AUBURN – Tri-County Health Services of Western Maine Community Action has added Friday morning appointments to its office schedule.

The move to offer Friday appointments is the result of requests on the part of Tri-County clients for end-of-the-work-week visits.

“Clients kept asking us for Friday appointments so we decided to accommodate them by offering medical appointments with our nurse practitioners on Friday mornings,” said Nancy Audet, site manager of the Auburn family planning facility.

Before the schedule change, Tri-County’s Auburn office was open on Fridays only for scheduling appointments, for clients who wanted to pick up supplies and for non-medical appointments such as pregnancy testing.

The new Friday morning appointments will include visits for annual and initial check-ups, medical problems and other visits that requires a nurse practitioner.

According to Kathy Coleman, nurse practitioner at Tri-County, the new appointments are a welcome addition among clients.

“It’s basically a response to client needs. Oftentimes people are concerned about a health issue and they don’t want to go through the weekend without seeing a health care provider. With Friday appointments, we can address client concerns as they come up.”

Although Tri-County Health Services does not offer walk-in hours for the public, the current schedule is the next best thing. “We are almost always able to get someone in within a week from the time they call for an appointment,” said Audet. “For more pressing health concerns we can usually fit someone in within a day or two.”

Tri-County also offers evening appointments for people who can’t go during daytime hours. To schedule an appointment, call 795-4007 or 1-800-587-9354.

The agency offers a sliding fee scale for clients without insurance coverage. It is also a participating provider in the Maine Breast and Cervical Health Program which offers free mammograms and clinical breast exams for women 40 and over who qualify for the program.

Each facility provides a wide range of health services, including routine physical exams, sports physicals, birth control counseling and supplies, options counseling, emergency contraception, testing, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, HIV testing and counseling, immunizations and laboratory testing.

It is a program of Western Maine Community Action and has offices in Auburn, Norway, Rumford and Farmington. Western Maine Community Action is a nonprofit agency providing services to people in Franklin, Androscoggin and Oxford counties since 1965. Visit the Web at www.wmca.org.

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