Planned Parenthood Of NY Takes Services Online During Pandemic

NEW YORK STATE — Planned Parenthood of Greater New York has been forced to furlough dozens of employees across the state due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the organization is still working hard to provide its essential services for all New Yorkers, and for people outside the state, as well.

On Long Island, Planned Parenthood furloughed 21 employees that work in all aspects of the organization's operations. Across the state, it furloughed 28 percent of its staff. The healthcare provider operates three clinics on Long Island: in Glen Cove, Massapequa and Hempstead. The Glen Cove and Massapequa locations are currently closed to in-office visits.

"Like a lot of community-based healthcare providers, and frankly, all public and private businesses across the state, this hit us like a ton of bricks," said Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York. "The first week of March to the last week of March, we had a 70 percent drop in patient volume."

Like every other business, Planned Parenthood had to adapt to the pandemic and the stay-home orders. Planned Parenthood opened up telehealth services, which have taken off. The organization is now seeing hundreds of patients a week through telehealth.

Planned Parenthood was not a telehealth provider before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, it sees upwards of 600 patients a week since it started offering the service in April. Patients can use telehealth to access all kinds of service, including wellness exams, STI screenings, birth control and even medication abortion.

Despite the number of telehealth patients, the organization has still been forced to furlough staff and reduce hours. McQuade said they furloughed staff instead of laying them off so that they can hopefully be quickly brought back on board when clinics reopen. But she also stressed that the furloughs have not affected the level of care patients can get at Planned Parenthood.

Some parts of the state may be able to begin opening up starting on May 15. But the harder-hit areas, like New York City, Westchester and Long Island, will likely have lockdowns that last longer. During those times, people who have health concerns shouldn't wait to see a professional.

"We just urge people to get care. Whether it's at Planned Parenthood or some kind of community health provider," McQuade said. "It worries us when we see patients who have waited several weeks with some kind of acute condition because they think if they don't have COVID, they can't get care."

Planned Parenthood's telehealth services are available to all patients. By visiting the Planned Parenthood website, patients can schedule a telehealth appointment. For many services, patients don't need to visit the clinic. If they need a prescription, it can be called in directly to the patient's pharmacy.

For medication abortion, patients can do all of the prep work via telehealth, McQuade said, and then go to the clinic to pick up their medication and their follow-up instructions.

If they want, patients can still schedule in-person visits, although on Long Island, only the Hempstead clinic is currently taking in-person visits.

"As this goes on longer, we're trying to get patients to understand that you cannot put off care," said McQuade. "We've adopted a patient-centered model. If the patient wants to come into the center, we'll see them in the center. If they want to do telehealth, we'll do that."

Planned Parenthood has also continued to see patients from outside of New York. Many out-of-state patients are people seeking abortion care, McQuade said. Even during the pandemic, Planned Parenthood is seeing about 1,000 out-of-state patients a month, which is the same as before the pandemic started.

"Abortion access is still challenging in a state as close as Pennsylvania," said McQuade. "If you are fortunate enough to have access to a vehicle, coming into New York is a real option for you."