SCRANTON, Pa. — Dr. Jennifer Swenski is comfortable with the uncomfortable.
"I always say, if you can't ask your gynecologist the question, who could you ask?"
Dr. Swenski has spent the past decade at Commonwealth Health's obstetrics and gynecology practice in Scranton. She has found a passion for demystifying the discipline that many women dread.
And then there are the babies; that's where she found her joy.
"I ask them about their children. They give me pointers on motherhood."
A mom herself, Dr. Swenski says that helps her level with her patients.
"I think it only brings more joy that I am a mother. It really lets me get common ground with my patients and kind of break down that invisible barrier that may be there between physician and patient."
Dr. Swenski says she and the other female OB-GYN in the practice are especially busy with gynecological patients, but it wasn't always that way.
"Now, female OB-GYNs are sort of in demand, where 25 years ago, 30 years ago, our mothers saw male gynecologists almost exclusively. So now, the tides have changed."
According to the North American Society of Obstetric Medicine, women make up 60 percent of the doctors in the field. But Dr. Swenski says the demand comes from the patients, a cultural shift where women are more comfortable sharing their issues with another woman.
"In Pennsylvania, in northeast PA, women's health is alive and well. They shouldn't be scared to come to the doctor. No concern is a silly question," Dr. Swenski said. "There are great screening tests that can prevent cancers or detect them early—cervical cancer, breast cancer—and can obviously change the course of their whole lives and their families' lives."
No matter the question, Dr. Swenski says she'll be ready to listen.