Given that 65% of AFC’s 1,400 patients are women, our team of volunteer women’s health providers — Colleen Borelli, MD, Christine Pintz, NP, David Powers, MD, Rupali Singh, MD, and Laura Stone, MD — fulfill a critical dimension of AFC’s comprehensive care by addressing general gynecological needs, providing survivorship services for those diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer, and ensuring access to potentially life-saving preventive screenings.
Coming out of the pandemic, cervical cancer screening in particular has been a great priority of AFC’s women’s health program, given how important early detection is to successful outcomes. While we have a wonderful partnership with the Women’s Imaging Center at VHC Health that allowed us to keep pace with the need for mammograms all through COVID, screening for cervical cancer requires an appointment at the Clinic. Since most women need screening every 1-5 years, we fell behind while we were limiting onsite care during the height of the pandemic. These days, we’re keeping our volunteer gynecologists very busy and have quadrupled the number of cervical cancer screenings completed compared to last fiscal year.
Our women’s health team works in partnership with the VHC Health Outpatient Clinic GYN program to provide additional testing and biopsies when an abnormality is detected during screening — and thanks to a longstanding partnership with VA Cancer Specialists, we are able to provide access to the full range of cancer treatment, should a need arise.
AFC is careful to avoid duplicating services available elsewhere in the community, so to fully meet the women’s healthcare needs of our patients, we partner with Arlington County DHS where women may access prenatal care, contraception, and STI testing.
Thanks to our volunteer GYN team for being the strong foundation of this program, and for the significant impact they make on the health of the women of AFC!
