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		Points of View Adrienne Shipley July 4, 2002 Guest Column © 2002 Adrienne Shipley Published with Permission

Planned Parenthood Express expands health services

By Adrienne Shipley

HOUGHTON -- The Planned Parenthood Express health center located in downtown Houghton has recently expanded its services to better serve the Copper Country. New services available at the health center include gynecological exams and complete screenings for sexually transmitted infections.

Planned Parenthood Express now offers these, as well as many of its current services, at reduced rates for women who qualify for a sliding fee scale, based upon ability to pay. Sliding fee scale services will be available to women who choose to have a gynecological exam. However, Planned Parenthood's "clothes on" services will still be available, enabling women to purchase hormonal contraceptives without an exam under the "Hormonal Contraceptives with Optional Physical Exam (HOPE)" protocol already in place at Planned Parenthood Express.

Appointments can be scheduled by calling (906) 482-0790. Hours for the Planned Parenthood Express health center are Monday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center is closed between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. each day.

"Planned Parenthood Express provides a convenient, affordable place for women, men and teens in the Keweenaw region to access the critical health care services that they need most," says Scott Blanchard, Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan (PPNM) Executive Director/CEO. "Studies show considerable unmet need for low-cost family planning services and supplies in the western Upper Peninsula. By expanding Planned Parenthood services in Houghton, PPNM is helping to meet that need." 

Blanchard said the availability of a sliding fee scale will allow the lowest-income clients to receive the majority of Planned Parenthood's services simply by making a contribution at an amount they can afford.

Planned Parenthood Express currently provides a wide range of reproductive health services including: education and counseling, birth control supplies including pills, injectable contraceptives such as Depo Provera and Lunelle, condoms, pregnancy testing and options counseling, Emergency Contraception and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Two new contraceptive methods -- Ortho Evra (the contraceptive "Patch") and NuvaRing -- will soon be available as well.

Information and handouts on a wide variety of reproductive health and abstinence and other sexuality education topics are also available at Planned Parenthood Express. Educational resources such as pamphlets, a lending library of books and videos, Family Kits and Fact Packs are available for loan or sale.

Planned Parenthood Express is located at 315 Shelden Ave. in Houghton. To obtain information, or to schedule an appointment, please stop in or call 482-0790. Also visit the Planned Parenthood Web site.

Learn more about the author of this guest column, Adrienne Shipley.

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Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.