Ensuring that every woman receives the healthcare she needs is what the Hill Country Women’s Health Collective (HCWHC) has been working to fulfill since it was founded in 2020.
Located at its brick-and-mortar, which opened in 2023, HCWHC is a woman-run nonprofit organization comprised of a board of directors that includes women from many sections of the women’s health universe — midwives, doctors, nurses, medical students, herbalists, mental health advocates and educators. The collective’s goal is to lift financial, language and racial barriers to health care, essential services and education for all women in the community by providing access to free and discounted health and mental health services and promoting women’s health and wellness through education.
“We're a free women's health clinic; we're the only one in Hays County. We provide free charitable women's health care to women in the community who are in need. So, that includes people who are not insured, which is a really large population,” said HCWHC Executive Director Oona Mekas.
HCWHC offers a variety of programs, including the following:
• Clinic: Well -woman and prenatal visits with volunteer midwives are HCWHC’s main work. It provides free bloodwork, Pap tests, mammogram referrals and full well-woman appointments, along with midwife-based prenatal care throughout pregnancy and help for families to find the best place to birth, whether that is in or out of a hospital.
• Birth Equity: The Birth Equity Program was started in 2023 with the goal of helping low-income women achieve their goal of safe home birth with a midwife. The collective believes that if a woman has a lowrisk pregnancy and desires a home birth, financial challenges should not be the only obstacle. Midwives who are part of the Birth Equity Program work on a sliding scale and, in addition to what the client is able to pay, HCWHC provides grants directly to the midwife to cover costs when funds are available. Since its inception, it has helped three women give birth safely at home, with successful outcomes for all moms and babies.
• Outreach: Throughout the year, HCWHC offers a series of childbirth education, parenting workshops to the community for free, through a partnership at the library. It also has a new teen peer support group that started up in the spring of 2024, led by high school students in Wimberley.
“We are run by midwives. One of the things that midwives do is we take the care of people giving birth at home and so, what we're trying to do is make sure that if you are very low-income and you can't afford the fees of a midwife that would normally be charged, that's not a barrier to you being able to give birth at home, as long as you're a candidate for home birth, which is basically a low-risk birth,” Mekas said.
As a component of the community outreach program, HCWHC has done clothing swaps in previous years where people will bring in clothes to the local Methodist church to donate to those in need. However, they are doing something a little different this year, Mekas explained.
“We're just doing something called the Blessings Boutique with this room at our facility that is full of women's clothes — unfortunately, right now, we don't have a space for men's or children's clothes — of all different sizes and types of sweaters, dresses, pants, jeans, T-shirts and it's a free closet. So, people are welcome to donate clothes for that and they are also welcome to come in anytime we're open and just take what they need,” she said. “If they need something for work or for an interview or dance, like the prom or whatever, or if they are just going through hard times and need new clothes and can’t afford them, they can come and take what they need from the Blessings Boutique.”
HCWHC is a vital resource in the community because otherwise, some people would not be able to receive the healthcare they need in order to live a healthy life, Mekas said, due to high costs and fees they might find elsewhere.
For those who are looking to help HCWHC fulfill its mission, monetary donations are accepted, as the collective is not federally funded. In addition, it is also looking for a social media coordinator and volunteer providers who are familiar with the midwifery model of care.
HCWHC is located at 724 La Buena Vista Drive, Suite 102, Wimberley, and is open typically from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, but could accommodate longer hours on a case-by-case basis. Currently, it is not open on the weekends until it can find a provider who is willing to work those hours.
To make an appointment, or learn more about the organization, visit www.hcwhc.org.
