photo by: Journal-World screenshot of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Board

At its meeting Monday night, the Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Board learned that the health department was in the process of bringing on a medical consultant specializing in women's health.

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health is in the process of bringing on a medical consultant specializing in women’s health to help with the rollout of a long-acting reversible contraception program next month.

At Monday’s Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board meeting, the health department’s director of clinic services, Linda Craig, informed the group that the health department was nearly ready to implement its program and was targeting April 1 as the date it would be available to the public. Long-acting reversible contraception includes birth control methods like the intrauterine device, or IUD.

To help with that transition, Craig said the health department has been in contact with consulting OBGYN Dr. Lynley Holman, who is affiliated with LMH Health. Craig said she met with the health department’s existing medical consultant, Dr. Thomas Marcellino, and the group decided to approach her about coming on as the department’s consultant for women’s health, working in tandem with Marcellino.

Craig said Holman has agreed to take the role, but the health department didn’t have a signed contract back from her as of Monday night. She would handle consulting for everything related to women’s health, as well as prevention of sexually transmitted disease, as needed.