Dr. Tashinea Bernardin, the new franchisee of The Healthy Woman clinic in suburban Atlanta, discusses her specialized practice that addresses a myriad of medical issues pertaining to women.

The Healthy Woman clinic franchise

Also called simply The Healthy Woman, the clinic in Newnan, Ga., about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta, offers a wide range of services, including primary care, osteopathic manipulation, musculoskeletal treatments, regenerative medicine like PRP, stem wave therapy, and aesthetic services.

The medical franchise was started by Dr. Jocelyn Slaughter 10 years ago. Fresh out of her residency, she had just welcomed her first child into the world, and she was determined to have a work-life balance that would enable her to care for her infant while being able to attend to the private practice she loves.

“She had her first child, and she, like many mothers, wanted that time with their child, and so she pretty much branched out on her own and went into private practice and learned the business of medicine, figured out how to balance medicine and motherhood,” Bernadin told rolling out. 

The Healthy Woman clinic that Bernadin opened in Newnan, Ga., about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta, is part of the chain of the women’s clinics in the metro area that also includes two clinics in Lawrenceville, and one each in east Atlanta and Snellville.

Bernardin emphasizes the importance of comprehensive care and the fact that she integrates mental health services at her practice, which is located at 1111 Highway 34, Suite 7, Newnan, Ga.

Less administration, more time for patients

She became enamored with being a private practitioner and franchisee after seeing a physician colleague get burnt out from being”just a number in a hospital with many patients, little downtime, and burdened by heavy administrative responsibilities.

“She became the franchisee, and I saw how balanced her life was. She had her babies, and she had worked a reduced schedule. She was a business owner, and she had employees,” Beradin recalls. “She pretty much took life into her own hands. After talking with her, she told me about how amazing being a franchisee was, and how you could be this girl-boss and be this physician-boss, but not have to necessarily worry about the administrative burden that comes with being a private practice owner, because the franchise offers practice management.”

To Bernadin, that was a revelation that caused her to have a life-changing epiphany. Without having to appropriate unnecessary time on extraneous issues, she could devote more time to the patient she loves practicing. “That was amazing to me. And I thought, you know, I want to be my own boss. I want to create my own schedule. I want to create my own services, and do what it is that I love doing, but at the same time, not have to worry about the practice management.”

Moreover, Bernadin enjoys that being a franchisee enables her to bring her individuality and style to the overall Healthy Woman corporation.

Bernadin is able to connect with a diversity of patients

It is also important to note that being a doctor of color enables her to connect with African American women on a deeper, more personal level with urbanite women who have a historical distrust of the overall health care system in the country.

She said a patient recently told her, “You are the only one I trust. I don’t trust nobody else. And so for me, that hits hard, because unfortunately, we do have a health care system that sometimes neglect the patient, care that patients are really seeking. And it’s sad, because, you know, so many patients will tell me, ‘I felt like I was pushed off,’ or ‘I felt like I wasn’t heard’, or ‘I felt like they kind of shoved it off,’” Bernadin lamented.

“And, and there’s a divorce of humanity, and it makes me sad, because I wish it wasn’t like that,” Bernadin continues. “I feel like we’re in a field of helping people, and I wish that people went to every and any doctor and felt heard and seen and their concerns really addressed. And so it’s sad, but it’s also empowering to know that I am an outlet for people, or I am kind of a safe haven.”