How to Thrive — Not Just Survive — Through Menopause

Illustrations by Tara Jacoby

When Rittenhouse resident Julie Parana had a hysterectomy at 42, she was told that, because her ovaries were left intact, her hormones would be fine and she would go through menopause at a “normal” time. (The average age is 52.)

“But that isn’t exactly what happened,” she says.

Soon after the surgery, strange symptoms started popping up — skin allergies, joint pain, brain fog, an unexplained jump in cholesterol, and lapses in memory that had her worried about early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Parana, an occupational therapist, didn’t connect the symptoms to menopause right away because, she says, “I didn’t know anything about menopause beyond the typical hot flashes and night sweats.”

When she asked for hormone bloodwork, her doctor told her she was too young for menopause, even though studies have shown that women who’ve had a hysterectomy are twice as likely to have ovarian failure, which can trigger early menopause.

Finally, the hot flashes kicked in, and testing confirmed that Parana’s estrogen was nearly nonexistent. Her doctor sent her a short message through the patient portal: You’re postmenopausal — that explains your symptoms.

“No education, no discussion of next steps, no offer for hormone therapy,” Parana says. Now 45, she knows that menopause, especially when it’s early, can put women at risk for dementia, osteoporosis, insulin resistance and diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. She did her own research, found a different doctor to start her on hormone replacement therapy to help address her symptoms, and then did a deep dive into lifestyle changes she could make to help herself.

A major takeaway she learned? “Your body needs to be a healthy host for the hormones to be as effective as possible.”

In 2025, an estimated 1.1 billion women globally are postmenopausal, with several hundred million going through perimenopause — the multiyear transition period leading up to menopause when levels of reproductive hormones, especially estrogen and progesterone, can fluctuate wildly.

During perimenopause, women endure a barrage of symptoms that range from inconvenient and undignified to miserable, from those Parana went through to night sweats, irritability, anxiety, vaginal dryness, and weight gain. And since women can experience these symptoms for up to a decade (typically for four to eight years) before they hit menopause — defined by the World Health Organization as 12 consecutive months without a period — perimenopause can not only affect physical health, it can take a serious toll on our mental health, relationships, and careers.

Historically, perimenopause and menopause weren’t discussed in polite society. Ninety-one-year-old reproductive endocrinologist Lila Nachtigall recently told the New York Times that when she first went into practice nearly 60 years ago, “Women wouldn’t even come to a doctor because they thought this is something that has to happen and they’re not allowed to complain.”

We’ve come a long way since then. A 2018 study examining perimenopause management reported that upwards of 90 percent of women now seek advice from their doctors on coping with the deluge of symptoms. The subject is no longer taboo at the dinner table (or book club, or gym).

Celebrities, social media, influencers, and pop culture have all helped to usher these conversations into the mainstream. Gwyneth Paltrow has discussed her symptoms frankly in outlets like People and covered the topic on her own website, Goop; Oprah Winfrey had candid conversations with women during her TV special The Menopause Revolution; and Halle Berry and Kate Winslet have both talked publicly about being on testosterone replacement therapy. The Canadian television show Small Achievable Goals, starring two middle-aged female comedians, is a witty yet real take on menopause — progress for an industry that rarely tackles the subject with nuance and depth. Obstetrician-gynecologist and menopause expert Mary Claire Haver educates her Instagram audience of 3.2 million followers about hormonal health, championing the ethos “Menopause is inevitable; suffering through it is not.” And 45-year-old influencer Melani Sanders struck a nerve with her May 2025 video announcing her We Do Not Care Club, a hilarious diatribe that overnight gained her hundreds of thousands of followers who reveled in the diverse concerns that women in perimenopause do not care about: chin hairs, painted toenails, and wearing a bra that fits, to name a few.

But even as this generation of women is finding a more open community to talk about this jarring life change and access to helpful treatment, navigating the stage can still come with significant hurdles. Everyone with ovaries experiences menopause, but finding effective relief and comprehensive care can still feel tedious and overwhelming. Why are so many of us left adrift at this stage of life? And what can we do to reclaim our sense of well-being?

One main problem is that many women don’t know they’ve entered perimenopause — or, in Parana’s case, menopause.

“Women will, on average, see five to seven specialists and wait over five years before their symptoms are diagnosed as being part of the menopause transition,” she says.

In many cases, women don’t know what’s happening to their bodies because their doctors aren’t categorizing their concerns as perimenopause symptoms. Only about one-third of U.S. ob-gyn residency programs report a formal menopause curriculum, according to a 2023 study conducted by the Menopause Society. Training is often limited to a few lectures — or none at all: A national resident survey found one in five received no menopause lectures during residency. There’s also lingering confusion stemming from a 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study that pushed menopause care down the priority list. (More on that last one to come.)

“There’s so much time and literature devoted towards women when they’re pregnant and even postpartum … but then it’s almost like after a woman’s done having kids, you become completely unimportant,” says Kim Einhorn, a Main Line ob-gyn.

Einhorn has practiced medicine for more than 20 years, and, after feeling like she wasn’t being given enough time to treat patients who often required more nuanced and involved care, she recently opened the MP Collective, a concierge medicine service in Bryn Mawr dedicated to women in perimenopause and menopause.

“Because of the lack of education that doctors have had on menopause, they’re just not aware that it’s perimenopause,” she says. “So women come in saying, ‘I want to kill my husband’ or ‘I feel so anxious all of a sudden,’ and no one attributes it to perimenopause unless you’re having hot flashes.”

Einhorn considers this stage, when women are starting to experience more life-impacting or serious symptoms, as the perfect time for interventions that will help them thrive — and that could have a long-lasting impact on health and longevity.

“It’s not hard to help women,” she says. “It’s actually quite easy if you know what you’re doing with hormone therapy, and how to advise them on exercise and nutrition.”

One way Einhorn treats women is with hormone replacement therapy, or HRT — the medically supervised use of estrogen, plus, for women with a uterus, progesterone, and sometimes testosterone to relieve peri/menopause symptoms, prevent bone loss, and treat genitourinary syndrome — all tailored to the individual by dose, hormone type, route (transdermal or oral), timing, and risk profile.

For decades, HRT was widely prescribed for women, starting with estrogen-only therapy in the 1940s. After a link between unopposed estrogen (estrogen therapy without any progesterone or progestin given alongside it) and endometrial cancer was discovered in the mid-1970s, doctors started adding progestin with a separate pill. The combo of estrogen and progestin arrived in the mid-1990s as one convenient pill: Prempro.

In 2002, a study by the Women’s Health Initiative indicated that the medication and others like it carried several hazards, including a 26 percent higher relative risk of invasive breast cancer as well as higher risks of heart disease, stroke, and blood clots. The risk to women who took these therapies, the study asserted, outweighed the benefits, and the trial was stopped early.

What got lost was the denominator. Think of relative risk like saying a car is going 25 percent faster without knowing whether it sped up from two to 2.5 miles per hour or 60 to 75 — technically true, but not the whole story.

In absolute terms, the WHI study translated to eight additional cases of breast cancer, about seven additional cases of coronary heart disease, and about eight additional cases of stroke per 10,000 women per year on Prempro versus placebo. What’s more, the trial’s subjects were women aged 50 to 79, with an average age of 63 — i.e., postmenopausal, and at greater risk for these afflictions than younger perimenopausal women. The study also found benefits to taking Prempro, including fewer hip fractures, less colorectal cancer, and a decreased risk of overall mortality and cancer- specific mortality.

The WHI released its findings — not just in the usual published report, but via press conference and press release and amplified in splashy headlines and melodramatic morning-show segments — and the effect was immediate. By July 2003, U.S. hormone-therapy prescriptions had cratered, with millions of women stopping HRT or never starting.

Peter Attia, a physician and host of The Drive podcast, called this “the greatest injustice imposed by the modern medical system in our lifetime” in a discussion with Rachel Rubin, a doctor of urology and sexual medicine. (If you are a woman or know a woman, please listen to the entire episode, #348, on women’s sexual health, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy.)

Rubin agreed with Attia’s assertion and went on to add, “They misinterpreted the data so drastically, and scared everybody with so much fear, that you actually have an entire generation that has forgotten how to prescribe hormone therapy. And this is the nightmare we’re living in today.”

