Maine Family Planning has expanded services in both its Belfast and Thomaston clinics, adding new options for patients and introducing new community health providers, Lindsey Piper, WHNP-BC, and Vanessa Shields-Haas, FNP-BC.

Vanessa Shields-Haas joined Maine Family Planning’s Thomaston office this year and is offering gender-affirming care in addition to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare.

“One of the reasons I chose to work with Maine Family Planning was because I could offer gender-affirming care,” she said. “Eliminating barriers to care is one of my values as a healthcare provider.”

Shields-Haas and her family relocated to Maine from New Orleans, where she was a sexual assault and domestic violence forensic nurse. She also worked for the Louisiana Public Health, HIV/STI department and volunteered for the New Orleans Abortion Fund as a clinic escort.

Shields-Haas is an advocate for LGBTQ+ youth and serves on the board of OUT Maine. When she is not working or volunteering, she loves knitting, fly fishing, and sailing.

In Belfast, Lindsey Piper is now the full-time provider at Belfast Family Planning. Piper lives in Belfast with her family and has strong connections to the community she serves.

“I am so excited to be able to base my practice out of Belfast,” she said, in a news release. “Maine Family Planning has been a part of this community for a long time, and we’re growing to better meet the needs of a diverse patient population.”

Piper has been working in the reproductive health field for over 20 years and is passionate about social justice and about offering all the options when it comes to reproductive health care – which led to her offering vasectomy care and intrauterine insemination at Belfast Family Planning, both new services for the clinic on Waldo Avenue. This adds to the comprehensive care already offered in Belfast, including gender-affirming care and abortion care.

For more information about hours and services offered by Maine Family Planning’s network of clinics, or to schedule an appointment, visit www.mainefamilyplanning.org or call 207-922-3222.