Colene Arnold, MD
Dr. Arnold was always drawn to Women’s Health and pregnancy, which led her to the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program, graduating in 2003. She had grown up in New England and returned after spending 13 years in Oklahoma with the National Health Service Corps and the Indian Health Service. She previously received her BS in Medical Technology at the University of Connecticut and graduated from the Yale University Physician Associate Program.
Prior to opening her own private practice, Dr. Arnold was the Gynecologist at Inner Balance Pelvic Health & Wellness Center and spent 14 years working with Garrison Women’s Health Center and Goodwin Community Heath Center. In 2015, she recognized the need for comprehensive services for pregnant women with opiate addiction in New Hampshire and co founded the non profit organization, Hope on Haven Hill. She successfully turned her historic 1853 Greek Revival Farmhouse, located in Rochester, NH, into 24 hour residential facility allowing 8 women and their babies to call home while they receive life saving treatment.
Dr. Arnold enjoys working in a private practice setting as it allows her to be able to structure her time in a way that truly allows her the opportunity to spend quality time with her patients. She recognized early on in her career that the hustle and bustle of corporate medicine minimized the physician/patient relationship. The fast paced visits, long wait times in the lobby, and overbooked clinics often leave both the doctor and patient unsatisfied. Dr. Arnold has devoted the last part of her career to specializing and educating herself in the multifaceted aspect of Chronic Pelvic Pain or CPP. Oftentimes a women with CPP will see on average 8-10 different practitioners prior to finding answers and gaining relief from her pelvic pain. Many women are told that their pain is "all in their head" and they just needed to relax. Some undergo surgeries, including hysterectomies, only to find that their pain persists even after surgery. She purposely sought these women out, asking the right questions during her routine gynecologic physical exams. They started to open up about how long they had been in pain, about the multitudes of health care providers that they had visited to no avail. They spoke of relationships that were lost because they were no longer able to be sexually intimate with their partners, or how a tragedy such as rape, was the initial event that precipitated the chronic pain that they had been suffering from for so long. She began to see more and more of these types of referrals from the community within her practice as there continues to be an unmet need within this area of medicine. Taking the time to talk to you is the first step in working through the puzzle of the many etiologies of chronic pelvic pain. She is committed to devote the necessary time to discuss the sensitive issues that are entangled in the mystery of this disorder. It’s understandable why the average clinician avoids the topic of chronic pelvic pain with their patients. Training on this disorder is not well covered in medical school or residency, and it’s poorly understood. In today’s world of seeing increasing amounts of patients in a day with less time to actually sit quietly and listen to patient's stories, so much is missed! Frustration builds on the part of the provider and the patient. If you are suffering from a pelvic pain condition, know that Dr. Arnold will take the time to listen to you and ask the important sensitive questions about your pain. She will take the time to fully review any medical records that are available in regards to past evaluations. Dr. Arnold will perform a gentle, yet thorough, physical exam - only when you feel ready - as it sometimes can take several appointments before women feel comfortable for an exam that may have been terribly uncomfortable in past experiences. |