Planned Parenthood has moved into new, larger quarters in Riverhead and today celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting and tours.
The custom-built, 2,800-square-foot facility is located in the office complex at 877 East Main Street. Planned Parenthood moved to the new location in July, relocating from its longtime offices at 550 East Main.
Joan Rosen, chairwoman of the board of directors for Planned Parenthood of Hudson-Peconic said the organization learned two years ago that its lease at the former location would not be renewed.
“The board immediately authorized the leadership to look for a new space for our center out here,” Rosen said. “It was very important to the board that we maintain a presence out in this part of the county, that we support our community here. We know there’s a lot of support for us here and we’re very dedicated to providing the services, education and advocacy in this community, which is best done by having a presence here,” Rosen said.
“We were thrilled there were many generous donors that helped us build this,” she said.
The new location was raw space and was built from scratch, to meet the needs of the Planned Parenthood office — one of five Planned Parenthood locations in Suffolk County.
Planned Parenthood of Hudson-Peconic president and CEO Vincent Russell said it “really takes a village” to undertake a project like this.
“It’s a great pleasure to open a brand new, modern health center,” Russell said. “We’re fortunate to have a supportive board, as well as a community whose philanthropy has given us the opportunity to moved from a facility that was really substandard to a new location that will really serve the needs of our community,” he said.
“We provide a lot of preventative services,” Russell said, “such as breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, HIV and STI [sexually transmitted infection] testing and counseling and pregnancy testing and counseling. The center also provides emergency contraception and medical — though not surgical — abortion services.
The organization engages in extensive education and prevention programs for young people. said Anthony Marmo, Planned Parenthood education and training manager for Long Island.
“We work with schools, youth bureaus and community-based organizations,” Marmo said.
There are two major new projects underway in Suffolk County. Community Promise is a peer outreach and education program in the Riverhead area, Marmo said. “It’s peers reaching out and modeling intervention strategies in community-level intervention, working with Latina and African-American women between 16 and 36 years old,” he said.
“It’s proven by the CDC to prevent and reduce teen pregnancies,” Marmo said.
“A second intervention we are working on is the Personal Responsibility Education Program, known as PREP. It’s small-group, short-term intervention — eight kids, eight weeks — to educate them about making healthy choices throughout their whole lives,” Marmo said. “It reduces teen pregnancy and STIs and HIV infections.”
Marmo said Planned Parenthood has a mobile education and testing van that was at Ludlam Avenue Park all summer, providing free, rapid HIV testing, as well as education and support to youth who need it.
The new facility in Riverhead has three exam rooms, three consultation rooms, a laboratory, clinicians’ offices and a waiting room. The sleek and modern design, with a soothing earthtones color scheme, was created by Hoffman Grayson Architects LLP of Huntington.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
