Planned Parenthood in Gouverneur closes clinic shuttered since summer

GOUVERNEUR — Planned Parenthood of the North Country New York has permanently locked the door at the Gouverneur clinic it closed last summer.

The clinic was closed because of decreased patient numbers over the last few years, which made the overhead high for a center that was open only two days a week, Martha E. Stahl, vice president of external affairs, said.

The clinic, which was housed in the Gouverneur Mini-Mall, shut down in the summer for repairs due to a water leak. Planned Parenthood never reopened the clinic, instead petitioning the state Department of Health for permission to permanently close it. The permission was needed because the agency receives government assistance for family planning.

“We weren’t sure how long it was going to take,” Ms. Stahl said. “We just heard from them recently.”

Ms. Stahl was not sure why the Gouverneur clinic had a declining number of patients.

“It’s hard to say. We think a lot of it has to do with changing demographics,” she said. “We’re losing population and the population we have is getting older. A lot of our patients who live in Gouverneur are going to our other health centers.”

Planned Parenthood also operates clinics in Canton, Ogdensburg, Watertown, and Lowville.

No staff lost their jobs because of the closure. The clinic had been staffed by workers from other Planned Parenthood sites.

Patients were sent a letter this week informing them of the closure and referring them to Planned Parenthood’s other locations.