Ginger Beavers is a health care executive with more than 25 years of experience and demonstrated leadership in the development of clinical services and programs as well as physician practice management.
Areas of executive management experience are in obstetrics, pediatrics, family practice, internal medicine and women’s health. She has a strong reputation among physician leaders, senior managers, peers and subordinates as an innovator and systems thinker, a trusted mentor and advisor, and an effective facilitator of teams in planning and implementation of projects.
Her most recent accomplishment is the development of the new Women’s Health Initiative at Methodist Medical Center. She has extensive experience working with university residency programs and faculty, attending physicians, and midlevel providers, and has successfully involved them in strategic planning and implementation.
She is active in the community, having led the development of children’s advocacy and teen pregnancy prevention programs.
Tell us about your background, schools attended, family, etc.
I was born in St. Louis, but grew up in Marquette Heights, the oldest of 10 children. After graduating from Peoria’s Academy of Our Lady high school, I attended the Saint Francis School of Nursing, where I received my nursing diploma. Shortly thereafter, I married the love of my life, Sidney Burl Beavers. We have two daughters- our oldest, Erin, lives and works as a recruiter in Chicago. Our youngest, Paige, is an RN; she and her husband John live and work in St. Louis. I earned my bachelor’s or nursing in 1989 from the University of the State of New York, and my master’s degree in health care administration from Saint Francis University in Joliet, in 1993.
My first job was on a medical/ surgical unit at Saint Francis. Later, I worked for the Peoria Public Health Department as a public health nurse.
While our first daughter was very young, I worked as a staff nurse in a pediatricians’ office. After the birth of our second daughter, I became certified as a Lamaze instructor and taught classes for the next 14 years. I also worked as a labor/ delivery nurse for Methodist. Then, in 1981, I began an 11- year career in the Methodist Family Practice residency program, first as a staff nurse, and then for the last four of the 11 years, I was the coordinator of the Family Physician’s Center. I decided to move into nursing administration, having found myself wanting to make positive changes in the work environment.
The first- line management position is probably the most difficult learning experience there is, but again, it contributes to a person’s overall growth and development as a leader.
I then became interested in more advanced management opportunities and was recruited back to OSF to work as the director of Outpatient Services for Women and Children. There, I oversaw the operations of five outpatient clinics, and worked closely with the community to create partnerships that advocated for women and children. I did special projects for them as a health care consultant and also worked as the administrative director for the OSF Medical Group. About this time, the Women’s Health Initiative began to grow nationwide and I knew that I had the background, experience and the passion to create a dynamic women’s health program. Methodist asked- and I said yes.
What led you to nursing? When did you decide to go into administration?
Because I was the eldest of 10, I was always helping to take care of my brothers and sisters. The essence of nursing is just that- taking care of people. My life seemed to be a perfect fit for the role of a nurse.
I think my real love for women’s health began when I was with my mother when she gave birth to my youngest sister, Amy. Being present as the birth of someone that special is the most exhilarating experience a person can have.
Using Lamaze for the birth of our daughters was an empowering experience and that is, to me, what women’s health is truly all about- empowerment. It’s about understanding yourself and your body and the natural processes your body experiences, and taking charge of and directing how you want that experience to go.
I think when a woman gives birth and raises children, she grows in ways that are a real surprise to her. She becomes her own health care advocate, and learns to advocate for the health of her children. Oftentimes, she then goes on to coordinate and advocate for her husband’s health care, and later, even for her parents’ and in- laws’ health.
Tell us about your present position as director of Women’s Health Services. How are you partnering with Spirit of Women?
My role as director of Women’s Services & Programs- and now the Women’s Health Center- has been to create and develop a comprehensive health and education program with wellness and prevention as its core mission. Because Methodist had no women’s health program at that time, I had to build it from the ground up. At this point in my career, I really believed I had found my destiny. Sounds corny perhaps, but I do feel that way.
I think all of the experiences and challenges I faced in previous jobs gave me the necessary skills to build a successful women’s health program. My first challenge was to define what the women’s model would be here. My goal was and is to improve the health and well being of women, and to elevate the standard of care for women by offering the highest quality programs and services available. We do that by focusing on wellness and prevention and assessing each individual woman’s risk for developing any one of the diseases and conditions that affect women.
Our services include annual physical and gynecological exams, health education, support groups, mental health counseling and health screenings both within the center and in the community. Everything we do here is designed by women- our staff is comprised of women- most of the care in the women’s health center is provided by female nurse practitioners and our patients tell us they love this.
Next, it became important to help my peers and superiors to understand that quality women’s health was something women should experience no mater where in the system she sought it.
With that in mind, I created to name Women’s Health Network, to mean that all departments and physician offices within the Methodist system were involved in this national movement and were able to provide the highest level of care. I sought the expertise of a respected physician within the Methodist system, Dr. John Miller, and recruited him to be the medical director of our women’s health program. Together, we created the Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs to bring state- of- the- art information from the national to the local level.