It’s true — in the 23 years since the study came out, not only did a generation of women fear HRT and suffer through the symptoms of perimenopause and postmenopause, but physicians stopped learning the nuances of how and when to prescribe hormone therapy, creating a void in medical knowledge that we’re only now beginning to address.

Einhorn saw the results of this misinterpreted data firsthand, with her patients suffering through symptoms like hot flashes and insomnia that often snowball into depression, anxiety, and marital problems. But when she suggested HRT, she says, the typical reaction was “‘This is going to give me breast cancer.’ Nothing I could do, come hell or high water, would convince them it was safe enough.”

Now she sees the pendulum swinging back. More of her patients are asking for HRT, a change the doctor credits, in part, to a generational shift.

“We’re not really as okay with just surviving and being patted on the head and told you’ll be fine, it’s just menopause, come back and see me next year,” she says.

Women today are refusing to be dismissed and are demanding more, but many are still experiencing the unintended consequence of the WHI study — that lack of understanding from medical providers of the signs of perimenopause and what can be done to alleviate symptoms.

When Grace*, 43, from Wilmington, complained to her ob-gyn that she was experiencing unexplained weight gain, she was told to be happy she doesn’t have any real problems. (Weight gain, especially in perimenopause as hormones fluctuate wildly, can cause insulin resistance and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, not to mention putting added strain on joints and the pelvic floor.)

At 48, Stella*, who lives in Grad Hospital, told her ob-gyn she’d been bleeding for almost four straight weeks. He offered an IUD as a fix and moved on — no workup, no conversation about peri­menopause, no plan.

Lee*, 42, from Port Richmond, was instructed that to combat her symptoms, she should lose weight and go to the gym, and that she wasn’t a candidate to take estrogen because she gets migraines. The truth? HRT can help stabilize hormone fluctuations that trigger migraines for some perimenopausal women.

“It’s been completely devastating to hear that this should be normal, and to be prescribed antidepressants when I am asking for help with biological issues like painful intercourse, night sweats, and insomnia,” Lee told me. “The answer has to be somewhere beyond ‘Lose weight and try working out.’”

Surrounded by women my age in this stage of life, I hear these stories with depressing regularity, and, fueled by my intense perimenopausal mood swings, I feel just as much indignation and frustration with each one.

Though I am now waking up in a cold sweat, dealing with chronic joint pain, and experiencing extreme irritability (sorry, family!), I’m relieved to be part of the generation that’s not satisfied to simply endure these indignities. Along with more awareness and less stigma surrounding menopause conversations, there are more options than ever available to help women thrive through these changes.

I found a health care provider with experience prescribing hormones — and more important, one who understands that each woman needs different doses, combinations, and delivery methods, and that it can take time to home in on the ideal combination. I’ve also made a few key lifestyle changes, including eating more protein (muscle loss accelerates in perimenopause), cutting back on cocktails (I have enough trouble sleeping as it is), and lifting weights (to help prevent osteoporosis).

As I navigated my own symptoms and frustrating medical experiences, I started noticing another encouraging sign. In the past few years, a host of wellness retreats and specialized programs have emerged, aimed specifically at educating women about perimenopause and menopause. It’s a stark contrast to decades when women’s health beyond the reproductive years was largely ignored — when the wellness industry focused primarily on helping women maintain their youthful appearance rather than supporting them through major life transitions, including this one. Now, finally, there are spaces designed around the reality that women need comprehensive support, education, and, yes, some pampering during what can be a physically and emotionally challenging time.

So when I read about the Power Through Perimenopause retreat at Mii amo, a wellness resort in Sedona, Arizona, I signed up, hoping to gain a better understanding of exactly what is happening to my own body, and how to help myself feel better. (Okay, and to spend several days eating wholesome gourmet meals I did not have to cook, submerging myself in spa treatments and stints in the sauna, and hiking the winding trails among the towering spires of Boynton Canyon.)

The retreat was led by Angela DeRosa, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who has been treating women with estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone for more than 30 years and who co-founded the Hormonal Health Institute in 2018.

In a room with views of the pristine red-rocked landscape outside, she explained to our group of robe-clad women why the current medical system fails so many of us during this transition, and how, as life expectancy has risen — in the U.S., women’s increased by nine years from 1960 to 2015 — we live with, and endure the symptoms of, menopause longer.

“We now live one third to half of our lives in menopause,” she told us. “We shouldn’t be stoically accepting it.”

DeRosa ticked through the symptoms of estrogen deficiency (hot flashes, night sweats, frequent urinary tract infections, heart palpitations, and more) and testosterone deficiency (low libido, fatigue, memory loss, migraines, and weight gain, to name a few), and armed us with strategies to advocate for better care. (For the record, DeRosa echoed Peter Attia’s assessment of the WHI study, noting, “This was malpractice against women — it’s been over 20 years, and we still haven’t recovered.”)

Beyond educating me, including providing laser-focused insights about my own hormones and how to get symptom relief through HRT, nutrition, and exercise, my stay at Mii amo was a desperately needed reset and reminder that I — a mother, wife, business owner, and journalist — need to take care of myself, too.

I got a myofascial release massage to help soothe the joint stiffness and decreased connective tissue elasticity that can result when estrogen plummets. I sipped nighttime sleep tonic made with lavender, cherry juice, and chamomile to combat my frequent insomnia. And I basked in the omnipresent relaxed vibe that’s the hallmark of a stay at the resort.

In the spirit of the fearless visionary Melani Sanders, at Mii amo, we do not care that we have not applied mascara in days. We do not care that we wear our robes and slippers to dinner. We do not care that after the two-hour Desert Mist Renewal treatment — a transportive scrub, a wrap, and a full body massage — our hair, caked with jojoba and beeswax, is giving Medusa.

The retreat reminded me that we don’t have to white-knuckle our way through these years. We can actually feel good and flourish.

The movement toward better menopause care is gaining ground closer to home, too, with new ways to care for yourself. One is Julie Parana’s practice, the Menopause OT.

Once Parana got herself to a good place with hormones, nutrition, and weight training for muscle mass and osteoporosis prevention — women can lose up to 20 percent of their bone density in the five to seven years following menopause — she had an epiphany. As an occupational therapist, she’s spent her career helping patients manage their health conditions, and she realized she could provide similar aid with menopause. So she got certified in women’s health and became a certified menopause coach.

“What I want women to know is that you don’t have to suffer, but it does require action, and it does require putting yourself first,” she says, noting that this concept can be hard for women who are often taking care of their kids, working full time, and/or caring for elderly parents.

Parana helps women do just that with her “six pillars of midlife wellness,” including mindset and identity, nervous system regulation, stress management, movement, nutrition, and sleep hygiene.

What she hears most from clients? “I wish I’d started doing this sooner.”

More good news: More than a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, are considering bills to mandate provider training, expand insurance coverage, and generally boost awareness about menopause care.

And last year, the Menopause Society, a national nonprofit medical organization that’s been dedicated to education about and research into midlife women’s health since 1989, sold out the in-person registration for its annual conference for the first time, indicating that doctors are seeking more training as patients are being more vocal about wanting care.

“I know doctors that have been going to that meeting for 20 years and never bothered to register right away, because it never sold out before,” Einhorn, a certified menopause provider through the Menopause Society, told me. (A Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, or MSCP, designation means the provider is specifically trained and credentialed to give safe, effective, and comprehensive menopause-related care — training most general clinicians never receive in medical school.) “And last year they were shut out of the meeting.” This year’s conference sold out too, but providers were able to attend virtually.

Einhorn’s practice, the MP Collective, is another positive indicator, as are other centers in the Philly area, like gynecologist-founded SiBelle Women’s Health and Aesthetics in Horsham and the Balanced Woman in Ardmore.

“What’s so empowering about this phase of our lives in perimenopause is that we’ve been conditioned to not be the important ones,” Einhorn says. “We’re subjugated when we’re pregnant, because it’s all about the baby, and after that purpose is done, we’re told we have no value to the world, but it’s completely untrue. The reason why human females live beyond menopause — we’re one of the only mammals that do — is because we have a purpose and meaning. Women in our generation going through it right now are learning how to feel empowered and live the best part of their lives.”

* Names have been changed to protect privacy.

Published as “The Power of Change” in the 2026 issue of Be Well Philly.

