Barton Women’s Health Offers OB/GYN Care

Women have a new choice for their health care in South Lake Tahoe with the grand opening of Barton Women’s Health offering obstetrics, gynecological and infertility services. OB/GYN physician, John Missanelli, DO, joins longtime family nurse practitioner, Patience Wenck, MSN, at Barton Women’s Health which opens on Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Conveniently located across from Barton Memorial Hospital and Barton’s Family Birthing Center at 2175 South Avenue, Barton Women’s Health features a newly remodeled office. Barton Women’s Health offers complete women’s care services including:

— Annual Exams

— Family planning and preconception counseling
— Prenatal care
— Menopause care
— On-site ultrasound & procedures
— da Vinci Robotic Surgery & Laparoscopy
— Hysteroscopic procedures
— 24-hour-call-coverage offered for emergencies
— Barton Memorial Hospital labor and delivery coverage

The new practice offers the same great supportive staff and is excited to welcome the arrival of John Missanelli, DO. Missanelli comes to South Lake Tahoe from La Mesa, Calif., and specializes in female reproductive health and gynecological health. He is specially trained in da Vinci robotic surgery, is a da Vinci trainer and has completed over 400 da Vinci surgeries.

Patients have traveled from around the world to be seen by Dr. Missanelli. Board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Missanelli received his degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Pennsylvania and has 32 years of medical experience. Missanelli will see patients at Barton Women’s Health as well as devote his time to seeing patients at Barton’s Community Clinic and Barton Memorial Hospital’s Family Birthing Center.

Longtime family nurse practitioner, Patience Wenck, MSN, will continue to provide uninterrupted care to new and longstanding patients. Providing women’s care in South Lake Tahoe since 1994, Wenck received her nursing degree from the University of Massachusetts.

Following, she worked at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford, Massachusetts and Boston City Hospital in Boston, Mass. Subsequently, she joined the US Army. There she received her Nurse Practitioner certificate in 1988 and worked at Silas B Hayes Hospital in Fort Ord, California and Cutler Army Hospital in Fort Devens,
Massachusetts. After completing active duty, she attended Sonoma State University where she received her Master’s as a Family Nurse Practitioner.

Also providing women’s care services at Barton’s Community Clinic two weeks a month is Matthew Barulich, MD. Barulich attended the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV and performed his residency at the University of California, San Francisco, CA. In addition to seeing patients at Barton’s Community Clinic, he will assist in labor and delivery at Barton’s Family Birthing Center. Barulich will also see patients at Desert Rose Women’s Care - his own private practice offices located in South Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley.

Other physicians continuing to provide gynecology services to Lake Tahoe residents will include Dr. Gary Willen with Tahoe Women’s Care, with an office in Carson City and Dr. Kelly Shanahan with Emerald Bay Center for Women’s Health with offices in Lake Tahoe and in Carson Valley. Drs. Willen and Shanahan will continue as active staff members on Barton Memorial Hospital’s medical staff and will continue to perform da Vinci surgery and other procedures at Barton.

Barton Women’s Health is excited to expand the women’s care services offered to our community. To schedule an appointment at Barton Women’s Health, call (530) 543-5711. Learn more at www.bartonwomenshealth.org.

— Writer Rebecca Wass is a public information specialist for Barton Health.