Women’s Health Resource Center Health Education and Patient Advocacy

The Women’s Health Resource Center offers personalized consultations for your needs. Options include:

General Health Consultations — During one-on-one sessions with Barb Silver, our nurse practitioner, you’ll review general but significant health concerns, such as nutritional health, wellness issues, preparing for a hysterectomy, sexual concerns, osteoporosis prevention and treatment, eating disorders and more. You may receive referrals to other healthcare providers for additional care or clinical testing.
Managing Menopause Consultation — Individual or group counseling sessions with Barb Silver cover methods for navigating menopause. During a consultation, you can discuss symptom management, hormone replacement therapy, alternative treatments, lifestyle choices, osteoporosis, cardiac risk assessment or any other concern.

Consultations are $75 per hour. To make an appointment, call (415) 600-0502 or email silverb@sutterhealth.org.

Patient Advocacy Program

Our compassionate and understanding patient advocate can help you:

Research health conditions, treatment options, clinical trials, support groups and therapists.
Evaluate which health insurance and prescription drug plans (including Medicare and Covered California) are appropriate for your situation.
Prepare for an upcoming surgery by creating a list of questions to ask the surgeon, locating a second opinion and contacting your insurance company.
Assist with planning for healthy aging and living independently, including contacting human service and housing agencies and connecting with IHHS or finding a provider.

Patient advocate Robbie Trent has more than 15 years of experience helping women find the best answers and resources for their healthcare situations. Your first three sessions are free of charge. After that, cost is $25 per session. Sessions are offered in person or by phone on Wednesdays by appointment.

Health Resources and Internet Access

Women’s Health Research — Are you interested in a health topic but don’t know where to start or have the time to look? The Women’s Health Resource Center can send you a health information packet by email or postal mail.
Internet Tutoring — Use free Internet access for health-related research on our public computers. Open to the public by appointment only.

Call (415) 600-0500 or e-mail whrc@sutterhealth.org for more information.

Our women's services are conveniently located together in the Center for Women's Health Care at 2333 Buchanan Street in San Francisco.

Fiercely passionate about women’s health care, Barb Silver, RNC, MS, FNP founded the Women’s Health Resource Center (WHRC) at CPMC in 1995. The WHRC, under her leadership and vision, offers a variety of supportive care services and programs to thousands of women, well and medically challenged, and their families, each year in the Bay Area.

As a Family and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner with more than 42 years of nursing experience, Barb developed the Ovarian and Reproductive Cancer Recovery Program due to the lack of services and support she observed as a dear friend struggled with ovarian cancer in San Francisco during the 1990s. She is most proud of this unique, comprehensive and multi-disciplinary program that includes education, support and complimentary modalities. For her 25 years of outstanding work with gyn cancer patients and their families during their diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, Barb received the Friend’s Circle Award from UCSF’s Gynecologic Oncology Department in 2020.

Barb has published research on the effect of supportive care services on quality of life for women with gynecological cancer, and continues to participate in many hospital-based women’s health and cancer care programs. Barb is board certified both as a Family Health Nurse Practitioner as well as a Menopause Clinician.

During her travels to more than 28 countries Barb is often reminded of the resilience and power of women, and their unique stories of heartache and joy. She is a tireless advocate for women to be seen, and have their voices heard. In addition, she is equally as passionate for the advocacy and care for animals.