Philly Today: Bots on Tinder Are Using Local References to Seduce Philadelphians

Rocky IV featured a Paulie/robot romantic subplot. / Pic from IMDB

Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Thursday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!

Bots on Tinder are Using Local References to Seduce Philadelphians

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Arguably. With multiple caveats and asterisks, and blind eyes turned toward basically all the news of the day. Especially recently.

It’s a time when r/Philadelphia is avalanched with blissful snow pics. Space savers are doing their thing. And over on Tinder, robots are integrating local landmarks into their speech in order to seduce Philadelphians. Or to rip them off somehow, I guess. They tried it on one Philly Tinder user and Redditor yesterday. Twice.

I chatted with the Tinder user — who preferred to remain anonymous — to learn more.

I’m not on Tinder. What’s the bot situation?
There are a ton of bots, seemingly more than actual humans.

Is this the first time you’ve encountered Tinder bots posing as Philadelphians?
They normally don’t mention any landmarks or places or anything, but I got two yesterday mentioning Philly things.

What a world.
Yeah, it was honestly very funny. And I did end up going on a Tinder date last night with an actual human and we had an amazing time. My opening line was, “Please don’t be a bot,” lol.

Aw, that’s nice.

Of course, this situation brings to mind Rocky IV, wherein it is strongly implied that Paulie and his servant robot are romantically involved, much to the delight/horror of the Balboa family.

Meanwhile the lesson for Philadelphians in the dating scene is: Be careful out there. Sure, this time the bots didn’t quite pass the Turing test, but the future looks bleak. In addition to all the creeps, scammers, and people who say jawn more than once a month, there are also robots.

Remember what Futurama says:

Local Author Drops New Spooky Story

Stephanie Feldman, author of the 2022 dark Philly fantasy novel Saturnalia, just published a new spooky story in the Sunday Morning Transport called “A Skull in Reverse.” Here’s, just a little taste.

A month after Kim moved into her forever home, the attacks began.

It was December, midnight. Kim slept on the couch — downstairs was warmer in the tiny ranch, the worst house in the best neighborhood she could afford. A bright touch roused her, like snowflakes on her eyelids. She blinked awake to two white lights dilating in the window, setting the cheap drapes aglow, then ablaze. Kim instinctively lifted her hand, as if to repel the glare, and the room plunged back into darkness. For an instant, she felt flush with power.

Then she realized a car had rolled up her driveway, nearly to the living room window, and cut its headlights.

Car door slam, footsteps, knock-knock-knock, and Kim jumped, as if the shuddering door were another slat in her rib cage.

Keep reading here.

Santa Claus vs. the Dead Milkmen

Philly punk legends the Dead Milkmen dropped a brand-new Christmas single this week. “Santa Claus is Coming for Your Eyes,” featuring Rodney Anonymous on lead vocals, is very on brand: silly, subversive, driven by weirdness. Catchy, in a Dead Milkmen kind of way.

By the Numbers

4-5 inches: Snow accumulation in Philly this weekend.

6,000: Number of PECO users who lost power thanks to the snowstorm.

2: Minimum number of cars involved in single-car accidents in Philadelphia during the snowstorm. One hit the J. Crew Factory at 16th and Chestnut. The other hit a pole in Oxford Circle and knocked out the power for a while.

91 percent: That how often Philly’s fentanyl tests positive for the veterinary sedative medetomidine. The New York Times came to town to talk about the latest horrors of this city’s addiction crisis.

The Best Ski Lodges and Chalets for Your Winter Getaway

Urban Cowboy Lodge / Photograph by David Krugman

Post up at one of these destinations, which welcome travelers with everything from classic ski cabins to ultra-luxe getaways.

Ski at: Bryce Resort
Stay at: Postcard Cabins Shenandoah North

This Marriott Bonvoy–run outpost down the road from Bryce is for those who want to rough it — just a little. Each of the tiny cabins has a massive back window so you can gaze out at the scenery, a kitchenette, and a queen bed or bunks with an en suite bathroom. There’s no restaurant, but you’ll have a private outdoor grill and fire pit — plus peace and quiet when you’re not on the mountain. Rooms from $129.

Ski at: Killington
Stay at: Woodstock Inn & Resort

Not only is the inn — established by Laurance and Mary Rockefeller in the 1960s — 25 minutes from Killington, it also has its own adjacent Saskadena Six ski area, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2026. The rooms feature all the trappings of posh, but cozy, comfort. There are restaurants, a spa with a year-round outdoor courtyard, and a retro game room that’s clad in flannel. Rooms from $379.

Ski at: Blue Mountain Resort
Stay at: The Y on Broadway

While it’s not quite next door to the resort — a 35-minute drive — the hotel is in the storybook enclave of Jim Thorpe, which is even more adorable in the winter. Originally opened as a YMCA in the late 19th century, the Y today has a rustic design (barn doors, brickwork) and pays homage to its past with historical pictures lining the walls. Continental breakfast is available daily, and cozy pubs and locally run restaurants are just steps away. Rooms from $159.

Ski at: Hunter Mountain
Stay at: Hotel Lilien

Located in Tannersville — at the base of the mountain — this 18-room boutique hotel, housed in a restored 1890s mansion, boasts a chalet-chic aesthetic. Spend your evenings cozying up next to the wood-burning stove, pulling tomes from the wood-paneled library, playing billiards (on a hand-carved table), or curling up in your plush bed. Fuel up with daily breakfast (included), and indulge with the campfire skillet cookie and ice cream for two after dinner. Come on, you earned it. Rooms from $250.

Hotel Lilien / Photograph courtesy of Hotel Lilien

Ski at: Okemo
Stay at: The Weston

This luxurious eight-room enclave that opened a couple of years ago on Main Street in the tiny town of Weston feels more like the country home of a stylish friend. The renovated space is decorated with 18th-century antiques, vintage art pieces, and hand-carved wood four-poster beds in some of the rooms. (You’ll swoon for the Diptyque body products.) The restaurant has French bistro fare and a solid wine list. There’s a spa too: The sports massage might be on your wish list after wiping out one too many times. Rooms from $405.

Ski at: Jiminy Peak
Stay at: Tourists

This hotel in the artsy town of North Adams — 20 minutes from the mountain — will take you back to the days of the motor lodge, with a modern, woodsy spin. The rooms overlook the Hoosic River and natural surroundings. Some have treehouse-like bunks (great for families), while others open to a courtyard. Visit the Airport Rooms (a renovated 1813 farmhouse) for dinner, then head next door to the Lodge for live music — the Sing for Your Slumber program gives touring musicians a free stay in exchange for a jam sesh. Rooms from $299.

Ski at: Gore Mountain
Stay at: Garnet Hill Lodge

This family-friendly Adirondacks hotel is 20 minutes from the mountain and is known as a cross-country skiing and snowshoeing hub, complete with its own outdoor center. (It’s a ski-in/ski-out paradise; passes are included in your stay.) The lodge was originally built in 1936 overlooking Thirteenth Lake, with accommodations for two to five, plus two cabins with space for four to five each. Breakfast is included, and the restaurant slings hearty fare for the rest of your meals. Rooms from $164.

Ski at: Camelback Resort
Stay at: The Swiftwater

Some of the rooms at this peaceful hotel in Swiftwater feature in-suite saltwater plunge pools — just the words you want to hear after a day on the slopes. (Book the Camelback package for perks.) Equally nice: plush Frette linens and towels, a chichi concierge level for those who really want to amp up the luxury, two restaurants, and a bar for some après-ski martinis. Rooms from $199.

Ski at: Belleayre Mountain
Stay at: Urban Cowboy Lodge

It’s like an Alpine fever dream, with hand-printed wallpaper, potbelly stoves, claw-foot tubs, and a design that brings the outdoors in. (Think a headboard made of tree branches.) There are various accommodations, from 21-plus to stand-alone cabins, along with a bowling alley and bar (in the new year, après-ski parties with a DJ take place daily), an Estonian sauna, and a setting in the Big Indian Wilderness. You’ll feel a world away from everything, even though Belleayre’s a 15-minute drive from the lodge. Rooms from $347.

