Planned Parenthood of Nassau County announced recently that it will be opening a new health center on Carmans Road in Massapequa to service the gynecological and medical needs of residents in Eastern Nassau.

According to statistics Planned Parenthood obtained through the Nassau County Department of Health, the Massapequas, along with Levittown, ranked eighth in the county for incidents of teen pregnancies in 1996, with a total of 44 pregnancies. When it opens its new full-service facility scheduled to open next spring, Planned Parenthood aims to lower Massapequa's rate of unplanned teen pregnancy as well as offer a variety of services.

The new health center is just one of the initiatives, the non-profit family planning agency has undertaken to extend its services in Nassau County. Initiatives such as doubling the size of its Glen Cove Health Center, expanding its sexuality education programs, as well as extending general-physician services to men, women and adolescents in conjunction with North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital, are also underway.

The new facility pleases Massapequans who believe sex education and the local availability of health care professionals who specialize in family planning is a key to preventing unwanted pregnancies and the transmittal of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs.)

Other than its standard gynecological services, the facility will also provide primary care for men and women. With prevention being one of its self-proclaimed primary goals, the facility will offer sexuality education programs for parents, educators and adolescents in hopes of spreading the word on how to avoid unplanned pregnancies and STDs, including HIV. The one service the Massapequa facility will not provide, however, will be abortions, they will continue to be provided at the Hempstead Planned Parenthood location.

Meanwhile, with its facility in Massapequa, which will be its third in Nassau County, Planned Parenthood hopes to better meet the needs of all Eastern Nassau. Vice president of community affairs at Planned Parenthood, Joann Smith, said, "Unfortunately there is a huge underserved population. There are more than 200,000 uninsured people [in Nassau County], number one, and number two the incidents of teen pregnancy and unfortunately, HIV is huge on Long Island . . . and there are no family planning providers in the southeastern part of Nassau County; so we really feel we need to be there."

According to Smith, communities can benefit from having a Planned Parenthood health center in the vicinity. She said evaluations the agency does after providing educational programs, revealed that eight out of 10 participants believed they were armed with useful information that would help them avoid all too common teenage pitfalls.

"Teen pregnancy in general is down, which is fabulous, and we are taking some credit for that," said Smith, who added that the rate of teen pregnancy nationwide has been on a decline for the past decade.

Smith said that it has been documented that responsible and comprehensive sexuality education promotes abstinence, leads to a decrease in teen pregnancy and is more effective than preaching abstinence only. But Smith was quick to add that Planned Parenthood does advocate abstinence as an option people have, despite some people's perception that it does not.

"That is an unfortunate misperception of Planned Parenthood," she said. "More than 90 percent of what we do is prevention and we absolutely do talk about abstinence as an option, as something that people can certainly endorse."

According to Smith, Planned Parenthood uses a great deal of its resources on education and prevention. The agency provides educational programs in-house, as well as counselors who go to schools to talk to young people.

Until now, Planned Parenthood has focused largely on the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs, as well as the overall reproductive health of girls college age and younger. The creation of its First Choice Primary Medical Care program, however, has added another facet to the agency's list of services.

According to Nancy O'Keefe, vice president of health services, the program was established to ensure continuity of health care for patients.

"Now, too often we send patients out with a referral for services that we don't now provide and we don't know what happens to them," said O'Keefe. "Clients don't want to go to multiple places for service. For example, we treat males for sexually transmitted infections, but if we discover something else, all we can do now is refer and hope. All patients are more likely to follow through in their care in places they already frequent. Primary care, especially, is a big step for continuity."

Smith anticipates that with the establishment of a new health center in Massapequa, Planned Parenthood will have a greater opportunity to reach out to its residents, both in the areas of pregnancy and STD prevention and general health care.

"We're really looking forward to it because what we do is very, very important, and as I said we're so about prevention and helping people live happy lives," said Smith. "We hope to assist families, parents, teens and people in your area."