This story was originally published by Verite News
Nurse practitioner Kelly Baquet says she is tired of diagnosing patients with HIV.
“We have so many tools to prevent HIV now,” she said. “I want to be a part of ending the epidemic.”
Baquet, a former nurse practitioner at the New Orleans Planned Parenthood health center, started The Clinic NOLA earlier this month with two other former colleagues, Pat Thomas and Dominique Berryhill, in order to help fill the gap in the region’s sexual and reproductive health care left by the recent closure of Planned Parenthood following federal funding cuts in President Trump’s massive tax-and-spending bill passed this year.
The South accounts for the biggest share of HIV diagnoses in the country — in 2023, Louisiana ranked fourth in HIV diagnoses, according to the CDC — but lags other regions in use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs for HIV prevention. Louisiana also recently ranked number one in the country for chlamydia cases, followed by number two for gonorrhea, according to the CDC.
The state also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. One third of parishes lack a single OB/GYN, according to a 2022 March of Dimes analysis.
The Clinic NOLA, which opened on Nov. 1, offers STI testing and treatment, birth control, breast exams, PrEP and well-woman exams. Baquet said she is open to discussing a variety of family planning options. In the future, Baquet said she hopes to expand the clinic’s services to include prenatal care, such as ultrasound testing, miscarriage management and care for other pregnancy complications up to 12 weeks.
“The main goal of The Clinic NOLA is to break down the barrier to access to care,” she said. “We want to provide same day or next day services to the people of New Orleans or the Gulf Coast.”
Baquet said the space is intentionally designed to be warm and inviting, with wood paneling and comfy chairs, unlike a typical doctor’s office. For Gulf Coast patients who miss the short appointment wait times and wide range of services that were available at Planned Parenthood — which closed down its two Louisiana health centers on Sept. 30 — The Clinic NOLA aims to offer a comparable experience.
“The services that we provide are very similar,” Baquet said. “My motto is ‘this is a place of choice.’”
To address the issue of women feeling forced to cancel long-awaited doctor’s appointments because they could not find childcare, Baquet said she encourages patients to bring their children to the clinic, where there is a coloring table set up in the hallway.
“We don’t want it to feel like you’re coming to a doctor’s office. We want it to feel like you’re coming into our home,” she said.
The clinic accepts patients ages 10 and older for reproductive healthcare and patients ages 18 and older for hormone replacement therapy. Baquet said she currently has the capacity to see 20 to 30 patients a day and expects to hire more staff as the clinic’s patient base grows.
Baquet said the clinic has already seen a patient from out of state and a patient who drove from three hours away across Louisiana. The clinic offers telehealth services and is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon to help serve patients who work full-time during the week.
The Clinic NOLA is located Uptown at 1534 Aline Street near Touro Hospital in an unmarked building. Baquet said she gave the clinic a discreet name to help patients feel more comfortable and safe.
“When I hear people talk about going to the doctor’s office, they don’t often like to say the name of the place,” she said. “They’ll say ‘I’m going to the clinic,’ and so that’s where that came from.”
Pat Thomas worked as a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood in New Orleans for 20 years, up until its closure in September. She said she was more than happy to get on board when Baquet asked her if she wanted to help launch The Clinic NOLA.
Thomas said she predicts an influx of new patients ahead of the holiday season.
“At family gatherings, you get to talking about medical care,” she said. “‘You know, ‘it’s time for my mammogram, it’s time for my pap smear. Oh, I haven’t had an STI screening. I need treatment.’”
The clinic accepts all major health insurance plans, including Medicaid. For patients without insurance or those who choose not to use their insurance, the clinic also offers a self-pay scale to inform patients of the total cost of services before they receive care.
The Clinic NOLA is not a federally qualified health center, meaning it does not receive federal funding or offer a sliding scale payment system, which would allow patients to pay for services based on their income.
The Clinic NOLA plans not to turn away any patients, regardless of insurance status. Thomas said after a long career in providing reproductive healthcare, she looks forward to continuing work alongside Baquet, whose treatment of patients she calls “wonderful.”
“I think it’s awesome to be able to offer the care that so many need,” Thomas said. “I have a love for people and I just love to see people happy.”
Editor’s note: Kelly Baquet is the niece of Verite News editor-in-chief Terry Baquet, who was not involved in the editing of this story.