>> Click here to return to Winter Getaways: Where to Ski (and Snowboard) Near Philadelphia

Published as “Lodge Stars” in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

A Philadelphian’s Guide to Skiing With Kids

Bryce Resort / Photograph by Andrew DeVier-Scott

Taking the whole fam on your ski trip? Here’s how to avoid wipeouts.

Prep

Alexis Rich Chami, founder of Palomar Travel, has planned dozens of winter trips for her clients’ families as well as plenty of her own. Over the years, the Fishtown-based luxury travel adviser has taken her kids — now eight and 12 — skiing locally, out West, and abroad, so she knows firsthand how to do it right.

Chami with her kids at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in the Lehigh Valley

1. For the best rates, plan your winter escape in the summer or early fall. But you still have time to book a trip if you’re hoping to travel later this winter — although not on a holiday. If I wanted to get my family on a mountain somewhere farther afield like Colorado, though, I’d buy those passes at the end of the last season to get a discount.

2. Rent a house or condo versus staying in a hotel or lodge. Obviously, the farther away you are from where you’ll be skiing, the less expensive it will be. If your budget is smaller, you could stay a 30-minute drive from the mountain.

3. The best ski vacations are taken with family friends. When children have friends to play with, their parents don’t have to entertain them the whole time. You can also rent a bigger unit, with more room for the kids to run around.

4. Teach your children to ski locally. I took my kids for lessons at Spring Mountain Adventures in Schwenksville, and that saved a lot of money.

5. If you have the budget, consider putting your kids in ski lessons for part of your trip. That way, you can get out on the mountain and have some time to yourself.

Pack

Renting ski equipment — for yourself, and especially your growing kid — is always a good idea to save money. Still, there are a few items you’ll want to bring to keep your child comfortable on the slopes.

Images provided by D&Q

The first two things that should go in their suitcase are snow pants and a warm jacket, says Curt Wrzeszczynski of Cherry Hill gear shop D&Q. The store’s ski buyer recommends 686’s boys Infinity cargo insulated pants ($120), girls Lola insulated pants ($120), boys Geo insulated jacket ($170), or girls Athena insulated jacket ($180); Picture Organic’s Snowy toddler jacket ($100), Daumy 20K jacket ($145), and Time pants ($100); or ❶ Volcom’s insulated pullover jacket ($170) — all of which you can find at the retailer, along with Wrzeszczynski’s other picks.

Of course, no ski outfit is complete without gloves or mittens. Wrzeszczynski likes 686’s heat insulated gloves ($35) or ❷ Hestra’s kids CZone mitts ($75). And just as essential, ❸ Lé Bent ski socks ($26) wick away sweat to keep feet dry.

As for safety, Wrzeszczynski recommends ❹ Marker’s Vijo combo helmet ($120). The adjustable headwear has built-in goggles, combining two essentials that make for lighter packing — and one fewer thing to remember each time you head out onto the mountain. A bonus: The goggles conveniently slide into the helmet when they’re not in use.

Wrzeszczynski suggests bringing along the Ski Sundries Ezee ski trainer ($43) if you have young kids who need more guidance on the mountain. The customizable harness is suitable for ages two to eight and lets you keep a handle on your kiddo as they learn to ski.

Don’t want to break the bank? Look for secondhand apparel or a preseason sale at stores like the Ski Bum in Glen Mills, Lang’s Ski ’N Scuba in Newtown, and Buckman’s Ski & Snowboard Shop, which hosts tent sales at several of its seven locations, including King of Prussia. Alternatively, comb through clearance racks at any of these shops to find a good deal.

Practice

As ski and snowboard school director at Spring Mountain Adventures, Jim Parrish has helped thousands of kids find confidence on the slopes — including his two now-adult children. Naturally, he has plenty of tips for parents gearing up to take their little ones downhill.

1. Start with moderate terrain, and pick a day when it’s not 10 degrees — ideally, a nice, sunny day. Then, simply put the child into ski boots; I’d suggest they learn to ski first before taking on snowboarding, since it’s initially easier. We do a lot of boot games in our classes, then progress to getting the skis on. The goal is to teach somebody how to control their speed, then eventually turn.

2. Make sure children have the right skis for their height. It’s common for them to arrive with their brother’s or sister’s hand-me-downs over their heads. That’s not going to be a good time. If you put the ski on its tail, the tip should reach their chin.

3. Your kid probably shouldn’t spend all day on the mountain. I’d say the right amount of time is exactly as long as they tolerate it. If a young kid has just had an hour-long lesson, take a break, get their equipment off, and buy them a hot chocolate.

4. Help your child learn by staying optimistic, and work on one thing at a time. Don’t give them four issues to tackle and lose them. And always finish on a positive note.

>> Click here to return to Winter Getaways: Where to Ski (and Snowboard) Near Philadelphia

Published as “Bring the Crew” in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

The Ultimate Après-Ski Guide

Scribner’s Catskills Lodge / Photograph by Read McKendree

The best ski days don’t end when the lifts stop spinning. In the Northeast, après-ski can mean a restorative spa ritual, a full-blown party, or — ideally — a little of both. Whether your idea of unwinding is a sauna and a salt room or a beer and a band, here’s where to go hard and recover well this winter.

The Après Party

Revelers at the Foggy Goggle / Photograph by Heidi Lewis

When the last run’s done in Killington, Vermont, few places embody East Coast après like the Wobbly Barn, a decades-old steakhouse turned nightclub with live music on the weekends. Down the road, the Lookout Tavern serves wings, chili, and local craft brews with a backdrop of the mountains.

Pennsylvania has a bit of everything: The Foggy Goggle at Seven Springs has been named one of the top après bars in the country, while Slopeside Pub & Grill at Blue Mountain pairs hearty fare with panoramic Lehigh Valley views. Find the best scene for the small set at Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos, with water slides, snow globes, and character dance parties (plus hot tubs and festive cocktails for parents). Nearby in Scranton, Slocum Hollow Bar & Restaurant sets a lively tone with 22 rotating drafts and comfort food right off Montage Mountain’s trails. And the Wicked Googly in Ligonier turns a small-town bowling alley into a late-night party hub with live bands, karaoke, and trivia.

The scene skews rustic-chic in the Catskills: Scribner’s Prospect and the Whiskey Lounge buzz with mountain views and boozy cocktails, while Peekamoose Restaurant & Tap Room, near Belleayre, blends farmhouse cooking, serious drinks, and a roaring fire. And for something more pastoral, Swover Creek Farm & Brewery, near Bryce Resort in the Shenandoah Valley, offers wood-fired pizzas, small-batch beer, and the kind of convivial vibe that inspires you to linger long after sunset.

The Après Recovery

The spa at Miraval Berkshires / Photograph courtesy of Miraval Berkshires Resort and Spa

Prefer to relax and refresh? The Killington Grand Hotel Spa in Vermont entices with alpine-themed treatments like the Black Diamond Massage and arnica oil add-ons to soothe sore muscles. Miraval Berkshires Resort and Spa in Lenox, Massachusetts, welcomes day guests to its vast spa — complete with saunas, steam rooms, and holistic bodywork — just a short 30-minute drive from Jiminy Peak.

The Poconos are rich in restorative retreats: The Lodge at Woodloch is a high-end haven for custom massages and salt-sauna sessions (book the Deep Relief Massage — warming camphor and anti-inflammatory CBD help melt away muscle stiffness), while the Spa at Kalahari extends the pampering to kids and teens with its own family-friendly wellness menu.

In the Catskills, unwind at Scribner’s Lodge in Hunter with a barrel sauna and cozy library, or go deeper at Menla’s Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, where Finnish and infrared saunas, steam rooms, and soaking tubs can be booked à la carte with day passes. A grander reset awaits at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz: It delivers Gilded Age splendor and a 30,000-square-foot spa (open only to overnight guests). Back in PA: Near Montage Mountain, Eleventh Element Relaxation Spa is home to float tanks, infrared saunas, and halotherapy salt rooms — a perfect antidote to too many moguls.

