Nurse says goodbye after fulfilling career with Planned Parenthood

Monday

Dec 29, 2008 at 3:15 AMDec 29, 2008 at 9:54 AM

By GEOFF CUNNINGHAM Jr.gcunninghamfosters.com

PORTSMOUTH — Longtime nurse practitioner Carole Hicks has seen an estimated 30,000 Seacoast area patients during her time at Portsmouth's Planned Parenthood and on Dec. 31 she will officially hang up the stethoscope. 

Hicks — a Portsmouth resident — is retiring from a career that saw her beginning to focus on women's reproductive health the year after the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision made abortion legal in the United States. 

The longtime nurse said much has changed since then, but she said the country is still facing many of the same problems it always has regarding things such as sexually transmitted diseases. 

She said a growing number of patients coming in with common sexually transmitted diseases like human papilloma virus, or HPV, has her sure that many remain unaware of the risks involved with sex. 

"A lot of people don't even know about it," Hicks said. 

Planned Parenthood is a health clinic that provides services to women for the treatment of a wide array of gynecological issues ranging from pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases.  Their services include providing birth control counseling and supplies, pregnancy testing and routine checkups for women.  They also treat men for a wide range of medical issues. 

The Planned Parenthood national federation's Portsmouth chapter also counsels women on pregnancy and their reproductive rights with abortion referrals being one option they help facilitate from their downtown clinic. 

Hicks and Planned Parenthood manager Cheryl Meyer said New Hampshire law does not require teens to get their parents' permission to obtain an abortion, but both always push to assure families are involved whenever possible. 

"Those girls are under so much stress," Meyer said of their efforts to get parents and guardians involved in tough decisions. 

Hicks and Meyer agreed that women's reproductive rights are more out in the open now than they were 30 years ago. 

"They have advertisements for birth control on television now," Meyer noted. 

Hicks — a longtime Portsmouth resident who moved here from England in 1970 — said she has seen just about everything over her 30 years and usually carries a caseload of 2,000 patients every two years. 

Her job has her dealing with extremely stressful and sensitive situations, whether it's a troubled teenage girl dealing with substance abuse issues or an adult male coming in to be treated for a sexually transmitted disease. 

Hicks said teens as young as 13 come in looking for help with issues relating to sexual activity and the risks involved. 

"I feel like I'm a counselor most of the time.  I've had a lot of hugs and kisses ... I've seen a lot of tears," Hicks said. 

Hicks said she will miss the people she has helped and those professionals she has worked with. 

She recalled one women who was scheduled to come in for a routine doctor's appointment only to tell her she was contemplating suicide because of the death of her grandmother and other problems. 

"She said she thought about jumping off a bridge," Hicks said. 

Hicks said her job often requires her to prioritize problems so she canceled the medical appointment and got the woman to Seacoast Mental Health for counseling. 

She said another 17-year-old girl came in with her mother for an appointment because she was addicted to drugs and "wasn't sure she wanted to live." 

Hicks said the hardest part of her job is telling young women they have contracted painful and chronic sexually transmitted diseases. 

The nurse has treated patients as young as 11 years old and a 76-year-old woman who still goes to Planned Parenthood for care. 

She said she's sad to leave, but is content with the work she had done to help countless patients. 

"I just want to say goodbye to all the women I've treated over the years and the doctors I've worked with," Hicks said. 

Nurse Practitioner Susan Hollinger will be taking the place of Hicks as of Dec. 31 and has 20 years of experience working in women's health care at the Planned Parenthood facility in Derry.