Despite a President and an extremist Senate majority that are doing everything possible to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers across the nation, PPMM is growing and becoming even stronger.
With your support, our South San Francisco (SSF) health center recently became a primary care provider, helping more people in need with a wider variety of essential services.
You may remember the celebration in early 2017 when — after three years of legal battles and public testimony that included ardent support from champions like you — PPMM was finally able to open our SSF health center in the community where it was desperately needed.
The site opened as a satellite in summer, 2018, with limited hours, while it obtained the licensing needed to expand hours and services. Through your continued advocacy and generous gifts, we’re now also offering family medicine including pediatric physicals/immunizations and managing chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma and thyroid disease.
We have 300 new patients assigned to us by the Health Plan for San Mateo County, Medi-Cal’s local insurance plan that covers low-income residents – yet another example of how important Planned Parenthood is in the health care system and the community.
Sabrina M., a Health Services Specialist and Family Care Coordinator at the SSF health center, said that several patients came in immediately after they had been notified that PPMM is their covered provider.
“People were really happy to be able to get seen somewhere,” she said.
Appointments were soon booked for several weeks by patients who, until now, might not have had consistent access to a designated health care professional or even health care center.
“Some people were probably just going to urgent care before this,” Sabrina said. “Having a relationship with somebody wasn’t necessarily something they had, and now they can come back for primary care and see the same person.”
We’re able to perform biopsies and provide vaccinations onsite. We can even diagnose diabetes and monitor a patient’s management of the disease.
You know how hard it can be to manage medical appointments, even when you can afford the care you need and have convenient transportation. Imagine what a relief it is for our patients, many of whom are living at or below the federal poverty level, to be able to easily access health care where they feel safe, at PPMM’s South San Francisco health center.
Tags: south_san_francisco, health_center, PPMM