>> Click here to return to Winter Getaways: Where to Ski (and Snowboard) Near Philadelphia

Published as “Champagne Powder” in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Welcome to “Ask Dr. Mike,” Our New Series With a Beloved Philly Doc

Meet internal medicine physician Michael Cirigliano, affectionately known as “Dr. Mike” to not only his 2,000 patients, who love his unfussy brilliance, tenacity, humor, and warmth (he’s a hugger!), but also to viewers of FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia, where he’s been a long-time contributor. For 32 years, he’s been on the faculty at Penn, where he trained, and he’s been named a Philadelphia magazine Top Doc every year since 2008. Starting today, he’s our in-house doc for the questions you’ve been itching (perhaps literally) to ask a medical expert who’ll answer in words you actually understand. Got a doozy for him? Ask Dr. Mike at lbrzyski@phillymag.com.

Hey, Dr. Mike! My doctor just shifted into concierge medicine — I’m not doing that — and now I have no GP to call my own. How in the world do I begin to find a new one?
Great question! I believe the most important person in your life, after yourself and your significant other, is your healthcare provider — someone who cares, is willing to take time with you, doesn’t blow off your concerns, and takes you seriously. This person is your advocate, guiding you through the shark-infested waters of healthcare. There’s an old saying, “He or she who treats themself, treats a fool.” You need to have someone you trust, who you believe has your best interest at heart, and actually gives a damn about you.

Why? Because medicine is not an algorithm. It’s a combination of love, caring, science, and being there for the person, no matter what they’ve come to you for. William Osler, one of the fathers of modern medicine, used to say, “You listen to the patient, and they will tell you the diagnosis.” That has saved me and many patients over the years, and is the framework of what doctoring — of being a healer — has been about since the beginning of time. The sacrosanct relationship between a healthcare provider and their patient is almost on the level of a priest or rabbi. This is at odds with what I was taught as a medical student — which was, “you shouldn’t be friends with your patients.” Well, too bad! The people I take care of are an extension of my family. We deal with their health as a family — that bond, that trust, is critical.

So how do I find an amazing provider like that?
Tap into your community. Word of mouth can be immensely helpful, and is one of the more legitimate ways to get information about a provider. Ask your friends, your co-workers, anyone you trust who they like or have tried … and who they’ve maybe steered away from. A lot of my referrals are patients that have mentioned their experience with me.

I’m a big fan of large teaching hospitals — that’s nothing against smaller hospitals in the community. But when you need a primary-care provider, those large health systems can provide a list of doctors who are accepting new patients or have availability right now. Also, most hospitals are now affiliated with a larger system, which is great because your primary will have access to all the subspecialists in that particular system. So you’ll have a lot of backup.

Then, just as you would with a potential spouse, you’ll want to “date” a potential practitioner a bit to see if they’re going to work out as your longterm healthcare partner.

So, wait, I should … doctor shop?
Yes! Well, I support that, at least. It’s like getting married: You want to find someone you connect with and who is right for you. Otherwise, you’re headed for divorce! If you meet with a primary but don’t click, go back to square one and start again — and do this until you connect with somebody who aligns with you. And then, give them a fair chance. It comes down to: Does this person communicate with me? Do they listen and validate my concerns? Are they willing to explore every path to getting me the care I need? Your internal radar will tell you yay or nay.

Okay, so I’ve done my homework, found a few primary docs I’d like to “date” — only to find that they’re not even accepting new patients. What’s with the shortage of available primaries?
There’s a tremendous shortage of primary care providers in this country — getting an appointment is like trying to meet the Pope! — partly because we emphasize surgical specialties because they offer more remuneration and opportunities for growth. That means we don’t have enough of a frontline “iron dome” of primary-care docs like me who are looking out for the enemy — the Grim Reaper — on behalf of patients and who will squeeze you in when you have an acute problem instead of your having to wait months to be seen. I think the field needs to entice more young people to go into primary care so we can have more advocates for patients and be that frontline.

Of all the qualities of a good doc, what’s the biggest non-negotiable?
You want your doctor to have a high level of “resolution,” which is a term I learned early on from one of my mentors, Dr. Lou Dinon, a revered Penn cardiologist and an extraordinary clinician. It’s a commitment to actually resolve the problem you go to your doctor to address. It’s a willingness, if they don’t know the answer to something regarding your health, to not “guess” at it but to reach out to other experts for consultation. That takes time and commitment — and there is no substitute for it.

Can you give me an example of what you mean?
Here’s one that comes up all the time. I’ll have a patient who I think needs a specialist. But when they call the specialist’s office, they’re given an appointment that’s four months away! I tell my patients, if that happens, call me. I swear, I spend multiple hours a day on the phone, trying to get an imaging study booked or a pre-authorization on a medication. Half of what I do is act as an advocate. No one should have to wait four months for something that’s acute and troubling.

It’s amazing that you’ll do that for your patients! Still, are there things we patients can do, ourselves, to get an appointment sooner with a specialist? Got any good workarounds?
Have you ever seen The Shawshank Redemption, the prison movie? Remember how the main character — Andy Dufresne, an inmate — forced the state penal system to finally get some books for the prison library? He sent a request to them once a week for six years — and the state finally sent the books. I tell my patients all the time: Call the specialist’s office every day! The people answering the phone won’t like it, but you know what? That’s going to get you in the door quicker — there’s always a cancellation. Also, just say your specialist is totally booked at the Center City site where you’d like to be seen. That may not be the case if the practice has other sites and you’re willing to travel a little. They may have an opening for you sooner.

You’ve been in practice for 32 years, but when you talk about medicine, you sound as enthused as a brand-new doctor. What keeps you so motivated?
I still feel honored every time someone trusts me enough to walk through my door. People talk about burnout in medicine and, yes, it’s real. But if you chose medicine for the right reasons — to heal, to care — it’s the best job in the world.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Need an Over-the-Top Way to Pop the Question? Try One of These Gorgeous Philly Hotels

Hotel Anna & Bel / Photograph by Jason Varney

It’s that time of year again: what we like to call proposal season, the months between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day when folks love to pop the question. So if you want to make it official this season but don’t know where to start, we have some ideas for you. Specifically, some over-the-top approaches courtesy of a few Philadelphia hotels, which set a grand scene for your beloved to say “yes.” Take a look at the below, and you might find yourself getting down on one knee in a presidential suite or celebrating the moment over dinner and drinks in one of our fave hotel restaurants. Need more inspiration? Visit our proposal guide. And if you’d like to see your own proposal on these pages, submit it here!

The Bellevue Hotel
Center City

The presidential suite’s luxurious interior / courtesy of the Bellevue Hotel

The Bellevue Hotel has a soup-to-nuts Forever & Always proposal package for soon-to-be weds. (Perhaps the name is a nod to a certain song by Taylor Swift, the recently engaged Berks County native we’ve adopted as our own?) The package offers a stay in the hotel’s gorgeous — and massive — presidential suite, decorated with rose petals and a candle-lit path for your arrival. The hotel will take care of the proposal setup, complete with custom signage and a floral arrangement by Beautiful Blooms. A photographer from Pel Productions will be on hand to capture the moment when your love says “yes.” Then, bask in the moment with a private, four-course dinner for two in your suite (there’s a full dining room in the space), pop a complimentary bottle of bubbly, and sip it in engraved, keepsake champagne flutes. The celebration continues the next day, with breakfast in bed and mimosas. Ready to start wedding planning already? Keep in mind that the Bellevue has two Cescaphe-operated venues at the hotel, the Grand Belle and XIX. Package from $5,000. 

Hotel Anna & Bel
Fishtown

A courtyard entryway at Hotel Anna & Bel / Photograph by Douglas Lyle Thompson 

Ask your beloved to marry you amid any one of Hotel Anna & Bel’s stunning backdrops — in the Mediterranean-inspired courtyard, on the foyer’s original, restored grand staircase, or in the living room, with its cozy fireplace — when you book their engagement package. A bottle of champagne and chocolates will be waiting in your room so you can toast the big moment. Afterward, head to the hotel’s airy hair and makeup room to prep for a two-hour photo session around the grounds. (Take note: You’ll need to book your photographer separately.) We like the idea of snapping a few pics poolside (though you might need a coat — at least right now). Later, celebrate over cocktails at Caletta and dinner at Bastia, the latter our top restaurant of 2025, with a $100 dining credit. The engagement package can be added to any stay for $600.

