Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) cut the ribbon Monday on its new state-of-the-art health center in Providence. PPSNE relocated its Providence health center to 175 Broad Street to better meet the needs of the Rhode Island community.
The first Planned Parenthood health center opened in Providence in 1932 and has proudly served the women and families of Rhode Island for more than 80 years.
“We are thrilled to expand our services, community involvement
and educational programming in Rhode Island, and provide essential preventive
health care to more people than ever before,” said Mary
Bawza, Chief Operating Officer with PPSNE. “We are excited to grow in
Providence and serve the community well into the future. We are here for our
patients – no matter what.”
The new Providence health center location will provide a wide range of preventive health care services in a convenient location close to Interstate 95 and along public transportation routes. The health center is located less than one mile away from the previous location.
The new state-of-the-art facility offers convenient, free and secure on-site parking. For convenience, online, walk-in and same day appointments are available. PPSNE will continue to extend the same high-quality, affordable reproductive health care it provides to all of its patients in this new location.
“Our expert doctors and clinicians provide thousands of women
and men in Rhode Island high-quality health care each year,” said Danna Freedman-Shara, Providence Health Center Manager.
“This center was designed to improve patient experience. We saw our first
patients Monday afternoon and they were overjoyed with the new
health center.”
Last year, the PPSNE Providence health center served nearly
8,000 patients at its previous health center location, including more than
5,000 visits for contraception and 9,500 visits for STI tests. 61 percent of
our patients had low incomes, and 33 percent were uninsured.
“We know know that economic and reproductive rights and economic
and reproductive justice are inextricably intertwined,” said Rebecca Kislak, president of the Rhode Island Chapter
of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
“Women absolutely need and deserve the ability to decide if and when we want to welcome children into our families. It’s so important. And that is why I am here, thank you, Planned Parenthood, for opening this health center.”
“Women absolutely need and deserve the ability to decide if and when we want to welcome children into our families. It’s so important. And that is why I am here, thank you, Planned Parenthood, for opening this health center.”
Planned Parenthood is a trusted, local resource for convenient
and confidential services for women, men and young people, including STD/STI
testing, HIV testing and counseling, all FDA approved birth
control methods, pregnancy testing and counseling, emergency contraception and
more. We offer medical interpretation services for non-English speaking
patients; have a sliding fee scale based on one’s income and participate in
many insurance plans.
The Providence health center is open
Monday, 10am – 7pm
Tuesday, 8am – 5pm
Wednesday 9am – 7pm
Thursday 10am – 5:30pm
Friday 8am– 4 pm
Saturday 8am – 3pm
Steve Ahlquist is an award-winning journalist, writer, artist and
founding member of the Humanists of Rhode Island, a non-profit group dedicated
to reason, compassion, optimism, courage and action. The views expressed are
his own and not necessarily those of any organization of which he is a member. atomicsteve@gmail.com
and Twitter: @SteveAhlquist