Expert, Personal Care
Neighborhood’s friendly Women’s Health team is committed to providing you with quality care to ensure you’re healthy and happy at every stage in life. We offer a full array of women’s health services, including birth control, breast and cervical screenings, well-women exams and counseling.
Our goal is always to ensure you feel safe, comfortable, and confident with your decision, every step of the way.
Breast and Cervical Screenings
Unwanted conditions can present with little to no warning, which is why periodic cervical and breast screenings are so important to every woman’s health.
Cervical screenings, also known as “pap smears” or “pap tests,” help identify signs of precancerous or cancerous cells on the cervix. If your screening shows any abnormal signs, your healthcare provider will help you develop a plan for the best course of action.
Breast screenings help to identify signs of breast cancer. If your screening reveals any abnormal signs, further testing is available, and your provider will discuss next steps with you.
Well-Women Exams
Annual checkups are an important part of health care for all women. They give you the chance to meet with your doctor to discuss preventative care and see if you need to be seen by a specialist for any reason. Well-women visits can include screenings, evaluations, and counseling depending on your need. Both cervical and breast screenings are available as part of your well-women visit.
Why regular check-ups matter
Cervical cancer was once one of the most common causes of cancer death for American women. The cervical cancer death rate dropped significantly with the increased use of the Pap test. Cervical cancer tends to occur in midlife and is most frequently diagnosed in women between the ages of 35 and 44. Learn more from a Neighborhood health professional.
Cervical Cancer Treatment
Did your doctor tell you that you have abnormal cervical cells after a pap test or tell you that you have HPV? There is a lot of misinformation about these diagnoses and we’re here to clear up any misconceptions. Please schedule an appointment to learn about your plan of treatment and to get all your questions and concerns answered.
Why regular check-ups matter when you are sexually active
Visiting a doctor for regular check-ups is an important part of staying healthy. When you are having sex, those visits become even more essential.
Being sexually healthy includes getting tested and treated for any infections or diseases. Here are the tests you should discuss at regular checkups if you are sexually active — and why they are important.
HPV and pap tests
Human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection. While the infection can go away on its own, certain types of HPV cause genital warts and cancer.
Anyone can get HPV and pass it to someone else during sex, but only people with vaginas can be tested. This involves a doctor taking cells from the cervix for testing. If a test comes back positive for HPV, the doctor will do a pap test — also called a pap smear or cervical screening — which follows a similar process to the HPV test. That test will show if there are abnormal cells in the cervix that could lead to cervical cancer.
There is no cure for HPV, but warts may go away on their own or with treatment. Because having HPV means you might get cancer in the future, you’ll want to continue getting regular pap tests. However, you can prevent HPV with a vaccination, which you can ask for at a regular checkup.
Even if you don’t have HPV, you should plan to get a pap test starting in your early 20s and get both an HPV and a pap test every five years.
You can start regular checkups with the help of Neighborhood Healthcare, which offers in-person and video appointments, as well as free and low-cost options to eligible patients. Schedule online at nhcare.org or by calling 833-867-4642.