JBER opens a self-referral menopause clinic the Air Force calls a first

Women at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson can now refer themselves to a new clinic for perimenopause and menopause, which the Air Force says is the first of its kind in the service.

The 673d Medical Group's Women's Mid-Life Optimization Direct Access Clinic, or WoMODA, is open to active-duty women, spouses, VA beneficiaries and anyone else with access to the base hospital, the Air Force said in a release Monday. The medical group provides care for more than 34,000 women. The release calls WoMODA the first women's midlife clinic in the Department of War to combine in-person group classes with self-referral.

"I know how hard it can be to feel like something is wrong and be told that it's normal," said Jean Walker, a women's health nurse practitioner at the medical group.

The clinic "started with" Walker and Maj. Kaitlyn Bathold, a certified nurse midwife and nurse practitioner, Bathold said. "This wasn't something that we were told to do. This is something we are passionate about and we're going to do."

Patients start by calling or visiting the Women's Health Center, on the hospital's first floor, where nurses screen them to see whether the clinic or another resource fits. Those who qualify attend a group class on how hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone affect the body, then get a panel of 14 lab tests and a one-on-one session with a provider to go over treatment options, including hormone therapy.

The clinic focuses on women starting perimenopause and in menopause. Perimenopause symptoms can last up to 10 years, Bathold said.

The clinic also teaches providers in related fields about caring for women in midlife, and it was designed to be scaled up and copied elsewhere, according to the release.