Meet Jenna, Our Nurse Practitioner
At Renewed Vitality, we strive to provide the highest-quality hormone replacement therapy (HRT) options and other treatments from the most-qualified and passionate professionals in the Berks County area. That’s why we are proud to introduce Jenna Lee, our new Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner!
As a facility with a growing number of patients and staff members, we think it’s important to understand and appreciate every person’s role toward helping men and women lead their healthiest lives. To get a better understanding of a nurse practitioner’s role and a few details about Jenna’s background, let’s take a closer look at what these necessary professionals offer to improve every person’s life who walks through our doors.
What is a Nurse Practitioner?
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are sought after in just about every area of healthcare, including at our treatment center. NPs are also necessary educators at the university level, sometimes called nurse educators, and can also be directly involved in policy work.
Usually, an NP will earn a Master of Science in Nursing with a specific population focus, such as family medicine or gerontology. They are also required to pass a national certification exam before applying for state licensure. Essentially, wherever healthcare decisions are required, nurse practitioners provide important insight and expertise.
Meeting Jenna Lee
Our own Jenna Lee graduated from Bloomsburg University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She went on to further her education too, graduating from The Pennsylvania State University with a Master of Science in Nursing. Her career in the medical field began in 2010 as a registered nurse, and she has been working as a nurse practitioner since 2015. She offers a variety of applicable expertise in the medical field, including family practice, transplant surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and long term care.
While her degree is in family medicine, Jenna always had an interest in women’s health in particular. After learning more about the team at Renewed Vitality and the care they provide, she knew this was a great opportunity and felt it was a perfect fit (and we agree!). Her favorite thing about working at Renewed Vitality is being an important member of a truly amazing team. Jenna considers it a blessing to be part of a company that feels like family. She also loves having the ability to truly help our patients change their lives for the better.
In terms of how Renewed Vitality impacts the lives of our patients, Jenna thinks our holistic approach is one of the key facets to ensuring quality care. Due to the sheer number of patients who tell us how drastically their lives have changed since initiating care with us, it’s no wonder she feels right at home. She considers it one of the most rewarding experiences when you’re told that you’ve helped someone to feel like themselves again.
More personally, Jenna shared that her husband, Jamieson, and she are the proud parents of 2 children: Grace and Caleb. When hard at work, Jenna loves being outdoors – hiking, kayaking, biking, and swimming are some of her favorite activities. She also enjoys cooking, baking, reading a good book, watching Phillies baseball games, taking road trips, and spending quality time with her family and friends.
Please welcome Jenna Lee to our wonderful team!
Renewed Vitality is the Berks County area’s best facility for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and other treatments. We proudly serve both men and women with trusted, effective care that relieves hormone imbalance symptoms, improving and restoring quality of life for patients at any age. For more information, feel free to contact Renewed Vitality today!
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a major threat to public health, and vaccinations are proving to be incredibly helpful in slowing the spread and the virus and reducing the intensity of the illness in those who do contract it. Although the available vaccines against COVID-19 have all been authorized by the FDA, many people are still concerned about the safety and efficacy of the drug. Some wonder if the vaccine will affect their period and their reproductive health.
As of now, injection site pain, fatigue, and fever are the most common side effects of the Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and Moderna vaccines, but changes to the menstrual cycle are not listed as side effects for any of them. However, there have been some women reporting that their periods were disrupted after receiving the vaccine. Dr. Victoria Male, a reproductive specialist at Imperial College London has been calling for further research into the effects of the vaccines on reproductive health, and says that over 30,000 people have reported some change to their period following vaccination. However, she also reports that cycles typically return to normal the next month and that there is no evidence that receiving a COVID-19 vaccination has any negative effects on fertility.
About 213 million Americans are currently fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The 30,000 that Dr. Male reports have experienced menstrual changes make up a comparatively small number. Dr. Male believes that the reason the effects of the vaccine on periods is not currently well-researched is because the percentage of people who experience them is so small. However, she believes that this research is important in order to dispel public fear around the lifesaving vaccine, especially the idea that it will cause infertility.
“Vaccine hesitancy among young women is largely driven by false claims that covid-19 vaccines could harm their chances of future pregnancy,” she writes in an editorial for the BMJ. “Failing to thoroughly investigate reports of menstrual changes after vaccination is likely to fuel these fears.”
Dr. Male hypothesizes that “if there is a connection, it is likely to be a result of the immune response to vaccination rather than a specific vaccine component. Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) has also been associated with menstrual changes. Indeed, the menstrual cycle can be affected by immune activation in response to various stimuli, including viral infection.” Essentially, the correlation between the vaccine and menstrual disruption does not mean that part of the vaccine is having a negative effect on a woman’s cycle. Periods can be skipped or even stop altogether over something as simple as stress, and as the vaccine produces the necessary immune response that helps the body to fight off COVID-19 in the future, it’s possible that the stress of that response on the body could cause a change to your cycle.
This reported side effect of the vaccine is not fully understood at this time, but neither is menstrual health. In an interview to Medical News Today, Dr. Sarah Gray– a general practitioner and women’s health expert based in Cornwall, England– said that “Women’s health has not been a research priority for the last 20 years and there is much we do not know.”
The situation at hand requires further research into both the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine on women’s health and into women’s health in general. The first half of this two-part dilemma is already beginning to be addressed, with a study published in January of 2022 that included nearly 4,000 individuals and turned up that the vaccine has minor effects on the length of the cycle, but that these changes were temporary. Continued research will need to be conducted, but women receiving the vaccine should rest assured that although there is a small chance they will notice temporary changes to their period, the COVID-19 vaccine does not pose a danger to their reproductive health and fertility, and the virus remains a greater threat than the vaccine.
Here at Renewed Vitality, we are taking the Coronavirus pandemic very seriously. While we understand the importance of social distancing, we also understand that hormone replacement therapy is essential for many and can drastically improve the quality of life for those who depend on it. We submitted a waiver to be granted permission to remain open for our patients and we were approved as they deemed us an essential business!
We will remain OPEN for appointments and lab services to ensure the care and wellbeing of our patients. As always, the health and safety of our staff and patients is our number one priority and we will continue to implement safety precautions to help protect the community.
If you would like to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions or concerns, please call the office. However, we do ask that you please stay home and reschedule your appointment if you or someone you’ve been in contact with has recently been sick or is currently ill, or if you’ve recently travelled.
We urge you to follow the guidelines of the CDC. Now more than ever we must all prioritize our health and wellbeing to combat this virus!
What Precautions Are We Taking?
We will do our part in screening our patients and staff, including temperature checks, and rescheduling appointments for anyone who feels ill or has recently travelled. Our staff will be wearing personal protective equipment and following health official guidelines of avoiding close personal contact and handshakes. You’ll still be greeted with a friendly smile, however!
Following each patient’s appointment, the personal protective equipment will be changed and our staff’s hands will be washed. Each room will be thoroughly cleaned, including door knobs, flat surfaces, etc. upon the exit of every patient.
In addition, we have contracted a professional cleaning service to completely clean our entire office and patient rooms using the static sterilization process, which is the most advanced method to fight this virus. The static sterilization process is a hospital grade disinfectant that is not harmful to people or plants.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work together to be a safe and healthy community. We look forward to seeing you all in the office soon and urge you to continue to follow the guidelines of the CDC and monitor the most up-to-date reports. Stay safe everyone!
