women's Center. If you've driven by Riverside, you can't miss it. I mean, it is right there in the corner. The construction, it's moving like every single time I drive by. It looks like they've added some more, and it's really coming together. But let's talk about beyond just the building scope of it, because I don't think that's what everybody's so interested in. It's what's inside it, the people and the services. So, when you all thought this out, Kristina, what? What was it that drove you to say, we need this in Columbus, and families need this here?
Kristina Stuecher 04:16
Yeah, I mean, I think that's something that's been on the hearts and minds of a lot of people around women's health care, especially here in Columbus and with OhioHealth, the journey really started pre my time, when we were thinking about what do we need to take not only OhioHealth, but Riverside, to the next level, and what would that look like, especially around how does women's health support Riverside's growth? And, you know the thoughts, and this is when Jason was here at Riverside, leading the medical staff and talking about, well, what if we actually create a better experience? For women on this campus, and not only aggregated all the care that we have into a destination center but also enhanced it. And then, what could that create if we were outside of the main walls of Riverside for what Riverside needs to continue to do to achieve quaternary care? But what could it really create for women in our community, and so I that really is the heart of the story, is developing this comprehensive place, this true destination, where women can get care across their lifespan, where we're seeing not just in the maternity destination, but also being seen in our middle age, and as we continue to age and journey into, you know, the greatness of life, and so I think we're really excited about creating a space where women and their families really have a place to have healing, to be on their wellness journey, and to have a community.
Lindsey Gordon 05:59
To that point of having a community, this is all about listening and responding to the needs of our community, right? And Dr. Melillo, you've been part of this plan every step of the way. And how does this plan really meet those needs? And how is it showing women that we hear you, we listen and we're responding?
Dr. Jason Melillo 06:16
Yeah, it's a great question. So, I think we've done a very good job at taking care of patients through their reproductive years. So, you know, Riverside and OhioHealth has been known for their obstetrics program, for their gynecology program, and more recently, we've started to realize that there's a whole other chapter in women's lives past reproductive ages, or for people who choose not to head down that route. And I think one of the things that we're trying to do is fill those gaps in care so that, as Kristina said, across the lifespan, so from day one when they're born at one of our OhioHealth hospitals until they're hopefully 120 years old, everything that they need is under an OhioHealth flag somewhere. So, we are really focusing on, yes, the obstetrics part, but also, how do we bring pediatrics back on campus? How do we bring fourth trimester care to a little bit more to the forefront? How do we create a true midlife and menopause program? Because a lot of women will enter into menopause healthy and exit unhealthy and feel like the system is telling them the last third of their life is nowhere near as important as the first two thirds of their life. So how do we fill those gaps and create those destination clinics to create truly a comprehensive across the lifespan experience?
Marcus Thorpe 07:36
I want to talk about the current state of women's health and how where we are with that helped you all develop these plans for where we're going for women's health. So, can you talk about where we are with women's health? Are we are we healthier now than we were? Are women healthier now than they were? Menopause clinics, you mentioned, fourth trimester clinics, talk us through kind of that menu of options for women, and why that's critically important.
Dr. Jason Melillo 08:02
Yeah, so the part of the design of the building was, yes, it was the physical design, but it was also the clinical design. So, part of this project is a large inpatient hospital, but it's also a medical office building, and within that medical office building, we decided we needed specific destination clinics for people who are specifically trained on Gender Specific Medicine. So, for example, you look at something like cardiology, we know that women have less incidents of heart disease than men, but they die more often than men because we don't study women. We don't understand the symptoms, and we treat them like men with long hair. So, part of this is, how do we create a cardio obstetrics program where we have physicians who are specifically trained in Gender Specific Medicine? Fourth trimester is another one. So, if you look at pregnancy, traditionally, it's three trimesters. Well, what we've forgotten about is the 12 weeks after you have the baby, which actually is the most dangerous time for mom and baby when it comes to a lot of issues, physical health, mental health, social health, family health. So, what we did was we started these clinics in other locations to learn to grow them, to add layers on them, so that when the Women's Center opens, we can have fully mature fourth trimester, midlife, cardio, obstetrics, comprehensive, diabetes, all of these programs in one location.
