Creating Harmony Women’s Healthcare

Have had a wonderful experience with Dr. Kennard, Dr. Flores and the entire team at Harmony. They’re guiding us through our first pregnancy and have been super thorough and patient with us in each one of our appointments (even with my MANY, incessant questions). My one piece of advice is that I would have loved a handout with the pregnancy tests and timelines that we needed to follow in the early months of our pregnancy (as certain blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. have to be done at certain times). Adding a little outline here, in case anyone else is in the same (clueless) boat that we were as first time parents:
1ST TRIMESTER SCREENING (10 weeks — 14 weeks)
Includes both a blood test (you can «walk in» at Central Coast Pathology or any place that does blood work) and a nuchal translucency ultrasound, which helps determine the risk of Down Syndrome. There are very few places in SLO that are able to do the high resolution ultrasound required for the nuchal translucency, so book your appointment at Obstetrix several weeks in advance (they take all PPOs and some HMOs). (I believe the HMOs that they do not take have to travel down to Santa Maria, so definitely call in advance.) Note: Get paperwork from Creating Harmony to bring to the blood test and ultrasound. Also request that Harmony send a referral to Obstetrix (they’ll need that before they can book your appt).
PROGENITY GENETIC CARRIER AND PRENATAL SCREENING (10 or more weeks)
This one is for high risk pregnancies, but we opted to go for it as well. It tests certain chromosomal deletions or additions that are fairly serious, so if you’re the type that thirsts for more rather than less information, this one’s for you. It takes the place of the old amniocentesis procedure (which was super invasive and carried risk of miscarriage), with a super easy blood draw from the arm, which they then use to separate the baby’s cells from your own. Insurance will cover it if you’re over a certain age or have key risk factors. For everyone else, it’s $ 100. Note: Get paperwork from Creating Harmony for this one as well.
20-​WEEK ULTRASOUND (20 weeks)
This one measures your baby’s brain circumference and checks for other signs of healthy development. Obstetrix is, once again, really the only show in town for this ultrasound. Again, make sure you get a referral from Creating Harmony (or better yet, have them send all the referrals at one time).
Will add to this as we get farther along in our pregnancy, but hope it helps!

We just moved to SLO from Dallas and I was concerned about finding a great ob/​gyn but fortunately I scored with my first pick! The staff, nurses, doctors and midwives are wonderful. Dr. Kennard is now my gyn and she is so kind, thoughtful and best of all discussed all options available to me for my current health issues. Such a relief to feel that my health is in such good hands.

Negative stars. I saw a young lady maybe about 20 was being answered rudely by receptionist. I came in watched as the receptionist kept taunting her. Grabbing the woman card out of her hand. Swiping card. Obscenity can be heard from outside since i walked out rummaging through purse I thought I forget my insurance. Came back in receptionist walks back of area and started yelling. Then what I could pick up
from receptionist voice was she owned the company yet their website states she is only a receptionist. I don’t want to deal with receptionist who believes she represents the entire company. No matter what anyone else tells me. I turned around and started calling other obgyn in the area. No thanks.

The team at Creating Harmony is great! They take time to listen and really make you feel calm and comfortable.
Lisa and Dr K were both at my delivery and I couldn’t have been happier with the experience. They supported my natural birth and were just wonderful.
Dr Flores also did my 6 week check and was amazingly kind, knowledgable and has the best bed side manner.
It really makes a difference to have a team of experienced strong women in the delivery room. Well done Creating Harmony and Dr K!

As a former patient of Dr Kromhout, returning from out of state, I am so disappointed in this office now. They make it very clear that your time isn’t nearly as important as theirs. The doctor didn’t even bother to show up for my scheduled appt. No apologies, just sit there and wait, he’ll get to you when he gets here… I’ll never return to this office. What a waste of my time.

I chose Creating Harmony for my prenatal care and birth because I wanted a natural birth and felt like it would be the best of both worlds having a midwife in a hospital. The midwives here practice much more in the medical interventions model than in the midwife pro woman’s bodies model. I got aggressively pressured to induce which caused me to stress out and turn to a myriad of natural methods to go into labor when I should have just trusted my baby to come when she is ready. The hospital birth was horrible, I had every intervention and Dr K came in to tell me I had to have a c section and then said he had to leave and that a back up doc whom I never met had to do it. My midwife stayed with me and was clearly upset by the way things turned out. I believe she had left the practice because of their rigid medical model. If you want a natural birth assisted by a real midwife, LOOK ELSEWHERE! I will be birthing at home with a midwife in the future.

