NEWS

Reproductive healthcare expanded in county

Zach Tuggle
Reporter

BUCYRUS - An array of reproductive health services are now available at Crawford County Public Health thanks to a partnership with Marion and Union counties.

The expanded services will be available on the first and third Monday of each month. The goal is to help patients discover health issues and become quickly referred to the appropriate doctor, according to Kate Siefert, public health administrator.

"Some people just don't know how to get in to see their doctor, so we can be that first step to getting that care that they need," Siefert said.

Kate Siefert lays out a few items used to help administer reproductive health testing at Crawford County Public Health.

Amy Ramirez, the facility's director of nursing, said a lot of women don't know they're pregnant until they come in for testing. Once a pregnancy test is read positive, Ramirez and her staff give the expecting mothers their first dose of prenatal vitamins and help them get into contact with a doctor.

"Prenatal care is extremely important," Ramirez said. "People don't realize the things that will benefit them and the baby."

The clinics help soon-to-be mothers realize that they should stop smoking, drinking alcohol and taking drugs and start eating a healthy diet.

"There's also early testing to see if there's anything wrong," Ramirez said. "The baby could have high blood sugar - there's lot of things they could pick up on with prenatal care to make sure that baby is developing right."

A nurse practitioner from Union County will perform all of the tests during the twice-monthly clinics.

"I think it will be good to have something here in Crawford County for people to come to," Ramirez said. "We've talked to several people who need these services."

Siefert said nearly half of the children in the county are born with little or no prenatal care, which she considers to be an alarming statistic. She hopes women will attend the clinics frequently.

"Anything we can do to reduce infant mortality and help us have healthy babies," Siefert said.

Even if the women aren't pregnant, the clinics are still beneficial. Ramirez said they will give the women birth control, and will also test for Hepatitis C, HIV, herpes, chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.

Men are also welcome to visit to receive the STD testing or to get condoms.

"We're just trying to educate and let them know what's out there for protection to make sure they don't get these diseases they don't want," Ramirez said.

Anyone under the age of 13 is required to have parental consent before attending.

Siefert said it's very important for anyone who has a positive test during the clinics to contact a primary care provider.

"We're not trying to replace the physicians or the hospital services, we're just part of that connection to help them get into contact with a doctor faster," Siefert said.

Ramirez said the clinics will continue until next summer, at which point the service will be reevaluated to determine how frequently it should be held moving forward.

Anyone interested in attending the clinics can call 888-333-9461 to schedule an appointment.

ztuggle@gannett.com
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Twitter: @zachtuggle