The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

UVM Women’s Health Center

Lying one short block from main campus, the Women’s Health and Nutrition Center can be accessed through the 425 Pearl Street entrance of the University of Vermont’s Health Center Building. Take the elevator to level two, turn right and walk down a short hallway past a few doors. A black and white sign indicating the Women’s Health and Nutrition Center hangs small and unnoticeable in the middle of a door to the left. A plaque higher up reads, “WALK IN”.

The waiting room, privately hidden behind a light brown door with no windows, is decorated with rose-colored couches and armchairs. A wooden coffee table sits in the middle of the room topped with one green plant and clusters of magazines: Cooking Light, The Women’s Center Student Zine, information packets on birth control, eating disorders, smoking, safe tattoos, HIV, HPV, etc.

A bulletin board hangs behind the couch. Colorful construction paper cut outs spell the words, “Did you know you’re beautiful?” Pictures of bikini clad supermodels with red slashes through their bodies adorn the bulletin board with bubble quotes, “If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.”

The Women’s Health Center, and its staff of all female providers, offers a variety of services. These include: yearly exams, pap smears and follow-ups, pregnancy tests, anonymous HIV testing, HPV testing and counseling, STD testing and counseling, and nutrition counseling. Providers see patients with UTI symptoms, vaginal infections, abdominal pain, irregular periods, and sexual assault patients. Providers can refer patients to specialists for a colposcopy or a worrisome breast lump.

The Women’s Health and Nutrition Center prescribes birth control at a relatively low cost, usually $15.00 a month.

They offer multiple kinds of oral contraceptives, the deprovera shot, and the ring. They fit diaphragms, sell ten condoms for $1.00, and sell emergency contraception for $10.00 a dosage.

The Women’s Health and Nutrition Center offers an intimate setting for its patients, with only three exam rooms and two-three nurse practitioners on at all times. Linda Gross, RN, has been working at the Women’s Health and Nutrition Center for three years. She says of the providers, “They are all very experienced in working with women your age. [And] they are all very approachable.” The providers encourage patients to call ahead, but ‘walk ins’ are seen occasionally. The phone number is 656-0603. Or check out the website at

More to Discover
Activate Search
UVM Women’s Health Center