SEQUIM – Teenagers, seniors and everybody in between will soon have weekly access to free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings, pregnancy tests and annual examinations in Sequim, thanks to Family Planning of Clallam County.
“We can take care of the men, too,” added Sandy Allen, Family Planning’s director.
On Wednesdays starting June 20, Family Planning will offer sexually transmitted disease screenings, including HIV tests that provide the client with rapid results and counseling, Allen said.
Two registered nurses, Helen Glad and Mindy Stephens, will run the Wednesday clinic at the Dungeness Valley Health and Wellness Clinic, 925 N. Sequim Ave.
They will also provide birth control pill refills and Depo-Provera contraceptive injections.
Family Planning, which has long offered services in Port Angeles and Forks, has been trying for years to start a Sequim clinic, Allen said.
An increase in United Way funding at last made it happen.
Nurse practitioner Sharon Derstine will join Glad and Stephens in late July to add annual exams to the list of services.
Sequim area residents can also apply for Family Planning’s Take Charge program, which covers free exams and birth control, including vasectomies or tubal ligations, for low-income clients.
Family Planning uses a sliding fee scale for those whose incomes don’t qualify them for free services.
With an annual budget of $1.3 million, the agency serves 3,000 clients per year; 80 percent of them qualify for free care.
Last year, 279 women age 40 to 64 used Family Planning’s breast and cervical health program, Allen said.
Seven of those women were diagnosed with cancer – and received free treatment.
Women across the age spectrum use Family Planning’s services: in 2006, 14 percent of clients were under 17 years old while 20 percent were over 35.
Family Planning of Clallam County has provided health education programs in Sequim schools since 1996, Allen added.
“We want to thank Sequim for being patient,” while the agency worked on bringing clinical services to the town, she said.
BEGINNING JUNE 20, Family Planning of Clallam County will offer free or low-cost HIV, STD and pregnancy testing, birth-control pill refills, Depo-Provera injections, mammogram referrals and other health services, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Dungeness Valley Health and Wellness Clinic, 925 N. Sequim Ave.
To make an appointment, phone Family Planning’s Port Angeles office at 360-452-2954.
Family Planning also offers reproductive health care and screenings Monday through Friday at 1106 E. First St., Port Angeles, and at the Forks Women’s Clinic, 231 Lupine Ave., Forks.
For women’s clinic appointments, phone 360-374-3143.
The Forks Health Department is open for reproductive health services from 10 a.m. to 6 pm. each Wednesday at 140 C St.
For information, phone 360-374-3514.
