Local health providers have opened a new health center in Kirkland intending to serve as a comprehensive care provider for women on the Eastside.

Opened by Kristina Chamberlain and Jennifer Jimenez, both certified nurse midwives (CNM), the Eastside Women’s Health Center offers services related to pregnancy and early childhood, such as breastfeeding, lactation support and family building. The center also features providers focusing on holistic care, such as massage therapy and acupuncture.

“Really our goal is to be a one-stop shopping for women and their families,” Chamberlain said. “We want it to be a safe place they can come and know their health is taken care of and their families are welcome.”

The new center is actually an expansion of Chamberlain’s previous smaller practice she opened three years ago, located within the same building but a separate office space. First volunteering at a clinic in Chicago, Chamberlain worked in medical centers in Russia and Guatemala before studying midwifery at the University of Washington.

“We’re really excited to stay on the Eastside,” Chamberlain said. “We feel like a lot of communities aren’t getting what they need.

The new partnership between herself and Jimenez intended to make more providers and more services available to female patients that are readily found elsewhere.

“I felt like I was on the verge of growing,” she said. “When she and I met it just felt very serendipitous. We instantly felt very like-minded about the kind of services we wanted to provide to our community. “

Two of the top services they offer, she said, is that they are nurse midwives who deal with lactation, as well as tongue-tie correction, a condition restricting an infant’s use of their tongue, making it difficult for them to breastfeed properly.

“It’s (tongue tie) becoming more and more common,” Chamberlain said. “And the women in this area do want to breast feed, so they are seeking more support, and we can definitely offer that.”

Originally from San Francisco, Jimenez started working at a free-standing birthing center, where she said she focused on low-risk pregnancy and out of hospital births in at-risk communities. Prior to working at the Eastside Center, she had spent 25 years working in New York. Her work there made her aware, she said, of gaps in health care providing concerning multiple births, or where an infant’s growth was restricted.

“Once these babies came home it was obvious, even though there was a lot of support, there was a gap in transition from there to home,” she said.

Jimenez said when she moved to the Seattle area she met Chamberlain and after talking about their mutual visions of an all-inclusive health center, found they matched well.

“I felt it was an easy and obvious to fit to do my life work here in opening the center,” she said. “I think family building providers is something that is in need, particularly on the Eastside. There are providers in Seattle, but that’s a space we will definitely see an explosion in.”

Although other centers offer fertility services, Chamberlain and Jimenez said typically it’s for women suffering from infertility and the care is centered around that, while their services are for both single mothers by choice and members of the LGBT community.

Another service they seek to offer is a personal approach to how they provide health care to patients.

“We definitely focus on holistic patient care,” she said. “We spend a lot of time educating our clients and really working with them on their own health care goals. We have longer appointments than other medical offices. We can answer their questions and spend the time to educate. Because we’re a smaller office, too, we can take calls. You don’t have to be triage to talk to us. Once you’re here, we’re going to spend more time educating.”

“The Eastside has transplants due to the tech industry,” Jimenez said. “Women and their families are really looking for communities.”

For more information about the center, visit eastsidewomenshealth.com.