Stacy Arminio
December 2024
Stacy
Arminio
,
CNM
OB/GYN Office
St. Mary's Healthcare
Amsterdam
,
NY
United States
Today was my first appointment with Stacy, and an incredible weight was lifted from my shoulders.
I am a woman walking (often stumbling) through this new season of life. I had been with my previous OB/GYN provider for over 21 years. I loved him for the role he played in helping to bring my children into the world. Through most of my 20s and 30s, I trusted his guidance regarding conception, pregnancy, and all things childbearing. At some point in my late 30s, changes started happening with my body. I was no longer having babies, but I was gaining weight, losing hair, not sleeping, etc. I tried to talk to my doctor about it but felt very dismissed by “all women go through it…just wait…it gets worse.”
I began to seek out other resources to help me understand what I was going through. Through that, I heard the term “perimenopause” for the very first time. Again, I went to my provider and asked if this could be me…he dismissed me. I felt so isolated and discouraged. Over the next few years, I worked to learn all I could about this new phase of womanhood and looked for a provider that would help me reclaim control over my own journey. A colleague of Stacy’s recommended that I give her office a call. As a former nurse and current midwife, her years of experience and expertise were highly regarded.
I called, and as I waited for my appointment, I reminded myself not to hold my expectations too high. Maybe this was a stage of life I would have to just figure out on my own. Today was my first appointment with Stacy, and an incredible weight was lifted from my shoulders. She gave me a generous amount of her time, listened to all I had to share, validated my feelings, and reassured me that my symptoms and feelings were something we were going to work together to navigate. She explained things to me that no other provider ever has. She offered recommendations within my comfort zone and welcomed my input into the conversation….yes, conversation, not dictation. Treating a patient as a real person, not an appointment slot, is often hard to come by in today’s healthcare system. I think when we find those providers, we should celebrate them. I proudly nominate Stacy for the DAISY Award for her outstanding commitment to treating her patients like people and (in her words) “treating the whole person.”
I began to seek out other resources to help me understand what I was going through. Through that, I heard the term “perimenopause” for the very first time. Again, I went to my provider and asked if this could be me…he dismissed me. I felt so isolated and discouraged. Over the next few years, I worked to learn all I could about this new phase of womanhood and looked for a provider that would help me reclaim control over my own journey. A colleague of Stacy’s recommended that I give her office a call. As a former nurse and current midwife, her years of experience and expertise were highly regarded.
I called, and as I waited for my appointment, I reminded myself not to hold my expectations too high. Maybe this was a stage of life I would have to just figure out on my own. Today was my first appointment with Stacy, and an incredible weight was lifted from my shoulders. She gave me a generous amount of her time, listened to all I had to share, validated my feelings, and reassured me that my symptoms and feelings were something we were going to work together to navigate. She explained things to me that no other provider ever has. She offered recommendations within my comfort zone and welcomed my input into the conversation….yes, conversation, not dictation. Treating a patient as a real person, not an appointment slot, is often hard to come by in today’s healthcare system. I think when we find those providers, we should celebrate them. I proudly nominate Stacy for the DAISY Award for her outstanding commitment to treating her patients like people and (in her words) “treating the whole person.”