Lindsey Gordon 09:24
I'll be honest, I'll use myself as an example. You know, I think when you have a baby, you can feel so isolated at times. You're up all night, right? You're in those overnight feeds. And I find myself googling these crazy questions that I wish I could just, you know, have answers to. And there was a moment on my breastfeeding journey where I had a lactation consultant from Dublin, Methodist, call me to check in, and she's like, how's it going? And I think it was around the three-month mark, and I said, You know what? It's actually working. And she was screaming on the other end of the line. So happy for me. I was like, this woman is just doing her job right? And she's probably got to call a million people. Today, but she's screaming, because it's working for me, like, how cool is that you know? And I think that's an example, right, of being seen and being taken care of an having a place to go. So, for me, also, I have, you know, the kids, the job, the this, the that, the grocery list, all the things, and I feel like my health always takes a back seat. That's the last thing I think about. What would you say is the number one thing that women do miss out on or don't pay enough attention to? I mean, I'm saying myself, I'm guilty. I don't focus on my health.
Dr. Jason Melillo 10:32
I think that's it. I think that they put their needs on the back burner. So, if you think about how complex health care is, just how difficult it is to make an appointment, especially if it's an urgent one. Think about trying to do that for if you have kids. For your kids, if you have a partner who doesn't necessarily take care of their health as well as they need, to making that appointment, if you have parents that you're helping who you know, especially if one of them has a chronic disease, how do you manage all that? And a lot of women that we spoke to said, my needs are the last that I get to. And so one of the things that we wanted to do with this center is create a destination where all of the things that that not only she needs, but her family needs, to a degree, will be in one location, so that we can co-locate things like primary care, pediatrics, OBGYN, behavioral health, mammography, so that all of those things can be convenient in a destination, so that her health can be part of her job, as well as taking care of the rest of the family.
Kristina Stuecher 11:34
Yeah. I think it's about making it easy. You know, we as an organization, had an opportunity to work and spend a lot of time with women in their homes and engaging with them, hearing from them. And what women have said is that they feel like healthcare is a black box that's working against them, because we have so much that's going on, right? And so, what we're talking a lot about when we start to bring the Women's Center to life, right? Because it's only going to be as good as it works, and it really needs to work well. And it has to be anticipatory, right? We have to be thinking about needs of people ahead of when they actually know that they need them. We need to be thinking about, how do we connect the dots for them? How do we engage with them, what, even when they're not in front of us in the clinic. And so, we're talking a lot about all these things that really create the experience, not only the few times we get them inside of our walls, but also engaging with her digital days, how would we create access? And so all these things we need to pull together to make that one stop shop experience, which may be with us, or also when she's back at home and with all the kids and or the family or the work or just life.
Dr. Jason Melillo 12:51
And one of the things we're noticing that's really cool about our fourth trimester clinic that opened up in Dublin in June is the majority of the appointments are mom baby appointments, so the mom will come in for a lactation medicine consult or for a behavioral health consult, and they'll do a quick check on the baby, and it turns into kind of a dual appointment, so it saves her an extra visit, an extra an extra time on the phone, an extra an extra time in the car, so that the family can really be taken care of as one.
Marcus Thorpe 13:17
I love that. Me too, Kristina, I think about you when we were reading this intro, it's, kind of like the woman who has the kid, has the big job, is working so hard, is trying to, you know, have a great family experience too. When you were kind of putting this together, you must have been thinking all the journey that you've gone on yourself and your own health and your daughter and all of that. I mean, a lot of that probably played into how you viewed what the center could be for women, right?
Kristina Stuecher 13:50
Yeah, it does. You know, I have an opportunity to be creating something that, one, I get to experience and two using my own journey to feed into how do we make things different? So, you know, I think about being a working mother. I had a challenging pregnancy and birth. I've had the opportunity to be in that weird transition point when, you know Jason, I talk about this all the time, is like, I feel like I've, you know, you fall off the healthcare kind of platform when you're not really, you're, somewhat past, you know, still having babies as a woman, but at the same time, you still feel somewhat vibrant and young, and you don't know "where do I go for care for me", right? And so, finding these, like, thinking about those things, is really starting to inform us, inform me around what's the things that we can create, you know? So, I'm really excited the fact that we're going to have a gendered primary care in the Women's Center. Like, well, that's really, you know, that's a really cool opportunity for people to, you. Have primary care that's really targeted towards women's healthcare. I, you know, I think often about the one stop shop experience. And, you know, how do we create what we talk about, like an itinerary to come in, get all the things that you need to get done and be out of there? Because that's something that I, you know, often challenged within myself. So, and I often think about that, what we're building really is a legacy for all the women and the girls that are in our community, and so how we start to show them that taking care of yourselves and really investing in your health is something that's worthwhile. And there's a lot of people who are really impassioned by it and want to be a part of amping up the women's health journey.
