A new women's health clinic is coming to Webster City and will offer a comprehensive menu of services to area women.

Dr. Dan Gabrielson, an OB/Gyn physician, will soon open his clinic in the community. Until the remodeling is completed, he will continue to see patients at his Wednesday clinics at Hamilton Hospital. He said he expected to open the new clinic in next few months.

Gabrielson said he has hired a women's health nurse practitioner who will also be able to see patients at the clinic. He said he hopes to make the new clinic available to patients at different hours and times that would convenient to his patient's schedules.

"Once we're up and running I plan to have everything from ultrasound services, to really anything associated with female health care. We're going to have a really nice atmosphere, really specific to women's issues," he said.

Annual female care, all obstetrical care, including high-risk pregnancies, gynecological surgeries, hormonal therapies, menopausal concerns are some of the services that will be available at the clinic, he said.

Gabrielson at one time served three area hospitals, Wright Medical Center, Boone County Hospital, and Hamilton Hospital through Mid-Iowa Surgery. Several months into his agreement with the surgical group, Mid-Iowa Surgery disbanded, with the surgeons in the group moving on to other practices.

"At that time, I realized that I wanted to be an independent OB/Gyn," he explained.

Gabrielson said he continued to have a good relationship with Hamilton Hospital and Wright Medical Center. He has provided services to for all of the physicians in the community, he noted, over the past several years.

"I'm the only board certified OB/Gyn in the community," he noted, but said that he had struggled a little with Hamilton Hospital. He asked the hospital for a longer term contract to cover the hospitals for C-sections. Gabrielson said by having his services on-call, Hamilton Hospital saved on what locums physicians would have cost.

"It was a very fair agreement and I felt very confident with it," he said. When Gabrielson built a house near Clarion last year, he thought there were comments made on where he lived in relation to the time it took to travel to Hamilton Hospital.

"The logistics on covering hospitals in rural America are much different than in Chicago or Des Moines where I trained. There are somethings that are just not going to happen, unless they are in the hospital all the time," he said.

Gabrielson said he had tried to stay away from hospital politics.

"Up until last year, I stayed away from the politics of the hospital. Partly because I was an OB/Gyn, and partly because I was not employed by any of the family doctors in town. I've done work for all of the doctors and taken care of their patients," he explained.

He said he could sense a multitude of things over the past few months.

"If I felt obligated to hire another OB/Gyn, for instance, that should be my right," he said. "There were no restrictions in my contract to hire another OB/Gyn so that I didn't have to be on call 24-7. Or I felt another OB/Gyn was better served to fit the needs of the community and the patients than a general surgeon, family physician or midwife."

"I felt the people deserved that standard of care," he added.

Two months ago, Gabrielson became an independent provider at Wright Medical Center. He was no longer employed by the facility, he said, as a a way of showing the doctors and administrators in Webster City to know he was committed to the patients here.

"Ultimately, it wasn't about one hospital or the other; it was about the patients," he said.

Gabrielson said he was asked to adjust his current contract with Hamilton Hospital. He refused and at that time, exercised his 30-day option to leave his contract.

Gabrielson said he would be taking his patients to Wright Medical Center.

"They do things the right way in my opinion," he commented.

Contact Anne Blankenship at editor@freemanjournal.net or call 832-4350, ext. 29.