A New Definition of Women’s Health
By Tia Co-Founders, Carolyn Witte & Felicity Yost
What *is* women’s health?
Gynecology? A body part? Getting pregnant? Or maybe, just maybe… a whole lot more.
From day one of starting Tia, we’ve been perplexed by the stark mismatch between how women define “women’s health,” and how the conventional healthcare system defines it.
It’s what makes navigating the healthcare system as a woman all-too-often feel like a forced slicing up of your body into different parts, put into separate boxes delineated by what someone studied in medical school. Or what reproductive “chapter” you are in at that moment (no fluidity allowed!). Or a mysterious codification of your healthcare needs in accordance to what your insurance company deems is worth paying for (vs. what you deem is really wrong or needed to get and stay healthy).
A new definition from digital to physical
We saw this “mismatch” the moment we started answering women’s health questions on our AskTia app, which spanned “which IUD is right for me?” to “why do I get bloated?” to “why have I never had an orgasm?”
This “women’s health is more than your uterus!” message was reinforced again when we launched the Tia cycle, health and wellness tracker, and quickly found anxiety and headaches to be the most tracked things in our app — even beyond periods!
And this need to redefine what women’s health really is has been made loud and evermore clear since opening our first real world Tia Clinic in NYC. In addition to doing lots of Pap smears, STI screenings, and conventional gynecological care, we’ve been staggered by the number of patients we’ve diagnosed with diabetes, autoimmune disorders, thyroid conditions, anxiety, and more — causing us to ask ourselves, yet again, what “is” women’s health?
The connective thread
Throughout our journey from digital to physical, and from delivering women’s health information to women’s health care, the thread connecting each Tia chapter has been a powerful, shared sentiment.
Not just a laundry list of conditions or diseases disproportionately affecting women, but a feeling… an experiential sense of what women’s health is, and what women’s health should be —
… Feeling truly heard, seen, and cared for.
… More than treating sickness, but instead, cultivating wellness.
… Making informed decisions with confidence.
… A collaboration with my doctor.
… Aging with dignity.
Let’s co-create a new definition
It is in this spirit that we’ve turned to real women once again to help us co-create a more comprehensive, enlightened and inclusive definition of women’s health — one that encompasses the diversity of issues women face, physically, mentally and emotionally. And one that gives credence to the agency every woman deserves with respect to her healthcare decisions, big and small.
It is these re-definitions of women’s health that have shaped the design of Tia’s care model to-date — a holistic gynecology, primary care & wellness practice (with a soul!) — and will guide our evolution to encompass whole lot more. Not a bunch of services under one roof, but instead, a truly integrated care team that works together to treat the whole of you.
So, join us. Experience women’s healthcare redefined at the NYC Tia Clinic today. Tell us where to go — both geographically, where to open our next clinic doors, and clinically, how to expand our practice to better serve your “whole woman’s health” needs.
Tell us, what women’s health is, to you.
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Tia is the next generation women’s healthcare platform bringing empathy and innovation together to help women thrive. Our interdisciplinary team of doctors, designers & data enthusiasts have seen first-hand how women’s needs have been radically underserved and underestimated, and are on a mission to build a new distinctly female care model from the ground up, online and offline.
Tia’s ecosystem of products, tools and services — from the Tia app to the Tia Clinic, a real-world gynecology & wellness practice based in NYC — is connected by a unique, human-centered approach to care that focuses on listening and learning all about women and their holistic needs, from anatomy to emotions, from gut health to getting it on. Tia encourages honest and transparent conversations about patients’ health, both with their care team and their community of members, to help women make independent and informed healthcare decisions with confidence and ease. To learn more visit asktia.com.