The community benefits from our exclusive partnership with Spirit of Women in many, many ways. This national coalition brings the latest in research and trends in women’s health to the participating hospitals. Spirit of Women is the outgrowth of a partnership that developed in Pennsylvania when Lehigh Valley Hospital, Prevention Magazine, and Johnson & Johnson collaborated on an all- day women’s health event some four- plus years ago. They called the event “Spirit of Women” and the name just took off.
People began asking the hospital for other Spirit of Women programs. From there, the partnership became official and they began to offer it to a select number of hospitals across the United States that they perceive to be leaders in the women’s health movement.
The Methodist Women’s Health Network was invited to become an exclusive member in the central Illinois region in 1998. Spirit of Women supplies us with the latest in consumer literature that ties into health screenings for osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and depression, for example. The philosophy of Spirit of Women captures the essence of a woman and celebrates her whole mind, body, and spirit. It is a perfect fit for us because I use that same philosophy in everything I design for women. I believe good, quality women’s health is all about paying attention to the whole woman.
Our patients receive many benefits as a result of our partnership with Spirit of Women. The first screening (for osteoporosis, using the Ultrasound Heel Scanner) as a Spirit of Women hospital was in conjunction with other member hospitals across the country and featured in Prevention Magazine. We were surprised at the expansive readership- women who live in the Quad Cities drove here with their sisters and mothers, and women from Chicago called wanting to make an appointment.
We continue to make osteoporosis screenings a major focus of our community service. Most recently, at Women’s Lifestyle 2000, we conducted 177 free heel scans. The next major screening Spirit of Women launched was for heart disease and invited us to participate in the Healthy Lifestyle Tour, a two day event that offered heel scans, body fat analysis, health risk assessments, and health information. During those two days, the Women’s Health Center did 160 free lipid tests.
Spirit of Women also conducts an annual awards program. Every year they honor three unsung heroes from each member hospital’s community. The winners are honored at an all- expenses paid gala dinner. In December, our Spirit of Women winners were selected from the 25 Women in Leadership winners group, and all were honored at a special luncheon. The three Spirit of Women winners will represent the Methodist Women’s Health Center at the gala awards dinner in Scottsdale, Ariz., in March 2001.
Women’s health issues are receiving priority attention in the last five to 10 years. Why is this so?
The reason we have a women’s health movement is because we baby boomers are getting older and we’re demanding now- just as we have in every other passage in our lives- to be a partner in our health care. We have questioned and challenged the accepted methods of everything from music to wars and breastfeeding, and I guess it’s not going to stop.
We are finding that there are vast differences between women’s health care and what we all grew up experiencing. Previous to this last decade, women’s health was unique and different from men’s health only as it related to reproduction- pregnancy, childbirth, and annual pap tests.
Annual mammograms were added to the list just recently. But for decades before, research and standards of care were developed for men and then simply applied to women. The grounds for excluding women are that the menstrual cycle introduces a potentially confounding variable in analysis of data that can be overcome only by larger subject pool and more complex data gathering and analysis. A further protective reason has been that experimental use of treatments might expose fetuses to unknown risk, and excluding women who might be pregnant involves intrusive questioning or testing. Today, the National Institute of Health is conducting the first true clinical research programs on women. The results of these studies will be released within the next two years.
Some diseases are unique to women; others, such as coronary heart disease, certainly have different symptoms and may have different effects on women. The exciting part of this for the medical community is that these studies, which are based on clinical trials as opposed to observation, will actually improve health care to women.
There have been many changes in childbirth in the last 25 years. Tell us about some of those changes since you were a Lamaze instructor in the late 1960s to 1980s.
As a labor nurse and Lamaze instructor it was such a thrill to hear women say, “I couldn’t have done this without my husband/ coach.” The couple worked together- first in preparation for the big event, through childbirth education classes and through practice using the tools and techniques that they learned. Following the re- introduction of the epidural in the late 1980s, we saw a change in how couples approached childbirth.
Class attendance, overall, is down, and I feel the couple is losing an important opportunity to learn not only about labor and coping with pain of childbirth, but also about each other. There is a life- changing bond that occurs when a couple works together through any major life event, and childbirth is certainly one of the most important events in life.
Some couples give themselves a chance to experience labor before an epidural is used. This is good, because unless you give yourself and your body a chance to work together, you may never know whether an epidural is needed. Other couples opt to prepare themselves with classes, because they decided early in the pregnancy to use an epidural. These couples are missing a great opportunity to discover more about each other. Now the phrase we most often hear is, “I couldn’t have done it without my epidural.”
I don’t want to suggest that women should not seek relief from the pain of childbirth, but there is something to be said for a society that has now swung to a predominate use of epidurals. Have women’s bodies changed that much? I don’t think so- I think it’s the courage of our convictions and our belief in ourselves that has changed. Perhaps fear of pain and immediate gratification has become more powerful than the joy of discovery and intimacy.
