JoJo DeSantis Will Take Appointments Starting November

NORWOOD – Women living in the West End now have a new option for their health care needs with the addition of JoJo DeSantis, RNC NP, to Norwood’s Uncompahgre Medical Center. Serving teens through adults, she will begin taking appointments in November, offering ambulatory women’s health care and management of gynecological and non-gynecological issues. And because UMC is a federally qualified community health center, DeSantis’s services will be offered on a sliding fee schedule, providing discounts based on a patient’s ability to pay.

“I’m excited to be heading out there and working with the women of Norwood,” said DeSantis, a resident of Trout Lake near Telluride. She has provided women’s health care in the region since the early 90s, most recently as a Nurse Practitioner with San Miguel County Nursing Service for 13-plus years. “I’m hoping people will migrate for me,” said DeSantis of her former clients.

Originally from Flushing, New York, DeSantis received her nursing license from Howard Community College in Columbia, MD. She went on to receive her degree as a Nurse Practitioner from Planned Parenthood of America in association with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Making her way out West, DeSantis worked for Indian Health Service in Santa Fe, N.M., where she provided OB/GYN services in a rural setting, particularly focusing on high-risk labors and deliveries of pregnant women. “I found my way to Colorado in the mid 70s,” she said, working as a Labor and Delivery Nurse in Vail and Glenwood Springs before settling in Telluride.

After taking a “personal sabbatical” this year to travel and spend time with her daughter and three-year-old grandson in Hawaii, DeSantis is now looking forward to getting back to women’s health care.

UMC Executive Director Steve Siegel and the center’s family care physician Hillard Zallen, MD, selected DeSantis to fill a specific niche. They wanted to add a female care provider for women to round out their service care delivery model while also establishing an option to women formerly cared for by Julie McCallen, MD, who recently closed her Norwood-based private family practice to move to Denver.

“I think some women prefer to go to women for specific services,” said Zallen. Although, “we already have Christine Tealdi (PA-C) here once a month, it will be nice to have someone here to provide that more regularly.”

Siegel added, “We saw a need in the community… JoJo is popular and has a following, which will allow her to build her practice over time.”

Furthermore, UMC’s designation as a rural Community Health Center will allow DeSantis’s patients access to discounts and specialty programs that keep their healthcare affordable. Medicaid and Medicare are also accepted, as well as most types of private insurance.

In November, DeSantis will begin taking appointments once a week, adding more days as demand dictates.

“I’m excited to join the team at UMC to help provide health care services to women in a rural setting,” said DeSantis. “I can provide annual physical exams, contraception, menopausal therapy, as well as evaluation and management of sexually transmitted infections, sexual issues, and related health care issues… I also serve adolescent health issues, and can provide pregnancy consultation.”

DeSantis noted that by seeing women for their annual physical exams, she has an “entrance to check them for overall wellness and then refer them, right at the center,” for other medical needs. UMC provides “all the medical home needs under one roof,” she said. And “all services are completely confidential.”

Zallen summed up: “We’re excited to add JoJo to our clinic. I think she will be a wonderful asset to our community and to our clinic as she contributes her expertise.”

To make an appointment, call the Uncompahgre Medical Center at 327-4233.