The Rittenhouse
Rittenhouse

A room at the Rittenhouse hotel / Courtesy of the Rittenhouse hotel

While not technically geared toward proposals, the Rittenhouse’s Romance package will help you seal the deal. Get down on one knee in Rittenhouse Square, one of the city’s most picturesque proposal spots, then head to the hotel for a dinner at one of its two restaurants, Lacroix or Scarpetta. If you’d prefer something more intimate, a private dinner in your room can be arranged. They also offer a $200 spa credit to be used during your stay, so you can book a couple’s treatment. A $150 dinner credit, a dozen long-stemmed roses, artisanal chocolates, and a bottle of sparkling wine are included in the package. Want to extend the celebration? The package includes complimentary late checkout at 1:00 p.m. Prices on request.

Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia
Center City

The pool at the Four Seasons / Photograph courtesy of the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia

This one’s a classic, something we’ve basically been obsessed with since the Four Seasons introduced it a few years back. That’s the Night Spa experience. It’s meant for any special moment — and we think a proposal is an ideal time to make use of it. Couples are greeted with a candle-lit floral runway, treated to a 60-minute massage, then left to enjoy private access to the hotel’s pool on the 57th floor, surrounded by gorgeous views of Philadelphia’s skyline. Champagne, pastries, and a dozen long-stem red roses are included. You can add on upgrades like caviar, oysters, or a rose heart to kick the experience up another notch. The package is available with or without an overnight stay. Prices on request.

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Philly Birth Centers Are Closing. What’s the Future of Maternity Care?

With Lifecycle closing, what is the future of maternity care in Philadelphia? / Photograph by Pavel Danilyuk

Listen to the audio edition here:

Collingswood resident Caitlin Corkery is a self-described “birth nerd.”

She’d grown up in the ’90s and 2000s, when women’s bodies were relentlessly shamed by tabloids. When she began learning about the birth process, though, she recalls it being “the first time hearing about how powerful women’s bodies could be.”

In her free time, she took a doula course to learn more about the practice of those who are trained to provide guidance and support to a pregnant woman during labor. So in 2020, as she prepared to welcome her first child, she thought hard about the kind of birth experience she wanted. She eventually chose to receive her care at Lifecycle Birth and Wellness Center, a Bryn Mawr-based, freestanding birth center run entirely by midwives.

Working with Lifecycle, Corkey says, made her feel like she was surrounded by “all of your nicest aunts and cousins.” Her first appointment lasted over an hour as her midwife got to know Corkery and her husband.

“I was so used to being in medical situations where … it’s people poking and looking for things to go wrong,” she says. “[Lifecycle] made me feel that everything was within my control. I was equipped to make choices.”

Corkery planned to have her daughter at the center, but needed an emergency C-section and was transferred to Bryn Mawr Hospital, with whom Lifecycle had a partnership. Due to early pandemic protocols, Corkery’s husband wasn’t permitted in the O.R. for the procedure, but her midwife was right there with her, holding her hand.

“She was the last person I saw before I went under,” says Corkey. “When I came to, she was there, and she had taken pictures of my baby. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have pictures my daughter from the moment she was born.”

Corkery’s maternity option — receiving midwife-led care and transferring to a hospital when needed — is now more difficult for Philly-area women to access. Last month, Lifecycle announced that, come February, it will cease delivering babies and assisting with deliveries at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Outpatient prenatal, postnatal and gynecology care at the center will end in March, along with community programs. The culprits: High facility and personnel costs, low fee-reimbursement rates, and the skyrocketing cost of medical malpractice insurance.

The closing is coming on the heels of the shutdown earlier this year of Delaware County’s Crozer Health system, which has created huge gaps in healthcare access, including obstetrical services: In 2024 alone, Crozer delivered 960 babies. Where are Delco’s pregnant moms supposed to get the care they once relied on Crozer to provide?

Both closures add to a steady local decline in the number of area facilities delivering maternity services, with 14 of 19 baby-delivering facilities shuttered between 1997 and 2019. In a region with persistently high maternal mortality rates — 20 per 100,000 live births in Philadelphia (the national rate is 17.4 per 100,000 live births) — these disruptions and closures exact a worrisome cost.

The high price of giving birth

Let’s start with a difficult, economic reality: Giving birth is a money-losing enterprise. Though due dates exist, babies arrive mostly on their own schedule (only 5% of babies are born on their estimated date of delivery). So hospitals and birth centers need 24/7 staffing, which creates high overhead costs. Plus, nationwide fee-reimbursement rates for obstetrical care remain low.

Then there’s the price of malpractice insurance, for which Pennsylvania has long charged high premium costs. Between 2023 and 2024, those rates increased 49 percent, according to a report from the American Medical Association.

Back in the early-to-mid 2000s — the last time the Commonwealth had a medical liability crisis — the fallout was profound: many hospitals closed; patients seeking treatment had to wait longer and/or travel further for care; and physician shortages resulted when small practices could no longer afford to stay in business.

“You saw the loss of solo practitioners and private practices because they couldn’t afford to keep their offices open,” says Dr. Aasta Mehta, director of the division of reproductive, adolescent, and child health with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health. As a result, “patients have less continuity of care, where the same doctor that you see for prenatal care is the same doctor who delivers your baby and then sees you postpartum.”

High medical-malpractice premiums have only increased the financial burden already felt by Philadelphia hospitals, many of which treat a high percentage of patients who rely on Medicaid, which traditionally reimburses poorly for care.

Case in point: The median in-network cost for vaginal delivery in a Pennsylvania hospital is $13,500, while out-of-network is $26,000, per data from FAIR Health’s cost of Giving Birth tracker (which analyzed data from more than 41 billion health care claims records). Yet the Pennsylvania Department of Health Outpatient Medicaid Fee schedule reimburses obstetrics care and uncomplicated delivery by certified nurse midwives at $2,025-$2,076. The fee for just vaginal delivery is $1,200.

The low reimbursements put midwife practices at a similar financial disadvantage. But it can worsen if complications arise when a woman is in labor and needs her care transferred to an OB/GYN (because labor isn’t progressing, for example, or a C-section is required). In that case, the midwife can bill for only the patient’s prenatal appointments.

Ronni Rothman, a certified nurse midwife and owner of WomanWise Midwifery, says “it’s a miracle” her practice has survived amidst such low reimbursement rates. “The margins are tiny, and the work is really, really hard,” says Rothman, who provides for prenatal and gynecological care at her offices in Blue Bell and Erdenheim, but delivers babies at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery.

Midwives face additional procedural hurdles as they also need to have a signed, collaborative agreement (filed with the state board of medicine) with an individual doctor in order to practice, even when they’re employed by a hospital system. Some agreements call for the signing OB/GYNs to receive a portion of a midwife’s fees, because they’re concerned about “vicarious liability,” says midwife Barbara d’Amato, who owned Valley Birthplace & Woman Care in Huntingdon Valley until it closed in 2018.

“We should not have to have a collaborative agreement with an obstetrician who can do surgery,” says d’Amato. After all, she adds, cardiologists are not required to sign a collaborative agreement with a cardiothoracic surgeon “if their patient becomes surgical.”

Evolving concerns: Where and how people give birth

The closure of alternative-care facilities like Lifecycle and small, independent OBGYN practices means that some people will likely have to travel miles — sometimes across county and state lines – to receive maternity services, which may impact the quality of care, perinatal experience, and birth outcomes.

For those patients, “the prenatal care has moved farther out – it isn’t in the neighborhood or easily accessible,” says Joanne Craig, chief impact officer for The Foundation for Delaware County and co-chair of the Pennsylvania State Maternal Mortality Review Committee. (Although, the Philadelphia Midwife Collective remains active in the city.)

“You need to see your health care partner on a regular basis. When it takes more than a couple of buses — or when it takes a car ride to get there, and you don’t have that car — it gets even more challenging.”

And also alarming: Pennsylvania’s maternal mortality rate in 2021, the most recent year for which data was available, was an already high 97 deaths per 100,000 live births. Part of the reason for these high numbers is improved counting, but common drivers of maternal mortality in the state, like mental health conditions and preeclampsia, could be caught and treated sooner if women had better access to care. This is especially true for Black women, who account for 73% of Philadelphia’s pregnancy-related deaths and who are at higher risk of conditions like preeclampsia.

