The Ultimate “Work/Life” Balance for Virtual Care coordinator

Life imitates work when Henry Ford’s Virtual Care program coordinator gets to try new Virtual OB service

When Taylor Collins, 34, found out she was pregnant, she was ecstatic and knew immediately she wanted to participate in the Virtual Prenatal Care program recently introduced at Henry Ford Health. “We launched the program right before I got pregnant, so I always joke that I was really committed to the job.” Taylor is the program coordinator for Henry Ford’s Virtual Care services, so the opportunity to try out virtual care IRL (in real life) was a unique opportunity and one she was excited to test drive.

“It was really nice to have that option for video visits for some of my prenatal checkups. I could pop into my boss's office and do the video visit,” says Taylor, who valued the convenience of the new service. “It was just nice to not have to go to my doctor's office and miss work or be late for work just to go and have the routine visit,” she explains. “Many times, the in-office visit is just for an ‘Okay, everything looks good, your blood pressure is good, see you next week’ type of appointment, so this was a great way to check in.”

Taylor has high praise for the Certified Nurse Midwife who conducted her virtual visits. “She was really thorough, and I really liked the one-on-one setting. Even over video, I felt like I had a non-rushed, dedicated session, with plenty of time for questions and whatever else came up as we talked.”

In fact, Taylor enjoyed the midwifery care so much that she decided to switch over to the Henry Ford midwife practice completely for all of her prenatal care. “That’s the really cool thing about the Virtual OB program; you can have a doctor or a midwife as your main provider, but still take advantage of the convenience of having some your visits virtually, conducted by a midwife.”

In March 2018, Taylor gave birth to a baby girl named Samantha at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. Now, nearly a year and a half later, Taylor is pregnant again. “When I found out about this pregnancy, I immediately wanted to opt for virtual OB again.” She soon learned she was pregnant with twins, and although overjoyed, she won’t be able to participate in the Virtual OB program, since it rules out women who are pregnant with multiples. But that doesn’t stop her from recommending it to others. “I've told a lot of people about it because it's really, really convenient and you get the same level of high-quality care that you get in person.”