You directed community collaboration between The Children’s Hospital of Illinois and Girl Scouts of America towards addressing the issue of teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy in the area in Illinois is reportedly down. To what do you attribute this?
The majority of my career has been spent developing women and children’s services- and I am very much concerned about the issue of teen pregnancy. While I understand there has been some slight improvements in the number of teen pregnancies in Peoria, there is so much more that can and should be done. Adolescent health is the next segment of the services that the Methodist Women’s Health Center will develop.
What impact would you most like to have on the health care of women and girls?
Today’s woman wants her health care provider to have the latest information on caring for her. She wants to be treated as an intelligent consumer and as a partner in her health care.
I see the future of women’s health moving toward preventing diseases and conditions most affecting women and their families- breast cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, colon and lung cancer.
I envision and am creating health care that pre- empts a woman’s having to ask for it- I see health care that is offered because the providers understand what a woman’s needs are before she does.
I see health care that anticipates her needs based on a profile of her health gathered from her medical history, her family history, her lifestyle. Her care is designed specifically for her and her alone. Health care is taken to her at her workplace, her neighborhood, her health club, and her mall. Women are incredibly busy, and it is time for health care providers to design care that fits her schedule and needs.
I create programs that improve the health and lives of many women. There are many already in place here; for example, our wellness and weight management program, called “The Total Woman.” This is the first program I know of that understands the complexities of a woman’s life and the challenges she faces in achieving wellness.
What are the issues that have surprised you most? What are the greatest health care needs of women in this area? Is it the same nationally?
Women tell me they want information and help to deal with the issues that impact their lives. To meet this need, I offer regular women’s health forums on a wide variety of topics.
By far, the most popular are on wellness and weight issues, menopause, fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety. I expected a positive response from all of these issues but the response to fibromyalgia was huge. I was overwhelmed at the large number of women and men who need help with this condition.
There is a void in the community- treating fibromyalgia is time consuming and frustrating for both the patient and the provider. Patience and persistence is what it takes to find solutions for each individual.
My colleagues across the country are having similar experiences with all the major health issues.
What are the different needs of women in different socio- economic levels, race, age, etc.
All women need to receive the same level of health care. Unfortunately, there are those who fall between the cracks. The woman who doesn’t meet the criteria for public assistance will put her health care needs below food, rent, and health care for her family. She is either underinsured or uninsured.
Because of this, she doesn’t get preventative health care. We partner with the Peoria County Health Department to provide mammograms, breast exams and Pap tests for these women. But there is more to preventative health care than reproductive health.
These same women need to be screened for heart disease, colon cancer, and osteoporosis. They also need to receive information and help with menopause and hormone replacement therapy. Our program has a special grant through the Methodist Foundation to provide such health care.
Each race has its own unique health care risks, and we build these differences into each of our community screenings as well as the health care we provide in the center.
Certainly age plays a factor in our need for health care. The younger woman is most concerned about family planning and birth control and less concerned about osteoporosis, heart disease and breast cancer. However, prevention and early detection are important for all age groups; all women need help understanding their individual risks so they can work towards prevention.
In preparation for the opening of the Women’s Health Center at Methodist, you even painted murals on the walls. How important is the atmosphere and coordination of women’s health care?
A comfortable, tranquil, aesthetically pleasing environment is important, especially to women. I wanted our center to say to women, “Relax, stay a while- we’re here to take care of you.” And yes, we worked hard to create an atmosphere that would comfort the women who turn to us for care.
There is reportedly a national nursing shortage. Why is that? Do we experience that in central Illinois? How is this need being addressed?
There is a nursing shortage across the United States- and that includes Peoria. One reason is that there are many opportunities for women and men- in a very real sense, nursing competes with all other professions.
Another reason is that as society ages, the number of elderly continues to grow and new services are developed to care for them, which increases the demand for nurses.
Methodist works hard to recruit and retain the best nurses available and to encourage young people to consider health care as their chosen profession.
Most insurance companies operate under an “illness/ intervention” model. How can a wellness/ prevention model be adapted?
One way that wellness and prevention programs and services can be covered is for employers and insurance companies to believe that it is more cost effective to spend money up front to prevent disease than it is to treat it.
Insurance companies and employers gamble that they won’t have to cover the cost of taking care of sick employees. To some degree, the reason for this is the shift in the employment paradigm- people don’t spend 30- plus years with the same company. The company has no real incentive to keep short- term employees healthy.
The problem is, these same employees will be working somewhere and using someone’s health care- so it does behoove us all to invest in our employee’s health.
The names and faces many change, but health problems will remain and continue to be a huge financial strain- for someone. Another way that wellness and prevention could be covered would be to charge less for insurance premiums if the insured adopts a healthy lifestyle. In fact, some insurance companies and employers are doing this now. TPW