Spotlight Series

Guest Name: Dr. Amelia Parrett

Credentials: OB/GYN

Okay. All right, welcome Dr. Amelia Parrott. Thank you so much for being on our spotlight series today for the Best in Utah Public Health and I’m just going to jump in and read your short bio here and then we’ll get into answering all the questions.

Sounds good. So Dr. Amelia is a full-time board certified OBGYN who has been practicing for 11 years in Salt Lake City. She has delivered thousands of babies and loves taking care of women through all stages of life.

She’s passionate about good health in general for women and partnering with patients in their health journeys wherever they are. So thank you so much for being here today with me. Yeah.

We’re just going to jump right into the questions and give us a little brief story of what made you decide to be an OBGYN.

Yeah. Well, it’s not where I thought I would end up. When I started medical school, I actually thought I was going to go into geriatrics because that was what my dad had done. But when I was a third year medical student, I did my first rotation on the labor and delivery floor in this community hospital in Virginia and was a part of my first delivery and it just blew my mind. And I knew from that point forward, my path towards geriatrics was not going to be fulfilled and I was going to have to revamp what I was thinking.

And as I continued to finish medical school, tried a lot of different other rotations. I loved surgery. I loved operating, but really wanted something that let me take care of women throughout all stages and to partner with them, not necessarily just when they’re sick, but also when they’re doing things really normal and wonderful, like having babies.

So it was not where I expected to be, but I’m so thankful to have walked through this path to get here.

Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Okay. What would you say makes you different in the way you practice and deliver care?

I feel very strongly as a female physician that I can’t ask my patients to do anything that I’m not willing to do in my own healthcare.

So I feel really strongly that if I’m going to recommend something in terms of corrections or suggestions, that these are things that I can implement in my own life and that they’re not unreasonable or onerous. I also feel really strongly that I am a tool in your healthcare, but I am not necessarily the solution to all of the things. And my goal is to try to equip you to actually have to see me less if things are going well and the way that they’re supposed to.

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome.

Okay. Walk us through who an ideal fit would, with working with you would be. So like from patient perspective, like who’s your ideal fit?

I mean, honestly, I’m pretty open to any woman that wants to come in and chat with me.

I love talking to people who are curious about where they are and why they’re the way they are. So if someone’s walking through something that’s challenging or actually requires treatment, that they would be willing to ask questions and say, why did I get here? How did I get here? Are there things, especially in terms of if there’s actual pathologies, are there things I can do to prevent from getting here again? So I really love working with people that are curious. I don’t expect you to have all the answers or have everything figured out, but to be willing to walk through what might be the best solution for you and then be willing to be really proactive and being a part of that care, that it’s not just me fixing you.

It’s us working together as a team. Love that. Love that.

Awesome. Okay. What does the process look like to work with you? How does someone become a patient with you?

Well, it’s pretty tricky these days.

When I was newer in practice, you could just call and make an appointment with me. As I have gotten busier, the way that you see me for sort of gynecologic care is through a referral. So if you have a primary care doctor and you have any issues or specific concerns, they are always welcome to send a formal referral to my clinic and I’m happy to see people.

With regards to obstetrical patients, I’m almost always seeing new patients as far as pregnancies go. So for a lot of women, the way they’re able to actually get access to me for long-term is through a pregnancy, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, like I said, I really try to make space if people need to be seen urgently.

And then again, any referrals from primary cares, those ones, I’m typically pretty happy to accommodate and try to fit in as timely as possible. Awesome. Awesome.

Can you also, just because I know this on the back end, can you talk about the pregnancy support group that you’re also a part of that we talked about the other day?

Yeah. Yeah. So I’m also the medical director of our local pregnancy resource center, which is a really wonderful organization that provides early access care for women who are in pregnancies that are unwanted or unplanned and who feel very alone in the process.

So as the medical director, I supervise the nurses that staff the clinic. And then I read all of the ultrasounds that are done. So they offer first ultrasounds for anyone with an unplanned pregnancy.

They’re free. They don’t require any insurance. They don’t require documentation.

They really just require that you’re willing to come into the clinic. And so that’s a great point for women to get access to healthcare. We also then can provide letters that are proof of pregnancy.

So for women that are applying for insurance or trying to get plugged in, we can provide a really great on-ramp for those women to get into the healthcare system and when it can feel pretty intimidating, otherwise.

Awesome. Thank you for saying that.

Okay. And then from a pregnancy to postpartum timeframe, what does recovery look like from, from your lens?

Man, it is not six weeks is what I always tell people. So after you deliver a baby, especially if it’s a normal delivery, I typically see people back at the six week visit, but I cannot emphasize enough that I don’t expect you to be recovered by six weeks.

I always tell people you grew a whole human being inside your abdomen and it took you 10 months. So you have to expect at least 10 months sort of for the bare minimum as far as recovery goes. So I really encourage people the first six weeks, you know, the wheels kind of come off, especially if it’s your first kiddo and you think, Holy cow, what have we done here? You haven’t slept.

