Access to quality healthcare deserves to be a human right — yet that access is being progressively stripped away, often from those who need it most: the young, the elderly, those seeking comprehensive reproductive healthcare and low-income individuals and families.
As federal lawmakers attempt to restrict abortion, eliminate healthcare for transgender youth and defund Medicaid, Dr. Stephanie Arnold has chosen action over resignation. Just months after Roe v. Wade was overturned, she opened Seven Hills Family Medicine in downtown Richmond, a clinic offering gender-affirming care, full-spectrum reproductive services (including abortion), and trauma-informed family medicine. The practice operates under a Direct Primary Care (DPC) model, which allows patients to pay a low monthly fee for unlimited visits, affordable medications and lab work, all without need for insurance.
At Seven Hills, care feels dynamic and surprising — compared to the cold, hyper-clinical experiences many associate with modern medicine. The same words could also describe the unlikely inspiration behind Arnold’s approach: her time as a burlesque dancer.
A board-certified family physician and Columbia University Irving Medical Center alum, Arnold began her career at an independent abortion clinic, but she also identifies as a lifelong “dance and theater kid.” During her undergrad years, she joined the local burlesque scene and continued performing across the country through medical school. Her peers, aware of her balancing act, would often turn to her for medical advice.
“Backstage, my friends — other burlesque performers, drag queens, members of the queer community — would ask me questions they were too afraid to ask their own physicians,” she says. “It told me that safe and accessible primary care was something there wasn’t enough of. That’s where the seed of Seven Hills was planted.”
Performing for an audience also shaped how Arnold now communicates with patients. “I have a good understanding of how to communicate with people in a way that’s entertaining and funny when appropriate and that they can understand, instead of having things be too stuffy,” she says.
That approachability blends with another of Seven Hills’ guiding principles: trauma-informed care. In practice, it means recognizing that every patient has experienced some form of trauma and designing systems that minimize the risk of re-traumatization, even when medical procedures are inherently uncomfortable.
For patients, it looks like being addressed with inclusive, compassionate language, having each step of a procedure clearly explained, and not being blindsided by surprise bills. Even the clinic’s design is meant to reflect this ethos, Arnold notes, contrasting with the impersonal feel of most medical offices.
Information and consent are cornerstones, with the goal of helping patients feel in control of their care. “The patient is the driver in the car and I’m the navigator,” she explains. “I know the map and the routes, but ultimately the person is in charge of their own body and treatment decisions.”
Two years since opening, Seven Hills has a growing waitlist — there’s an influx of young patients both in and outside of Richmond as a result of many institutions ending gender-affirming care, as well as adults of all ages bracing for healthcare subsidies to expire and the cost of insurance to go up. To meet demand, the practice has plans underway to move into a larger facility.
For Arnold, the growth is proof that equitable, patient-centered medicine is possible and urgently needed.
“There are a lot of doctors looking to practice medicine in a way that’s holistic and sustainable, and I’m confident that as we continue to have this demand, we’ll be able to meet it by bringing on new team members who are in line with our values,” she says.
“People find themselves in situations they’re not equipped to manage on their own, and being able to step in and say, ‘I’m here for you. You have these options. I want to help you meet your goals,’ is why we do it.”
