After an eight year absence, Lynn Atwood, the woman whose name was almost synonymous in Wendover with everything to do with pregnancy and babies is making a return.
Atwood returns as the chief midwife of the Copper Canyon Women’s Center new clinic on the Wendover Air Base which opens August 11th.
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The clinic will initially be open once a week and will expand hours and days of operation should the need demand. And most probably there will be the demand.
Currently there are no ob/gyn specialist services available in Wendover and from the time of the Women’s Clinic closed in 2003 access to such services in Wendover has been at best catch as catch can.
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The Women’s clinic opened in Wendover over 20 years ago was the major source of prenatal care in Wendover. Open five days a week the Wendover Women’s clinic provided prenatal and postnatal care on a sliding scale depending on income. The clinic also provided birth control and was often the only source of contraceptives for lower income women and girls. The clinic also provided the only source of contraception and the prevention of venereal disease in Spanish for Wendover’s large Hispanic population. During it 15 years of operation midwives and doctors from the clinic birthed up to 95 percent of all the babies born in the Utah/Nevada border town.
It closed in 2003 after losing funding from Salt Lake’s LDS Hospital under whose auspices it worked.
Copper Canyon Women’s Center is part of the Pioneer Valley Hospital group and will initially offer the following care services: • Prenatal, delivery and
Postpartum care • Routine and high-risk pregnancies • Annual exams • Birth control
• STD screening • HPV vaccine • General health care • In-office procedures • Minimally invasive surgery.
Atwood is a certified nurse midwife and board-certified family nurse practitioner. Atwood has provided women’s health care for more than 25 years in the Salt Lake Valley.
Atwood has received recognition from the National Perinatal Association, Bountiful Soroptomists, Utah Department of Health and Women of Distinction award from BYU.
The head physician at the clinic will be Dr. Joseph Bell.
Dr. Bell received his medical degree in 1974 from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed an internship in internal medicine at Albany Medical Center Hospital in 1975. Following his internship, Dr. Bell completed an internal medicine residency at St. Louis University Hospitals. He then accepted a faculty position at St. Louis University teaching and doing research in pulmonary medicine. He co-authored several papers and gave numerous talks throughout the country. He then completed an obstetrics and gynecology residency at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis in 1982. He served as chief resident in both residency programs.
Dr. Bell is originally from Pennsylvania, but relocated to Utah 15 years ago to enable his children to pursue their dreams of ski racing. Dr. Bell enjoys the outdoors and teaching young physicians. He has always stayed active in teaching and has received numerous awards as outstanding instructor of the year.
Dr. Bell is board certified by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is proud to offer his patients a full spectrum of women’s healthcare. He emphasizes individual and personalized care. He stresses a healthy lifestyle to promote good health for each individual patient.
The Copper Canyon Women’s is affiliated with Pioneer Valley Hospital out of Salt Lake.
I’m very happy to see this happening. Women here in Wendover can be seen by the medical professionals we Need to be seen by. I was pregnant with my 8 year old when the womens clinic closed its doors. Because of this, and me not having a vehicle, I received no prenatal care for the majority of my pregnancy. It was a high risk pregnancy, and my daughter was born prematurely. I had 3 inches of amniotic fluids, which was the biggest problem. Less than a week before I went into labor, a midwife at LDS hospital told me my fluids were fine after I voiced my concern due to a similar problem during a previous pregnancy. This midwife gave my tummy a little poke and told me my fluids were fine. A couple days later an ultrasound proved I was right to be concerned. 6 inches of fluid. Thank God Lynn Atwood is back!