If Rebecca McElhinney had a time machine, she’d love to go back and give her younger self a few friendly words of advice.
McElhinney, a licensed nurse, is the founder of Vena Women’s Health & Wellness, a two-year-old company focused on providing medical-grade non-surgical female health services.
“I worked in private health care for 90 per cent of my nursing career, in IVF clinics, and at other mobile health care businesses,” says McElhinney. “My nursing background and passion is women’s health. I’ve been a nurse for over 10 years, starting in labour delivery and post-partum, then moving into reproductive health and infertility.
“I saw a profound need to increase women’s health awareness and autonomy in the community as my nursing career grew. As a mother of two girls, my goal is to ensure they are confident and comfortable with the complexity of being a female.”
With that goal in mind, McElhinney took a leap of faith, bet on herself, and, with mentorship from the City of Airdrie’s SMARTstart program, launched her mobile fertility consulting business in 2020. The business also offered mobile lab collections, vaccinations and IV Therapies.
“That was the first taste of excitement into how I could advocate for women’s health and build bridges within our health care system.”
But McElhinney didn’t stop there. Given an opportunity to bring in advanced technology designed specifically for women, she immediately dove head-first into education, training and getting a space where she could start providing specialized care.
“As a mother of two and stuck with the same answers with the stand-alone options of pelvic floor health, core strengthening and realignment, hormonal imbalances and sexuality, I was instantly intrigued by this new technology that can bring advanced support to what is currently being offered. A bridge I was searching for.
“With only a moment of “This is a huge investment I may not be ready for”, I knew there were thousands of women out there that are ready for it. I flew down to Austin, Texas, and learned from three of the best gynecologists that have been using this technology for years now. I obtained advanced education and protocols to ensure I was bringing a truly medical-grade non-surgical service to Airdrie.”
Vena Women’s Health & Wellness is located in the historic Nauton Place house at 117 1st Street NW, but still offers mobile IV Therapies and blood work collection services.
“IV Therapy is a direct way of getting a therapeutic dose of vitamins, amino acids and electrolytes that would otherwise be lost when taking oral vitamins and is used for rehydration, immune support, recovering from illness, providing cellular support that benefits your stress response, assisting with better quality sleep and an increase in energy throughout your day.”
In-clinic services include things like pelvic floor and abdominal/core strengthening using EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) and relief of GSM (genitourinary syndrome of menopause) using gentle thermal radiofrequency for internal and external contraction. There are also treatments providing relief of dryness, irritation, poor lubrication, impaired sexual function, urgent need to urinate, recurrent UTI’s.
A technique called Fractional RF micro needling with subdermal remodeling can be used all over the body by rebuilding your own collagen and elastin, says McElhinney, resulting in reduced fine lines and wrinkles, defined jaw line, reduced scar tissue such as stretch marks and acne scars as well as active infections such as acne, yeast infections, and break down scar tissue including lichen sclerosis.
“My motivation comes from being a women, a mother, a nurse and knowing our health care system is ever growing and advancing and to be a part of the change in how health care can be received and accessed more readily,” says McElhinney. “I am passionate about making health care accessible, so I created a clinic where women have advanced options to their health concerns and further access to knowledge and support. My compassion for others has always been my fuel.”
“I want my daughters to feel empowered by their feminine health and know early on how hormones work, reproductive health and have autonomy over what their bodies are doing and get the answers to their questions.”
And there’s no stronger motivation than that.