Their midwives are great & not just for delivering your baby. They’re available for annual check-​ups, too. When it comes to dealing with THAT region, I’ll take a female healthcare provider over a male one anytime! (No offense, Dr. K)
Office interior is calming. Staff is friendly.
The only part I didn’t care for is that once my name was called I wasn’t taken directly into a private exam room. I was seated in the hall & asked my height/​weight/​orher info while a staffer typed in my responses. She was nice but just a few feet away down the hall, another medical assistant was sitting there at another work station & it just felt awkward & I wanted some privacy.

If I could give this place 6 stars I would! Dr kromhout and the midwives are absolutely amazing! I am so disappointed that we don’t live close by anymore, I would continue to use them otherwise. I recommend creating harmony to every pregnant woman I know. They are best!

Okay, so I will first say that I have had a fair amount of time to process all that happened to my family after choosing this facility for the pregnancy and birth of my child. Let me just say… WORST experience of my entire life and surely of my baby’s so very new life.
Dr. Kromhout does come off as very sweet, funny and genuine. That part of things is all fine and dandy. What he DOESN’T do is listen well. I had been telling the midwives and Dr. K for sometime that I felt like my water had been leaking. They chalked it off to me «urinating» slightly due to the pressure of my baby. Okay, I can see that being an initial response but when I mention it at every appointment and in several phone calls you shouldn’t have blown me off.
I won’t go into much detail as to protect not only our privacy but our right to pursue legal recourse (should we decide to do so) but I will say that from the doctor and staff not listening to me when I said my water broke to my baby ended up having to stay in the Sierra Vista NICU for quite some time, it was an all around horrible experience.
Thankfully, my baby has made a full recovery but my entire family, and most importantly my baby, had to needlessly suffer devastating times due to the negligence of this office. The neonatoligists confirmed that our baby’s issue and need to be in the NICU was in direct relation to my water leaking for some time (much longer than the beginning stages of labor) before birth.
Save yourself a lot of time and devastating heartbreak, do not even risk going through what my family did and find yourself another facility.
I found it comical that they still tried to send me a bill for about a month. Haha! Yeah… wouldn’t pay them a dime more than what we did! They’re lucky we didn’t sue! As of yet…

The best «ladies» dr. Anyone could imagine. I have never been to such a caring office or encountered such a genuine doctor. My husband and I both love how sensitive they are to our situation and are helpful

I’ve only had one visit with Dr. Kromhout, but my initial thought is that I’ve never experiences a better Dr. in all of my 38 years! I only waited about 15 minutes, but he came in apologizing about the unacceptable wait time (and I was thinking to myself how punctual he was). Even though my appointment was the last of the day at 4:30 on a Friday, he spent the time to discuss my situation and really seemed to care. I never felt rushed. He was attentive, caring, and honest. As other reviews have mentioned, his office staff is so nice and friendly. In the past I have settled on practitioners because I felt they were pretty much all the same, but Dr. Kromhout and his staff set the standard for quality care.

As said in another review, know what kind of insurance coverage you have and double check their billing. The issues I had were in Sept 2013.
My new doctors questions some of the prenatal care decisions/​recommendations made by creating harmony. I was left in an exam room for 40 min without any check-​in. Wrong directions were given to me for tests/​labs. I was told I’d get a call back in 20 min and it was really 2 – 3 hours. I ended up using my family practice doctor to order tests instead. They weren’t willing to listen to me about my labor preferences and had a one size fits all method for birth. The final straw was a problem with billing, they asked me to sign a contract that was incorrect and refused to fix it. I didn’t sign and found a new doctor.
If all you need is an annual check-​up, it’s just fine. I only had problems when I needed prenatal care.

Creating harmony is a wonderful facility offered for maternity and general ob care for women. SLO county is lucky to have them! From the ladies at the front desk to the team of amazing midwives, everyone makes you feel welcome and taken care of. You forget you’re right inside of a hospital. This facility IS the definition of what women’s healthcare in the U.S. should be modeled after. A perfect balance between modern medicine, the power of knowledge. They offer tons of information & encourage discussion towards more natural alternatives and the human bodies capabilities to nurture itself. I had such an amazing experience the whole way through and if we ever end up having more kids, I wouldn’t go to anyone else. Love you creating harmony!

Dr. K and his staff are amazing!!! I couldn’t of asked for a better experience. I send everyone that I know looking for a good OBGYN his direction. You will actually look forward to seeing them for your check-​ups, it is like going to see old friends. The level of care in this office is top notch.

Dr. Kromhaut and his team are amazing. I’ve never been a fan of going to the lady doctor, I mean, who is? But he’s smart, sweet and makes his entire team makes you feel right at home.

Excellent team of midwives and Dr. Kromhaut is super nice!
I loved my birthing experience.