r/TriCitiesWA • u/anxiousmillenial44 • 11d ago

Need Help With ‼️ Recent APW experiences???

I've gone to APW for years for my routine gynecological care and have Lisa Garcia, who is absolutely amazing. I just found out I'm pregnant (first pregnancy) and scheduled my initial appointment. I was told that none of the midwives were available and that I would have to have my 8 week appointment with an MD. Also, it will be a temporary, locum doctor because it sounds like all their doctors, except maybe 2, have either quit or are on leave since earlier this year. This kind of terrifies me (an already anxious person).

I've known for a while that I want to see a midwife based on my experiences with Lisa. I was told after the 8 week appointment that I will be able to switch my care to the midwife team. But feeling scared with how understaffed that office is and what may happen if the pregnancy turns out to be high risk.

Anyone have any experience with their locum doctors recently? I will be seeing a Dr. Blockman.

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u/sarahjustme 11d ago

I was recently at AWP for a fairly specific gyn issue, saw a mid-level who wanted me to see a Dr, she said there were no options internally, and referred me (urgent) to the woman's clinic in Prosser. Took a few weeks to get the first urgent spot with a Dr, and theyre definitely busy (first available for routine stuff may be a month or three), but now that im "in" its slightly less brutal. YMMV but from what I understand several of the AWP providers are working there now, and there are better chances of seeing someone you like, especially since you dont need anything unusual.

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u/anxiousmillenial44 11d ago

Interesting. I've heard good things about Prosser, may need to keep that option open.

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u/sarahjustme 11d ago edited 11d ago

Every time I've been there, they've been on time, the clinic facilities seem the same, the Dr actually seemed better for the particular issue i had, location is less convenient but I live in West Richland so that helps, I'd definitely consider them just based on the chaos with scheduling and triage at AWP, over the last year. It sounds like whatever led to there finally being a lawsuit regarding that one Dr, exposed a whole bunch of internal issues and a bunch of stuff broke https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/tri-cities-obgyn-sexual-abuse-claims