Dr. Stork-Fury Joins Pearl OB/GYN

Written by Paige Feikert

For doctors Damen Hershberger and Anna Stork-Fury, their area of practice — obstetrics and gynecology — is deeply personal. Dr. Stork-Fury is a mother of seven children, while Dr. Hershberger has four children of his own. In fact, the birth of his first child inspired him to pursue the specialty. 

At just 24 weeks of pregnancy, Dr. Hershberger’s wife’s water broke, prompting a two-month long stay at Wesley and an early delivery of their son. The new parents then spent another two months at the Wesley neonatal intensive care unit with their son, before they were finally cleared to bring him home. 

“That was difficult, but he did really well during that time, and he’s a healthy young man now,” Dr. Hershberger said. “That was definitely a factor in becoming an obstetrician — seeing that from the other side.” 

That experience is not only something Dr. Hershberger draws on with patients in similar situations, it demonstrated to him the importance of a trusting relationship between a patient and a physician. 

“It can be really scary sometimes, especially for first-time patients, [in situations where early labor occurs] you don’t have as much time as you’d hope to develop that trust in someone who is taking care of you or taking care of your baby, so sometimes you have to accelerate that process,” Dr. Hershberger said. 

Connecting with Patients and Their Support Systems

Connecting with patients and building trust is something both Dr. Hershberger and Dr. Stork-Fury value, recognizing that an OB/GYN has a critical role in a patient’s life. According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, 20 percent of women consider their OB/GYN to be their primary care provider, and nearly 30 percent of women do not have a dedicated primary care provider outside of their OB/GYN. That same study found that 83 percent of women report having a consistent level of trust with their OB/GYN. This trust could contribute to higher likelihood of patients engaging in prenatal care, adhering to treatment plans and experiencing better health outcomes altogether. 

“It’s amazing that when you start to talk to people, how much everyone has in common, and it’s easier to break down the barriers and get to the important reasons why people are at the appointment,” Dr. Stork-Fury said. “Throughout the years, my patients have educated me about different topics in life — it doesn’t have to be medical-related, they’ve taught me about the Wichita community, or women from different backgrounds have taught me about their cultures — that has been exciting to me, too.”

“It’s an intimate part of medicine where you get to know not just your patient, but their significant other. It’s exciting and it helps me grow as a physician and as a person.” — Dr. Anna Stork-Fury

While building trust with a patient is critical, understanding a patient’s support system and connecting with them is also important, particularly throughout a pregnancy. 

“During pregnancy, the mom is our focus, but typically that baby has a father, and a grandmother, and an aunt — and those people are very important to the mom, or our patient, so I think it’s important to bring them into the process and keep them aware of what’s going on,” Dr. Hershberger said. “That certainly helped me when I was going through this process with my wife and my kids, to ask questions and someone being able to remember your name.”

Dr. Stork-Fury agrees that remaining mindful of the patient’s needs often involves broadening focus to include the important people in their life as well. 

“It’s an intimate part of medicine where you get to know not just your patient, but their significant other a lot of times, sometimes mothers will come in on visits or friends or sisters, and finding ways to connect with each individual and help them go through whatever they’re going through … it’s exciting and it helps me grow as a physician and as a person,” Dr. Stork-Fury said. 

Supporting Women Through All Phases of Life

In addition to prenatal and postpartum care, labor and delivery, women’s reproductive health includes a range of stages and experiences that require careful consideration and guidance from a physician. Dr. Stork-Fury says her own experiences have helped shape her conversations and relationships with her own patients. 

“As a mom in my 20s and 30s, my brain was always focused on the labor and delivery part, and being pregnant and going through that chapter of my own life, it was much easier to identify with what was happening with those patients,” Dr. Stork-Fury said. “I think as I’ve gotten older, some of those transitions I’ve gone through in my own life help me to be more empathetic as well, and as I see my kids go through things, that too has made me pause and reevaluate how I approach things in the office.” 

Caring for patients through all phases of life is something that motivated Dr. Stork-Fury to join Dr. Hershberger at Pearl, a private OB/GYN practice serving tens of thousands of patients at its three locations across Wichita and the surrounding area. Dr. Stork-Fury brings more than 20 years of experience to the practice. 

“The mission and one of the driving focuses was the ability to take care of patients of all ages,” Dr. Stork-Fury said. “I thought it was a great opportunity to be able to continue to take care of all people with different backgrounds, different insurances and without any restraints.” 

Pearl opened in 2021 in the College Hill area and has since grown to serve Derby and west Wichita in its Maize Road location. Dr. Stork-Fury joins Dr. Hershberger and three physician assistants at the practice. The decision to bring Dr. Stork-Fury into the practice was an easy one for Dr. Hershberger. 

“She has a fantastic reputation among patients, and she’s a very diligent and thoughtful great doctor,” Dr. Hershberger said. “We’ve been sharing call for the last five years, so we get to see directly how somebody practices medicine — it was really important to me to be in practice with someone who shares my goals.”

“Sharing call” generally means that physicians fill in for one another in the delivery room in cases where a physician has not gotten enough sleep, to ensure the safety of the patient and their baby.

The Welcoming Aesthetics of Pearl

Pearl is an aesthetically pleasing office, completely covered in pink, and that’s by design. The concept behind Pearl included careful consideration of patients who might associate fear and discomfort with an OB/GYN office. The goal is to help welcome patients and put them at ease, encouraging and empowering them to take charge of their reproductive health. 

“Certainly the younger, brand-new patients who have never even seen an OB/GYN, they expect to come into a real sterile, gray, overly stressful environment, and it’s the exact opposite of that, Dr. Hershberger said. “We are trying to put people at ease and help them through a very important part of healthcare, but it doesn’t always have to be a scary part.”

Dr. Stork-Fury is excited to join the practice that has grown immensely over the last five years. 

“I respect Dr. Hershberger, and he’s been in the community for a long time, and I think our overall goals align,” Dr. Stork-Fury said. “I look forward to working with him, and being a part of what he’s started over at Pearl, and I hope to help grow it and continue to do what we enjoy doing.”

Where To Find Them

Pearl’s three locations include the main office just off of Douglas and Hillside in the Uptown Landing building, a west office near Maize Road and 37th Street North and a Derby office near Madison and Rock Road.

More information about Pearl, including contact information, can be found on its website pearlobgynwichita.com.