Kim Vialpando
The Paw Print
Valley Wide Health is participating in the Colorado Initiative to Prevent Unintended Pregnancies. Colorado was given a grant to help fund this project.
Every county has a high rate of unintended pregnancies. Women of many ages are unable to afford reversible contraception.
Colorado was awarded a grant by The Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC). It will allow Alamosa and surrounding clinics to provide these contraceptions at a affordable price, and to educate women about options.
There are three forms of long lasting contraception available at the clinics participating. These do not include the depo shot or birth control pills.
Intra Uterine Devices (IUD) is a long term form of birth control, that lasts years. The two brands the clinic is offering are ParaGard and Mirena.
ParaGard lasts ten years, it is made completely out of copper and contains no hormones. Mirena lasts five years and is hormonal.
Implanon is an implant that goes into your upper arm and last three years, this is also hormonal.
The target population for this is females between the ages of 15-44. All women can participate including undocumented people, uninsured people, and people with high deductibles.
The bottom line, the clinic is trying to get across is that money is not an issue. They will help and find a co pay that works and that is affordable.
Women under the age can participate without parental consent, although they are encouraged to discuss this with their parents it is not required.
The process to accessing these long lasting contraception is very easy. First call a participating
clinic then they can schedule a meeting to check eligibility for price of co pay and discuss options, after this you can meet with the doctor.
To learn more information about this or to ask questions please call Sherry Hayes (719) 587-5936.
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