As health clinics are essential businesses, Planned Parenthood centers in New York State currently remain open.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
SELF: Can you tell me about the services Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic provides?
Getty / Peter Stark; Designed by Morgan Johnson
Our patients are primarilypeople of colorand people with low incomes.
We see patients of all genders, primarily for sexual and reproductive health care services.
We also provide gender-affirming hormone therapy for patients in the trans and nonbinary communities.
We provideabortioncare, both medication and procedural.
We provide prenatal care and link our prenatal patients to ob-gyns in the community for labor and delivery.
We provide contraception management,vasectomy,infertilityservices, menopausal care,cervical cancerscreenings, the full gamut.
Before COVID-19, we were super busy coming up with new and innovative ways to meet our patients needs.
We switched to a telehealth model within a few days.
Its probably the hardest Ive ever worked.
Currently we can provide telehealth for all our services except for proceduralabortionand prenatal care.
For those, we still see patients in health centers.
We have a lot of availability through telehealth.
There really isnt a waiting time.
Patients can get an appointment that same day if they want it.
They can schedule their appointment directly on our website with an online scheduling system, or they can call.
Its made a huge impact.
Weve been able to seehealth care workers working on the front lines.
I saw someone the other day who is taking care of COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
Weve been really busy.
The option is still there for patients to come to the Planned Parenthood center if necessary.
Having a smartphone, a computer, and the internet is a privilege.
Not all patients are able to access us via telehealth, so our doors are open.
We welcome patients who may not be able to use telehealth for care to come in.
How does a telehealth appointment work for medication abortion?
We were able to launch that service pretty quickly in New York.
Some states are not as fortunate and the service is outright banned.
Our patients, regardless of a pandemic, still needabortion care.
We can do patient intake over telehealth and go over instructions for taking themedication.
What steps are you taking to keep staff and patients safe?
They have to wait outside or in their car to minimize foot traffic in the centers.
We ask that patients wear something when they come to the health centers.
Are you struggling with any of the PPE shortages that other medical providers are dealing with?
I know that there are typically protestors outside Planned Parenthood centers and other places offering abortions.
Have you seen any change in the number of protestors outside your health centers since the pandemic began?
There are still protestors in groups outside, not socially distancing.
Many of them are not wearing masks.
We recently saw an increase in the number of protestors because of Easter and Lent.
We acknowledge their presence before the patients get to the health center just so they can be prepared.
We cant control them being there, but we can prevent them from coming onto our private property.
It can be upsetting and troubling to patients who are trying to get the care that they need.
Weve seen that politicians in some states are trying to take advantage of the pandemic bygutting abortion care.
What does this mean for patients?
Is there anything our readers can do?
Lets be clear: Abortion is essential and very time-sensitive.
As a result, patients are left with very few options.
Some may also be forced to continue their pregnancy against their will.
These barriers are very real, yet some politicians are putting patients health at risk.
