About Us

Who We Are

Women’s Health Services is pioneering better medical care for women, men and children through our clinical practice, advocacy and research.

Women’s Health Services (WHS) is a non-profit, federally designated National Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health providing primary care medical services to women and families in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico for close to 40 years.

The mission of WHS is to provide access to high-quality healthcare.

WHS provides primary care through our Internal Medicine and Family Practice physicians, Certified Nurse Practitioners, and specialty care across a broad range of services including Integrated Behavioral Health Care, Gynecology, Bone Density Testing, Menopausal Therapies, and Acupuncture.

WHS translates cutting edge gender and sex specific research into clinical practice, programs, and health care policy in New Mexico.

As a teaching health center, WHS provides professional education in our clinic, as well as other training programs, to prepare the next generation of upcoming practitioners to provide women-centered health care.

We recognize that well being depends on the psychological, social, spiritual, and physical health. We honor western, traditional, and complementary approaches to care.

We are dedicated to advancing family health care. WHS is based on a five component model: direct health care services, leadership, outreach and education, professional education, and research. Having us in your community means that you have access to:

• a sex & gender evidence based medical practice
• integrated primary/behavioral health, living well classes, peer mentoring groups, community education programs and leadership workshops
• public seminars, conferences, health fairs and screenings
• the benefits of a residency training in women’s health for health care professionals, including in-services and conferences women’s health research.

History

Women’s Health Services, Family Care and Counseling Center, Inc., (WHS) founded in 1973, incorporated in 1974 “to improve the status and distribution of health and behavioral health counseling services to adults and minors in New Mexico, in order to maintain avenues and forums of communication among, by, and for them on health related issues.” The initial mission focused specifically on women’s health services; we have expanded over the years to provide basic primary care to all.

Originally staffed by volunteers, the center offered educational classes, a community newsletter, counseling services, clinical lab services, pregnancy testing, prenatal care; and served as a referral source for patients. Many primary care physicians currently in practice in the Santa Fe area’ can testify to working as volunteers, or later, for $5 per hour. Status as a 501 (c)(3) non profit corporation was obtained in 1975. A majority of the Board of Directors were patients at the center’s inception, and this majority continues today. In the early years, WHS was funded with small grants from foundations and private donations. The center continued to grow with the assistance of many community volunteers, and by utilizing job training programs to obtain and train staff.

Women’s Health Services became a charter Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health (CCOE) when it was federally designated as one of only 12 national Centers in 2001. CCOEs, together with more academically oriented Centers of Excellence (CoEs), were created by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to form a network of local health care and research organizations dedicated to addressing the inequities in research, health care services and education that, according to the DHHS, “placed the health of women at risk.”

Women’s Health Services was awarded a Coalition for Healthier Communities grant by the HHS/Office of Women’s Health in September 2010. We are partnering with Tewa Women United, Young Women United and various State, County and City partners, building on the existing NM Governor’s Council on Women’s Health. The Coalition will conduct a community needs assessment and sex- and gender analysis to identify issues impacting the health of women in New Mexico.