The data, thankfully, doesn’t suggest maternity ward closures in the 1990s and 2000s negatively impacted health outcomes (although there were issues of crowding, which sometimes caused women to give birth in hospital hallways because they’d waited so long for a delivery room). But hospitals could reach a “tipping point,” says Sara Jann Heinze, senior director of policy and advocacy for Maternity Care Coalition, a local advocacy group working to approve health outcomes for pregnant people and infants. As it stands, most women work with a rotating staff of OBGYNs and may not have had an appointment with the doctor who delivers their baby.

“For this highly personal, intimate experience, wouldn’t you like to know the person who’s going to be attending your birth?” d’Amato says.

What are potential solutions?

Lifecycle’s closure comes at a time when the state is trying to increase — not reduce — the number of midwives and their ability to practice independently. The idea is that improved access to midwives could fill the need for care created by these closures and improve outcomes for women and infants. Republican state senator Rosemary Brown has just introduced the bipartisan PA Midwifery Modernization Act, which could help increase access to midwife services by recognizing certified midwives. (Currently only certified nurse midwives can practice, even though Jefferson has a certified midwife program.) It would also remove the requirement that midwives have a collaborating-doctor agreement.

That’s certainly something that has worked in the United Kingdom, whose maternal mortality rate, in the 1940s and 1950s, was similar to the rate at the time in the United States. Since then, the UK’s rate has declined, whereas the U.S. continued to struggle.

UK public health authorities lowered the number by standardizing how obstetricians provide care nationwide; reviewing every maternal death (something Pennsylvania and Philly already do), and making the midwives the primary care providers for most low-risk pregnancies.

In the UK today, 66 percent of pregnant people begin care with a midwife (in the U.S., only about 12 percent do) for prenatal care and delivery and are only escalated to an OB/GYN if their pregnancy becomes high-risk. In such cases, midwives often still attend the hospital births. Between 2020 and 2022, the UK’s maternal mortality rate was 11.68 per 100,000 births. Here in the United States, the rate was 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S. for 2022.

The comparison between the USA and the UK is not perfect. The presence of universal healthcare in the UK can encourage people to seek regular care — something they might otherwise put off over concerns about costs. Still, research has found that, in general, people in the UK in general tend to be healthier than Americans.

Nonetheless, using midwives here and escalating patient care to OBGYNs as needed could help people get overall better care experiences. Patients would be more familiar with their providers, and OBGYNs would have more time to focus on high-risk patients or those with additional complications.

Until then, Penn and Jefferson, thankfully, both include midwives in their practices. And for those moms who prefer to stay out of a hospital unless it’s absolutely necessary for a safe, healthy delivery, the Philadelphia Midwife Collective plans to open a birth center in North Philly in 2026. It can’t happen soon enough. In a time when U.S. women are losing too many options when it comes to reproductive care, they’re overdue for more choices, not fewer.

Chef Omar Tate of Honeysuckle Honored as a Pew Fellow

Omar Tate / Photograph by Clay Williams

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. Just a few quick things to get through this week, including (but not limited to) Omar Tate’s big win, a new restaurant from the old Cheu Noodle Bar team, Red Gravy Goods from Safran Turney, Medium Rare’s PJ party, and Mawn in the New York Times (again). So let’s get right into it, shall we? We’ll start things off this week with …

Chef Omar Tate Honored as a Pew Fellow in the Arts

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage just released their list of awards for Philadelphia-area cultural organizations and artists, and chef Omar Tate of Honeysuckle was among the 44 institutions and individuals sharing this year’s $8.6 million in grants.

According to Pew, Tate is “a visual artist and chef, and owner of the restaurant Honeysuckle, who integrates curated culinary experiences and contemporary visual art with a focus on cultural preservation of the African diaspora.” And that’s true. He’s an artist, a poet, an essayist, and an activist. Tate and his wife, Cybille St. Aude-Tate do a lot of things in this space. But what’s most notable to me is that he’s primarily a chef who has spent years using food as the medium through which he explores these ideas.

Seriously, if you’ve only got a minute, read the beginning of this profile I did of Tate, back in the early pandemic. It talks about where he was and what he was doing when the world stopped: serving dishes named for the MOVE bombings and roasted yams inspired by Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man to Manhattan swells at $150 a pop. The Honeysuckle that exists today? That’s a direct descendant of those dinners. It’s just another chapter in the story Tate has been telling us for years. And I love that this kind of recognition (and this kind of money) is going to help keep that kind of thing going.

Because food is never just food, right? Even the blandest, dullest meals you eat come with a history and a backstory that can be fascinating if you just take a minute to think about it. Food in general is like that “cerulean blue” scene in The Devil Wears Prada — it all has a narrative. It all comes from somewhere. A big part of Tate’s work (including the parts that involve blowing my mind with McNuggets and a bread course) is about telling those stories, making sure any of us lucky enough to find our way into Honeysuckle’s dining room understand them and remember them.

So anyway, that Pew grant? That’s money very well spent.

And if you get the chance, you should really check out dinner at Honeysuckle. You’ll come away well-fed and smarter, which is always nice.

The Best Dish at Mawn (According to the New York Times)

Mawn banh chow salad / Photograph by Alex Lau

Phila and Rachel Lorn’s Mawn has been getting a LOT of love lately — both from us and from some really big national outlets. But yesterday, the New York Times put out their 2025 list of the best individual dishes in America, and guess who made the cut again?

This time around, they’re specifically calling out the banh chow salad at Mawn, with its roasted peanuts, chili heat, and coconut rice crêpe, saying:

“As lacily crisp as a Parmesan tuile on the outside, and plumped by ground chicken and shrimp within, the savory coconut rice crepe is objectively the star of this ‘salad.’ But the tangle of soft lettuces and what the menu calls ‘backyard herbs’ bring a lot to the plate: levity, structure and the thrown-together appearance of everyday Cambodian American home cooking, only with a chef’s attention to details.”

And yeah, all of that is exactly right. And it’s a pretty good capsule description of what makes Mawn so great in the first place. But seeing it on the list got me looking at a bunch of the other best dish winners from this year, and it made me start thinking about the nature of these lists in general and just how remarkable the food scene is in America right now.

Most of the time, these lists focus on entire restaurants — trying to tell us everything about a place with a picture and a handful of words. The same places repeat, the same models of service and modes of design get rewarded over and over again. And not to say that any of the places picked aren’t deserving, but it can feel like a lot of noise to read about 25 or 50 or a hundred whole-ass restaurants in far-flung cities that you’ll probably never go to.

Individual dishes, though? Those are snapshots. And while they may define the nature of a restaurant’s general vibe (as the banh chow does at Mawn), a single plate is easier to get your head around. And the best of them can say a lot about what we love and what we crave and where we are with only a handful of ingredients.

So you could dream about entire Michelin-starred tasting menus in New York or the retro cocktail bar scene in L.A., or you could look at a plate of tempura-fried blowfish tails from Chubby Fish in Charleston, South Carolina, and actually picture yourself eating that. You could see Dungeness crab rice at Tomo in Seattle, a plate of cachapa from Doral, Florida and butterflied mountain trout drowned in beurre blanc at Judith in Sewanee, Tennessee and think about how amazing, deep, and wide our food culture has become over the past 20 years, and how delicious.

A single dish is approachable in a way that an entire restaurant normally isn’t. It is a flag on a hill in the distance, showing what’s just over the horizon. And I like lists like this one because while the idea of driving to Baltimore to eat off the menu at the Duchess might seem like a vague and aspirational daydream, I can actually see myself rolling up for a plate of the shrimp and corn patties that chef Kiko Fejarang offers as a taste of her Pacific Rim influences in a neighborhood bar atmosphere. So including Mawn’s backyard salad, with its Cambodian street food flavors and Philly address, is perfect because it lets people who aren’t from here and may never even come here know what we’re about here. And it does it without a single mention of cheesesteaks.

Restaurant Aleksandar Reboots

Restaurant Aleksandar / Photograph by Dan Heinkel

In Rittenhouse Square, Restaurant Aleksandar is remaking itself, leaning into the cuisine of Serbia (and the surrounding areas) and launching a new cocktail program.

When it opened back in 2022, Aleksandar was a vaguely Eastern European restaurant that flirted around with a lot of different influences. There were pierogi, egg rolls, schnitzel, whole branzino, short rib pasta, polenta, mussels, lamb shank, and more. It was a little bit scattered, beautiful (at least in pictures), and even if it didn’t entirely hold together, it was at least ambitious.