Marcus Thorpe 15:46
Yeah, legacy building for not only the women who are having babies, but all of these babies that are eventually going to be out there and needing healthcare. Yes, that's awesome. I'm a husband of a wife who has had her babies. She's at a stage in her life where we're not going to have any more kids. Our kids are 14 and 12, but menopausal right now. I asked her permission, if I could say that. She said, that's fine. Go ahead. I am smart. I wanted to make sure we could talk about that. But I guess my question is, as this women's center comes together, and I know it's a little ways off, but even the here and now, how can we be better partners for our spouses or loved ones as they go through some of these changes in their lives, whether it's, you know, birth to perimenopause to menopause?
Dr. Jason Melillo 15:48
think the key is, is the word that you just used, is be their partners. Truly be their partner, and you know, ask, what is it that you need? What can I do to help you? How can, how can we continue to have the life we want to have, and you be as whole and as healthy as you want to be, because it is a journey, if you think about, you know, I it was interesting. We were talking about this with some people, and someone was saying, Well, I'm postmenopausal, and it's like, well, you're actually kind of never post-menopausal, right? Like, once you hit that, you could have 40 or 50 years of your life where you're in that space. And how do we make sure that that you still have the energy you want, the mental capacity that you deserve, the relationship and the sexual life that you deserve, the vibrancy and keeping your bones healthy, like all of those things, knowing that a pretty good chunk of your life is going to be after that childbearing zone. And that's something that as a medical profession, we haven't done a great job of, other than just give people band aids to say, well here, this will take the edge off, this will keep the symptoms away, but nobody's really addressing kind of the core issues of, how do you keep somebody healthy for the next 40 years of their life?
Lindsey Gordon 17:46
Yeah, that's so interesting to think about that. I'll speak from experience on this one as well. There are times where I've had wonderful care, and as a journalist, I've moved all over the country, so I've had providers at all different organizations. And there have been times where I've walked out of an appointment and felt like I just wasn't heard, I wasn't listened to, especially in, like, the mental health space, you know, how are we changing that? How what are we doing? And how can women take charge and really advocate for themselves?
Dr. Jason Melillo 18:16
So the mantra that Kristina and I have been using from day one about this women's center, and really about women's and reproductive health for the system, is that you will be seen, you will be heard, and you will matter. It’s almost like the old adage where if a tree falls in the forest, nobody hears it. Didn't make a sound. If you have an appointment with a provider, but you don't feel like you were really seen. Did you really see a provider? And the answer is probably no, especially if you feel like you were dismissed. So the mantra is starting to catch on, and it's really interesting because it's resonating. We're starting to hear a lot of people say that, yes, I want that's what I want. I want to feel that way. And so now it's on us to make sure we deliver. But as far as what each individual person can do, I would say, be your own best advocate. You know, if you don't feel comfortable with a provider, there's no reason why you can't look for another one. If you feel like when you get in the room, you get nervous, write things down, ask questions, you know, send follow up messages to the nurse if you didn't understand something. But one of the things that we're really trying to do is really kind of change, I don't want to say the paradigm, but change the experience, so that people know that their concerns are valid and that they do deserve to be seen and heard.
Marcus Thorpe 19:37
It's not one size fits all. I mean, it just can't be and if you're putting the center together, it needs to be tailored to each individual approach. How do you do that? I mean, that's the hard part, right? I mean, the idea is easy, but actually delivering on it...
Lindsey Gordon 19:49
And this hasn't really been done before. I mean, I feel like we're trailblazing in a way at OhioHealth, because there's no one that has the blueprint at this point. We're making it.
Kristina Stuecher 19:59
You're absolutely, right. We are, and taking our mantra, seen, heard, like I matter, is something that we're really rooting in, the way that we plan the services we're going to deliver. So, we spent hours probably a group of about 2025, leaders, large group of clinicians, physicians, people are across the kind of working space around OhioHealth that is touching the project, and we went deeper around what does, seen, heard, like I matter actually mean tangibly, right? So, for me, the challenges you have this what's almost intangible, because to your point, it is so individual, then how do we translate that in the tangible way that we work? And so, we've been doing that, we've come up with what we're calling, like, 18 or so breakthrough ideas that start to take seen, heard, like I matter in the way that we deliver care to the community. But also, how do we ensure that's the way that the people that work at the Women's Center feel too. And so, we want to make sure that all of our associates and our providers also feel that way, so they can deliver the care that way. And so, we're really rooting in that and every bit of our operation. So, thinking about what that looks like from the time that someone checks in to the way that they're greeted, to a valet process, to our cafe, to everything in that three mantra, because we want to really live that as you walk through the doors.