You’re having a hard time getting showers and nothing really makes sense, all those things. So for six weeks, I tell people your goal is to get through it as best as you can. And then I tell people from the six weeks, really to the 12 month mark is the start of kind of rebuilding what it looks like to feel more like yourself again.

So during those times, I encourage people kind of ease into physical activities specifically. I love, I mean, I’m going to tout the benefits of physical therapy. I wish it was a part of our standard postpartum care.

It’s not, unfortunately, but every patient I see at six weeks that I can talk into seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist. I love it because it can really, really help women rebuild core specifically in pelvic floor. Even if you’re planning on having more kiddos, the work that you do can really set you up nicely for subsequent pregnancies.

And then I really encourage moms, especially in terms of nutrition, when you’re breastfeeding, you require such a huge extra caloric load that my goal really is for you not to get on the scale. I really just want you to think about eating healthy, nutritious food for you and your baby, and then getting strong and fit. Usually people have struggled with weight during pregnancy or postpartum.

I’ll recommend that they wait in terms of getting on the scale until they’re done breastfeeding or weaning, but really during that recovery time to be patient with themselves in that process, because it is a long process and sometimes it’s a little longer with each baby that you have. I’m a mom of three, so I fully understand the time that it takes to kind of heal and feel like yourself again. Awesome.

Well, thank you for plugging pelvic PT in there. And then what’s something that most people don’t know that you think that they should know, whether that’s about your career, about delivering babies, about being a mom, like any little nugget that you can share with us?

Well, I think the first thing I would say is that I love being a mom. That is the first passion for me.

And I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to be a mom. I think it changes the way that I counsel patients and I care for women. Some of that has really influenced what I can counsel people for, because I really actually do know what it feels like.

I know what it’s like to work. I know what it’s like to have paternity leave. I know what it’s like to try to balance all of the moving pieces.

And so one of the big things I try to tell people again is whatever I tell you, I promise it’s things that I think are important that I’m trying to do myself. I have in my clinic, probably about a year ago, I kind of decided I would try to be a little bit more proactive and encouraging women. So I have two whiteboards in my clinic in every exam room.

And one of the whiteboards says what workout I did that morning. So people can see what did I do. Sometimes I write, I stayed home and slept in.

And then I always include books and I include quotes and resources and podcasts that women can listen to, because sometimes I’m not on time. And so I try really hard to give people equipment so that they can take whatever’s happening and then go do it in their own life.

I think that’s really cool. That’s awesome. Yeah. Okay.

Do you have any sort of thing that especially you want to promote to the audience, whoever’s watching?

No. I mean, I think my biggest sort of change that I have come to is that medicine and physicians like myself, we are tools in the journey towards health. And so I’m a huge fan of women being equipped to care for themselves.

I think that that doesn’t include fad diets. It doesn’t include crazy changes that you make for a very short amount of time. I want people to really understand this is a long-term investment in health.

And that means tiny decisions every day that are going to kind of step you forward towards being healthy and strong. I’m a big fan of weight training. So I try really hard to encourage all my female patients to think about weight training, but to kind of start small.

So always start small and light and then kind of build from there. But yeah, I think it’s really just that I want people to think of health as a lifetime choice. And it’s tiny decisions, like I said, over long periods of time that will really provide that lasting health.
Amazing. Amazing. Okay.

Last question. My favorite question to ask is what’s the main thing that you want to be known for?

Oh, I want to be known for taking care of women. Wow.

I think that it’s such a privilege that I have most of what I walk beside women is not actually illness. So pregnancy is just a beautiful process that we get to be a part of. And so I want to be known as someone that cares for both the mom and the baby from the very beginning.

I will always kind of make sure that people feel heard and respected and understood in the process that they’re in. But I love, love taking care of that combination of, of a mom and baby from the very beginning to the very end. And then even after they become moms, continuing to walk them through that journey and recovery.

And then, you know, I have patients all the way up in their nineties. And that’s such a privilege to have women who are older, get to come and see me as well. It’s one of my favorite things about the diversity of age and the practice that I take care of.

Amazing. Amazing. Okay.

Where can we find you? Like if someone wants to come be a patient?

So I work at Intermountain Medical Center and I’m a physician in a group called the Intermountain OBGYN Specialists. And we’re a group of primarily female physicians. We have one male pelvic floor and pelvic pain surgeon who’s excellent.

And then the rest of us are all ladies. Most of us are moms. So we really understand what everybody’s walked through in terms of pregnancy and recovery and balancing everything, but that’s where you can find me.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing insight into your world and thank you for serving our community well.

Yeah, absolutely.

I’m glad to be here and I’m thankful for all of the work that pelvic floor PTs do. I can’t emphasize that enough. They’re such a huge blessing and part of the care team for all of our patients.

Thank you. Yeah.