Reproductive health clinics ensure essential services continue as many Mainers struggle amid pandemi
Back in March, life changed quickly for sexual and reproductive health organizations like Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
With the coronavirus spreading through the state, the groups found themselves scrambling to continue to provide care in a vastly different environment in which many more people were struggling to make ends meet.
“We’re an essential service, so we were never going to close down,” said Evelyn Kieltyka, senior vice president of program services at Maine Family Planning, which provides sexual and reproductive health care at clinics around the state. “We needed to quickly transition to virtual visits.”
As a result, while Maine Family Planning remained open for in-person visits — with COVID-19 precautions in place — Kieltyka said the organization transitioned to seeing about 80 percent of its patients virtually after the pandemic struck, although she added that more patients started requesting to be seen in-person over the summer.
Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/reproductive-health-clinics-ensure-essential-services-continue-as-many-mainers-struggle-amid-pandemic/