Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital has opened up a new center specifically to address women’s health issues.

The Women’s Center, located on the ground floor of Bellefonte Centre at 1000 Ashland Drive in Russell, Ky., began seeing its first patients on Monday, but will have an open house on Friday and Saturday.

The hospital opened the center because while women may guide their family’s health, they tend to overlook their own.

“Women tend to be the one’s to navigate the health care system for the entire family and while they take care of everything else and everyone else, sometimes they can neglect their own well-being,” said Kevin Compton, an OLBH communications specialist. “We wanted to focus on a one-stop shop for women’s health, some place where all things related to their health care can be done conveniently, efficiently and in a shortened amount of time.”

For example, if a woman went in for a breast exam after finding a lump, she can get her results back faster.

“Rather than wait two or three weeks to go from detection to diagnosis, we can alleviate worry by going through the same process in 48 hours,” Compton said.

The procedures are streamlined because the patient doesn’t have to come back for numerous appointments because many of the steps can be done on site. Surgeons and consultants will be available every day. There is also a full-time nurse practitioner on hand to serve as a patient’s “nurse navigator” to guide them through various steps.

The facility boasts of a GE Full Field digital mammography for faster turn around time, dedicated breast ultrasound, minimally invasive breast biopsy, and a DEXA densitometer to screen for bone density.

Besides the clinical services, the Women’s Center will also other things like genetic testing to screen for potential diseases and a health learning library for patients to do research.

“They tried to think of things that would definitely complement the health care services,” Compton said.

The open house will be Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. There will be tours of the new facility, refreshments, door prizes, and live radio remotes from WKEE and WLGC on Friday.

The open house also will play host to the national “GE Women’s Health and Wellness Tour,” a custom-designed semi trailer from GE Healthcare created to help educate women about health issues.

“It was a stroke of luck really that it was available as we were opening the center,” Compton said.

While touring the trailer, women can get a free bone density test and blood pressure tests. There will also be free health lectures.