Marcus Thorpe 21:35
Do you think that the planning for this Women's Center has made you all, and OhioHealth, big picture, even better of taking care of women now in the current state. Obviously, we're talking about future state with this beautiful center. But as you're piecing these things together, have you said, why aren't we doing this now, or why aren't we improving this now? Right?
Kristina Stuecher 21:55
Absolutely, there's things that have come up that we're saying we can't wait on that. We want to move on now and so I think you're seeing that through a lot of the clinic developments that are happening now in communities. So we can learn from it, and things that we're doing when we're seeing we want to learn from them now where it's kind of, if it's enhancing quality, safety or the experience, and so we're not waiting for some of these enhancements. And we also want to test, I think that I'm a big believer in innovation and testing and just trying things, and so we have the spaces, the people, the community and the patients in front of us now, for us to kind of learn around how do we do things like that today, and then to continue To make it better for when we open.
Dr. Jason Melillo 22:42
And it's really cool, we've seen a lot of associates, physicians, community members, just people that we are tangentially associated with, not that that this women's center is giving them permission to come up with ideas, but it's almost like they're seeing as an invitation. They say, well, wait a minute. If we're going to change the physical space, why can't we also change the way we operate within it, or the approach we have towards this specific disease? So we have had a lot of great ideas coming from the ground up to say, Have you ever thought about this and we're like, Wow, no, let's try it now. Let's see how we can make that work. So then, if it does work, not only is that something that we can start doing in the Women's Center, but that's something we can do everywhere, all of our clinics, all of our hospitals, all of our units,
Lindsey Gordon 23:29
It's like creating a safe harbor to look at things differently, and sometimes different is good. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you both so much for being here today.
Marcus Thorpe 23:29
Perfect. That's the way it should be. That's great. Yeah, it's been a great conversation. Obviously, the Women's Center is still a couple of years away, but we're excited to watch the growth in the building. I guess as we kind of close things out, you know, some women maybe have felt that comprehensive health care might be out of reach for them. I think in the past, maybe feeling lonely and disjointed. What advice would you give as we kind of close our conversation of how to feel like you're in charge of your own health and wellness journey as we kind of move forward to hopefully a really exciting new year.
Dr. Jason Melillo 24:10
Well, I would start by agreeing with them. I don't think they're wrong. I think it has felt like it's been out of reach. And I think, you know, that's on us as a health system and as healthcare providers to try to address it. And you know, my invitation to anyone is to please reach out, be our partners. Let us be your partners in your health journey going forward. And if we're falling short of your expectations, let us know how we can rise to meet them.
Kristina Stuecher 24:37
Yeah, I agree with that. I think that we have an opportunity to truly be women's partners in healthcare, and if you're not getting that, then advocate for yourself. There are what we're seeing is there's so much positive energy right now around women's health. People are talking about it. People aren't shying away from it. Yeah, there are more and more people who want to be a part of this mission, this journey, that are coming and saying, I want to service women differently so they're out there, and they're in our community. And however we can help. We want to hear it. We've, we've had the pleasure to interact with a lot of women in our community saying, do you know about this provider? What about this? Can you connect to us with this? And so there is a network of providers and community organizations out there that are willing to help support you and your journey. And then in a couple of years, we'll have a singular destination that will only enhance hands it.
Dr. Jason Melillo 25:40
This is truly a system resource. This is not limited to the physical campus that it's on. And so how do we make sure that everybody knows the invitation is open, both to the community and to all of the other providers and healthcare locations that we have?
Kristina Stuecher 25:54
And it is for everyone. You know, really, as we think about, you know, we have a vision here at OhioHealth and the Women's Center truly is for all, and we want every woman to know that this center is for her.
Marcus Thorpe 26:09
We can't wait, and we know you're the two leaders amongst others that should be leading the way that we're going. And we appreciate you spending the time with us today, and we thank you for joining us for this episode of the Wellness Conversation an OhioHealth podcast. Before we wrap up, we do invite you to follow us on all major social channels, making sure you stay up to date on any new episodes as well as health and wellness topics. If you're looking for more information on Ohio services and locations, just go to ohiohealth.com.
Lindsey Gordon 26:35
The information in this episode will also be available on the podcast page. Also be sure to subscribe to join the conversation. And one final note before we say goodbye on this episode, we are just getting started. Reviews and ratings help us keep the conversation going with you and allow others to find us and join the conversation too. As always, thanks for joining us.
More resources:
OhioHealth Women's Center | Opening in 2027
OhioHealth Fourth Trimester Clinic
OhioHealth Menopause and Midlife Clinic