Now, though, after a couple years of service, it seems like the team at Aleksandar has decided to focus on what they can do best: a kind of biographical menu of Serbian and Eastern European dishes that owner Aleks Alimpijevic and his mother, exec chef Svetlana Alimpijevic, grew up with.

They’re calling it “a love letter to the dishes the Alimpijevic family grew up with,” and it includes things like paprikash malfadine, pierogi with smoked gouda mash and horseradish crème fraîche, chicken schnitzel with hot honey jus (which is a nice twist on the hot chicken craze, actually), and a variety of mekiks — fried bread served warm with toppings like roasted pepper spread and farmer’s cheese, smoked salmon and dill, vitello tonnato, and egg with horseradish cream and pancetta.

“Restaurant Aleksandar is the story of where my family comes from and what we have learned along the way,” according to Alimpijevic. “The traditions we grew up with, the flavors we were raised on, and the way we were taught to welcome people all shape what we do here. I want Aleksandar to feel meaningful whether or not you share our background. It is about connecting with the story, the energy, and the experience.”

Beverage director Michael Ringland is also redoing the bar menu with an eye toward history and geography. He’s got a list of Georgian wines, plus new cocktails like the bourbon-and-Strega “Fall in Dresden” and a borscht Bloody Mary at brunch. To go along with the cocktails, there’ll also be a new late-night happy hour program every Friday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. with food and drink specials aimed at night-owls, industry crews just coming off shift, and anyone else looking for some schnitzel after dark.

The new menu (and happy hour) is available now. Check it out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Red Gravy Goods, Now Open on East Passyunk

Gourmand-themed gifts from Red Gravy Goods / Photograph by Neal Santos

Val Safran and Marcie Turney are expanding their hospitality footprint outside of Midtown Village with a new opening at 1335 East Passyunk.

Red Gravy Goods opened yesterday, December 9th, and it is a “bespoke boutique” and culinary gift shop offering gourmet goods, kitchenware, cookbooks, and cocktail kits, along with Philly-themed gifts, clothes, candles, and a “hat patch bar” that lets you pick from over 100 different custom-designed (and Philly-centric) patches to have stuck on a hat while you wait.

Though not specifically food-related, I think this is interesting because, in addition to a billion restaurants over the years, Safran Turney Hospitality has long had a hand in the retail side of things with Open House and Verde on 13th Street. Now, there’ll be Red Gravy Goods — which, not at all coincidentally, has opened just steps away from Pat’s and Geno’s, along a stretch of East Passyunk that has always been heavy with tourist traffic. Exactly the kinds of people who might want to go home with a pair of Eagles earrings, a Gritty hat, a local cookbook, and a FAFO coffee mug.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Golabki from Little Walter’s / Photograph by Gab Bonghi

For those of you who might’ve missed it, Banshee — the new, not-at-all Asian (except kinda a little bit Asian) restaurant from ex-Cheu/Bing Bing/Nunu guys Ben Puchowitz and Shawn Darragh and new partners Kyle and Bryan Donovan — is opening tomorrow at 1600 South Street.

I did a long look inside the new spot earlier this week, but here’s the highlights: Banshee is a Scandinavian-influenced, Japanese-inflected comfort food and small-plates restaurant with a French-y Spanish menu and butterscotch Krimpets for dessert.

Oh, and since we’ve already talked about East Passyunk once this week, how about this? Y’all know that Marra’s, the pizza spot that’s been at 1734 East Passyunk Avenue for almost 100 years, just closed down, right? Well, it looks like Dan Tsao, owner of EMei in Chinatown, has picked up the space and will be turning it into a second location of the Sichuan specialist.

Actually, more like a third location. Because way back in July I told you about Tsao also picking up the former John Henry’s Pub at 98 Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, with plans to expand the EMei empire there as well.

Anyway, we’re gonna have three EMeis (plus one TingTing’s) to pick from in 2026. And that’s nothing but good news.

Meanwhile, over at Oyster House, they’re doing a lobster roll collab with chef Frankie Ramirez of Amá that’s running from December 9th through the 13th. It’s butter-poached lobster, salsa macha, refried beans, and cilantro macho on a split-top bun, served with Oyster House fries for $39, with proceeds going to benefit the SPCA.

At Little Walter’s, they’re doing their second annual Wigilia dinner on December 23rd, featuring a helping hand from some of the city’s best Polish chefs. Pat Alfiero of Heavy Metal Sausage Co., Patrick Czerniak of Square 1682, Ryan Elmore of Mom-Mom’s Kitchen, and Ian Maroney of Carl will all be there, putting their spins on the traditional 12-course Polish Christmas Eve feast.

Tickets are $100 per person, and there will be two seatings — 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. You can make your reservations here.

Finally this week, for those of you already looking ahead to the new year, Medium Rare — the Fishtown outpost of the prix fixe steak frites chain — is announcing a New Year’s Day pajama brunch with prizes being handed out for best jammies. Naturally, the party will be happening early on Wednesday, January 1st. It starts at 10 a.m. and (mercifully) will run all the way until 5 p.m. Bring the family, bring your friends, eat French toast and steak and eggs, drink bottomless 25-cent mimosas, and celebrate the coming of 2026 in the only way that makes any sense these days: drunk and in your pajamas. Reservations are available here.

Sylvester Stallone Decides to Let Philly Keep Original Rocky Statue

Sylvester Stallone with the original Rocky statue, which he has decided to let the city keep (Getty Images)

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Sylvester Stallone Decides to Let Philly Keep Original Rocky Statue

Oh, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday, I told you that Sylvester Stallone wanted his original Rocky statue back – the one that has been sitting at the bottom of the Art Museum steps every day and night for two decades – and that the city intended to give it back to him. Stallone had loaned the city another casting of the same Rocky statue, which has been sitting at the top of the Art Museum steps since last year (for the inaugural, month-long RockyFest,) and the plan was for Philly to keep that one. Not the original and not the one that has so much history and selfies and Philly grit behind it.

But at a Philadelphia Art Commission meeting on Wednesday morning, city officials revealed that they had met with Stallone and that based on “strong and heartfelt feedback from the public, Mr. Stallone has graciously decided that we will no longer move forward with the proposed statue swap.”

Also of note from the meeting: the Art Commission approved the city’s conceptual proposal of finding a permanent location for the Rocky statue – now meaning the original Rocky statue – on top of the steps close to where the replica temporarily stands.

More on this as it develops.

Shapiro Watch

A Pennsylvania Senate committee wants to know how Governor Shapiro is using taxpayer dollars to make security updates to his personal home in Abington following the arson attack on his official government residence, so they have subpoenaed the administration. “No administration — Republican or Democrat — should be allowed to operate in the shadows when public funds are involved,” wrote the Republican chair of that panel in a statement. “Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?” Some Democratic members of the committee expressed concerns over the issuing of the legislative subpoena, a rarely used tool in the state.

From the Department of Lists

Another day, another national food list that Philly makes. This time, Mawn’s banh chow salad has landed on “The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025” in the New York Times. For more on what makes Mawn tick, check out Philly Mag restaurant critic Jason Sheehan’s deep dive into that very subject in the November issue of the magazine.

By the Numbers

2: Brothers in South Jersey arrested on Tuesday for allegedly taking to social media and threatening to “shoot ICE on sight.” However you feel about ICE, pretty sure this is a bad way to proceed.

12-1: Odds now on the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl, according to online gambling sites. That’s not good. Let’s see how they do this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, who are tied for the second-worst team in the entire league, in the good company of the Tennessee Titans. So, can we still win the NFC East? Yes, we can. Our main competition? Yep, the Cowboys. Ugh.

28,979: Chickie’s & Pete’s Crabfries served at Xfinity Mobile Arena over a recent stretch of nine days when the area, formerly known as the Wells Fargo Center, hosted ten big events. And because Crabfries go so well with beer, I should mention that 6,247 gallons of it were served.

Local Talent

Why play one Philly venue in one weekend when you can play two? That seems to be the philosophy of Philly punk rock stalwarts The Starting Line, who will play the TLA on Friday night and then hit the Fillmore on Saturday. The band recently released their fourth studio album, Eternal Youth, and I quite like this single. For more info on the shows, go here.