Wombkeepers OB/GYN and Maternity Wellness Center began in 2013 in a little Victorian house in Montclair, NJ. Dr. Aristizabal had been in private practice in the same community with another established practice for two years previously and recognized there was a need for obstetricians willing to support alternative, low intervention birthing options. At the time, NJ had one of the highest rates of cesarean in the country, approaching 50% in many of the hospitals surrounding Montclair. There were also very few providers who would support VBAC and no providers who would support VBAC if a mother had more than one cesarean. With the help of Practice Manager and Director of Wellness, Catherine Galle, she established a practice with the goal of meeting that need and providing more comprehensive antepartum and postpartum care through the Maternity Wellness Center. Wombkeepers quickly grew, bringing on midwives to support the practice mission and a team of doulas, yoga instructors, lactation counselors, and other valuable helping hands. Through good education and good support, Wombkeepers was able to help over 250 women per year deliver their babies, with a high rate of unmedicated vaginal deliveries, over 50% most months, a cesarean rate of under 18%, a VBAC success rate of over 85%, and a high percentage of successful breastfeeding, in addition to providing full- scope gynecology services.
After eight years, Dr. Aristizabal was ready to focus her time and energy on her obstetrics work and expand on the vision of the initial Wombkeepers practice by offering truly all-inclusive, comprehensive maternity care, with an integrative, expanded wellness program, as well as a free-standing birthing center option, which had been difficult to achieve in NJ. In 2020, ownership of the Montclair practice location was transferred to One Oak Medical, where Dr. Shilad and the Wombkeepers Montclair (now Vista Women's Health) team continued to provide excellent care for the Montclair community. Dr. Aristizabal relocated back to the Phoenix Valley, where she had been raised and attended medical school.
In 2021, Dr. Aristizabal, again with the tireless help of Catherine Galle, opened a new Wombkeepers location in N. Scottsdale and joined the HonorHealth team. This new practice location was designed and built from the ground up to meet all the needs of pregnant patients that had been identified throughout Wombkeepers' previous years of hard work, caring for over 2500 families. Wombkeepers Scottsdale offers both obstetrician and midwifery led care, in a slowed- down, personalized fashion that allows women the time and space to have all their concerns addressed. We also provide all patients with full scope childbirth, lactation, nutrition and parenting education, as well as doula support for all patients, lactation and mental health support, and prenatal yoga. This wellness care is all inclusive with our patients' global fee for obstetrics and is provided at no extra cost to patients, so within one place, patients can access the care they need without worrying about finances or coordinating their own care.
In 2022, the Renewal Center for Birth at Wombkeepers opened, offering Scottsdale a free-standing birthing center option for labor and delivery. Here, patients have a serene environment in which to birth their babies, with state-of-art equipment and a dedicated team. All birthing center patients, even those from outside practices, also have access to our wellness center and all the services it provides. The Renewal Center for Birth is one of the few birthing centers in Arizona that offers midwifery care that is fully integrated with obstetrics care, meaning the midwives at our birthing center have ready access to an obstetrician should a challenge arise during the birthing process and seamless ability to transfer a patient into the hospital for a higher level of care, with the backing of a physician who supports the midwifery model and physiologic birth process and delivers patients in that model herself.
After eight years, Dr. Aristizabal was ready to focus her time and energy on her obstetrics work and expand on the vision of the initial Wombkeepers practice by offering truly all-inclusive, comprehensive maternity care, with an integrative, expanded wellness program, as well as a free-standing birthing center option, which had been difficult to achieve in NJ. In 2020, ownership of the Montclair practice location was transferred to One Oak Medical, where Dr. Shilad and the Wombkeepers Montclair (now Vista Women's Health) team continued to provide excellent care for the Montclair community. Dr. Aristizabal relocated back to the Phoenix Valley, where she had been raised and attended medical school.
In 2021, Dr. Aristizabal, again with the tireless help of Catherine Galle, opened a new Wombkeepers location in N. Scottsdale and joined the HonorHealth team. This new practice location was designed and built from the ground up to meet all the needs of pregnant patients that had been identified throughout Wombkeepers' previous years of hard work, caring for over 2500 families. Wombkeepers Scottsdale offers both obstetrician and midwifery led care, in a slowed- down, personalized fashion that allows women the time and space to have all their concerns addressed. We also provide all patients with full scope childbirth, lactation, nutrition and parenting education, as well as doula support for all patients, lactation and mental health support, and prenatal yoga. This wellness care is all inclusive with our patients' global fee for obstetrics and is provided at no extra cost to patients, so within one place, patients can access the care they need without worrying about finances or coordinating their own care.
In 2022, the Renewal Center for Birth at Wombkeepers opened, offering Scottsdale a free-standing birthing center option for labor and delivery. Here, patients have a serene environment in which to birth their babies, with state-of-art equipment and a dedicated team. All birthing center patients, even those from outside practices, also have access to our wellness center and all the services it provides. The Renewal Center for Birth is one of the few birthing centers in Arizona that offers midwifery care that is fully integrated with obstetrics care, meaning the midwives at our birthing center have ready access to an obstetrician should a challenge arise during the birthing process and seamless ability to transfer a patient into the hospital for a higher level of care, with the backing of a physician who supports the midwifery model and physiologic birth process and delivers patients in that model herself.