Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Quaile.
Heather, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The ever-changing healthcare system is something that has been on my mind for several years while earning my nursing degrees. I started in the medical field when I was 16 years old; I worked with a nurse practitioner. She functioned in the same capacity as a doctor, yet was able to have a family, volunteer at church, exercise, have hobbies, raise her children, and be an active participant in her family unit. This was something that was very appealing to me. When I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to do something in the healthcare arena but the idea of a nurse practitioner back then was rather new. I went to college and earned my Bachelor of Arts in psychology. I knew this would be a good base for any healthcare-related job I was going to pursue. After graduating with my degree in psychology, I knew I needed more schooling and the questions were whether or not to go into nursing, medicine, or clinical psychology. I chose nursing, as I knew this would be a stable career that would offer me a myriad of opportunities and different paths for my future.
I entered nursing school not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I loved surgery, actually every aspect of it. However, in my second semester of nursing school, I saw my first live child-birth; she was a young 17-year-old girl, a child in my eyes! It was then I found my passion, my path, and my plan for my future. I wanted to be involved in every aspect of women’s health. I wanted to help women from birth thru death through the health-illness continuum. Being that I started nursing school a bit older than the traditional undergraduate student, I knew I wanted to get my masters right away and start practicing as an advanced practice nurse practitioner.
I also knew that I wanted to be able to balance my married life to someone in the military who would be consistently gone throughout our marriage as well as be the best mother I could be to my future children. I did an accelerated one-year nurse practitioner program and started working immediately upon graduation. I have been working in the area of women’s health for over nineteen years now. I have seen so many different aspects of healthcare and I have learned and grown so much as a provider. I have worked in public health and private practice. I have done years with obstetrics, gynecology, clinical start-up, sexual medicine, human trafficking, and breast cancer. I also work in academia and love being able to teach our future nurses how to be proficient, compassionate, and empathic providers.
Fast forward to 2020, I am a board-certified women’s and gender health nurse practitioner with specialty training in female sexual medicine, from San Diego Sexual Medicine with renowned sexual medicine physician Dr. Irwin Goldstein. I have focused my training specifically in female sexual dysfunction, sexuality counseling, sexuality education, and human trafficking. I am also trained as a sexual assault nurse examiner and a sexual health counselor, providing sexual health education, information, and personalized counseling to patients of all ages.
I recognized the lack of sexual health awareness not just in my community but in its providers as well and founded, developed, and implemented The Sexual Health Optimization and Wellness (SHOW) Center. I am passionate about sexual wellness and provide a range of services, addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of sexuality for those assigned female at birth and for those that identify as female. My combined training as a women’s health nurse practitioner, sexual assault nurse examiner, and a sex counselor enables me to help patients with every aspect of their sexual concerns using a trauma-informed care approach. I am also the medical lead for my “passion project” that involved creating a first of its kind human trafficking center for male, female, and transgender youth (12-17 years old) in Georgia, through the non-profit Wellspring Living.
I am a clinical faculty at Georgia State University and also maintains an adjunct faculty position at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. I serve on the Board of Directors and is a journal reviewer for the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH). I am widely published in the field of women’s health and regularly lectures to local and national audiences. I am also heavily involved in legislation and lobbying at the Georgia Capitol on issues affecting advanced nursing practice, human trafficking, and maternal/infant mortality.
Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing great is ever easy… of course, there have been minor bumps along the way. Being a military spouse and having a family at the start of my career was tough to find the work-life balance. It was difficult to be a great mother and great clinician as I always felt like some piece was falling behind, I have learned to adjust to these roles and that was the impetus in starting my own clinical practice. I am able to give fully of myself to my patients without the demands of insurance, mandating how I practice and other people telling me how to schedule and see my patients. I am also able to be very involved with my children as they grow up because time is too short (I just sent my firstborn to college this month!!)
Also, healthcare presents many obstacles, especially healthcare for women. While we have made a lot of progress for women’s equality, women are still underrepresented in business and leadership positions and healthcare. We are especially underrepresented in terms of our sexual health. The legacy of care has left a lot to be desired and while there are many big shoes to fill and many big needs to meet it would be foolish to doubt that the right woman, with the right mindset, can make the right impact. Knowing the struggles that women face it became necessary for me to build The SHOW Center to be a place that sets a new legacy in womxn’s sexual health… remembering all who got us here and caring for all that will move us forward.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the The SHOW Center story. Tell us more about your practice.
The Sexual Health, Optimization and Wellness (SHOW) Center is a space for those who have been assigned female at birth as well as those who identify as women, it is run by women, and our team works in collaboration to provide evidence-based and integrative healthcare customized for your mental, emotional and physical well-being. Dr. Heather Quaile has focused her entire career specifically on women’s and gender health, sexual health, optimization, and wellness. Heather maintains her philosophy around the golden rule and strives to treat every individual as she would treat her mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and friends.
Often we do not feel like we are “seen or heard”; our mission at The SHOW Center is to create a center where “S(HE) is Seen.” We offer an individualized approach to people’s healthcare concerns. We offer evidence-based healthcare that is respectful, empathic, and non-judgmental, a place where patients are listened to and valued and we meet you where you are on your sexual health and wellness journey.
Your SHOW provider is board certified in women’s and gender health with specialty training in female sexual and pelvic dysfunctions, sex counseling, menopausal health, and is trauma-informed. The SHOW Center collaborates with the nation’s most respected professionals including urologists, gynecologists, urogynecologists, psychologists, sex therapists, physical therapists, acupuncturists, health coaches, dietitians, and massage therapists to provide holistic, team-centered, empathic care.
The Sexual Health Optimization and Wellness (SHOW) Center offers innovative, personalized, non-surgical approaches to care for both those who have been assigned female at birth as well as those who identify as women, that are facing the unique challenges of sexual dysfunction and pelvic conditions. It is our mission to offer a holistic, evidence-based approach that educates, treats, and cultivates each woman’s needs for better sexual, pelvic, and reproductive health.
The SHOW Center was founded by Dr. Heather Quaile DNP, WHNP-BC, SANE in 2019 with a vision to create a center using a biopsychosocial model of care to treat and manage sexual health concerns. We partner with pelvic floor physical therapists, sex therapists, and other complimentary, inclusive care services. We are a trauma-informed, LGBTQIA+ educated staff where we pride ourselves in making all people welcome and safe to discuss their sexual health.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
YES!!! Wonderful question. This is just the beginning! People are finally opening up and talking more about their sexual health and concerns. It is becoming less taboo and more mainstream to discuss this amongst our friends and also to discuss this with our healthcare providers. We have a very long way to go in sexual health FOR ALL, but we are slowly breaking down the barriers.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3233 South Cherokee Lane
Building 1000
Woodstock, GA 30188
(Inside: Women’s First Rehabilitation) - Website: https://theshowcenter.com/
- Phone: (678) 673-3953
- Email: info@theshowcenter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/showcenterdrq
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theshowcenter
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/justASKatl
Image Credit:
Show Logo – CQ Productions
Professional pic – Ashley Mushegan
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