Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and Northern Idaho dedicated a new clinic in Spokane Friday.
President and CEO Karl Eastlund says the new facility is larger, more efficient and more welcoming than the organization’s previous clinic. It features nine exam rooms and two surgical suites. That’s important, he says, because the clinic’s caseload continues to grow.
“We’ve had some incredible increases, especially with, we call them LARC now: long-acting reversible contraception, like IUDs," Eastlund said. "A lot of women came in last year and said ‘I want to get an IUD. I’m scared that my health care coverage is going to go away and I know that will protect me for more than a year or two.’ So it’s great that we can provide that service to the community.”
The new facility is named the Smith-Barbieri Health Center. Eastlund says it also has classroom space and an education center for health programs for teenagers and young families.
Planned Parenthood says it raised $2.8 million in private funding for the building. It hopes to collect another million or so over the next two-and-a-half years to cover all of the building costs.