Hollister
– A satellite office of Gilroy’s Planned Parenthood clinic
recently opened in Hollister, which officials hope will save many
local residents a trip on the 25 when they want help with family
planning decisions.
Hollister – A satellite office of Gilroy’s Planned Parenthood clinic recently opened in Hollister, which officials hope will save many local residents a trip on the 25 when they want help with family planning decisions.
“There are a lot of clients in Gilroy who were having to drive up from San Benito County,” Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Spokesman Jacob Hay said. “So hopefully this will start to fill that void.”
Though as a satellite clinic services will be limited, the new office, which opened two weeks ago, will offer a wealth of services previously unavailable in the county, particularly to young, low-income residents.
“This is something I’ve wanted in this community for 20 years, but we were never able to get it off the ground until now,” said Monika Hassler, one of the new office’s clinicians. “This is a growing community and there is a real need.”
The new office will provide birth control services; check ups; breast, cervical and testicular cancer screenings; pregnancy tests and counseling; STD and HIV testing and counseling; and emergency contraception for clients.
“The only real limitation of the satellite clinic is the extent of the services and the hours the office is open,” Hay said. The office is open from 1-6pm Tuesday, from 2-7pm Wednesday, from 1-6pm Thursday, and from 12:30-5pm Friday.
Since the clinic opened, it has served roughly 50 people each week, but clinicians expect much more as word of the new office spreads, Hassler said. She estimated that about 60 percent of her patients have been teenagers and the rest have been women of childbearing age or with children, and noted that few menopausal or post-menopausal women had come through the office yet. Hay said many of the people who use Planned Parenthood’s services come from low-income households or don’t have insurance.
“I think we’re going to be growing a lot in the next few months,” Hassler said. “The location on Monterey Street is ideal. We’re just a few blocks down from the high school, so the girls – and boys – can walk there after school, and we’re always welcoming walk-ins.”
Getting the new office off the ground hasn’t been easy, Hassler said, due to financial and other concerns. In the past, she said, Planned Parenthood had a small operation open just a few times a week to dispense birth control and conduct very basic testing and counseling services.
“We’ve met a lot of resistance from the religious right,” she said. “This is the culmination of years and years of work for this to happen.”
The office is working toward becoming licensed as a full-fledged clinic separate from the one in Gilroy, which could happen in as little as a few months. Once the clinic is licensed, it will be able to serve more people, increase the extent of services available and stay open longer.
“For the past five years we’ve been doing outreach, and people have always asked us, ‘When is it going to happen; when are you going to get a real clinic?'” Hassler said. “We’ve never been able to answer that question, but now we have a real, physical location in the community.”
For more information about the satellite clinic or to make an appointment call 634-1880.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
ds****@fr***********.com
.
