POCATELLO — The Idaho State University Family Medicine Residency program and the Pocatello Free Clinic have recently partnered to offer free circumcision and vasectomy clinics.
The clinics, according to Dr. Brandon Mickelsen, residency director for the Idaho State University Family Medicine Residency program, will be held every Tuesday for those seeking circumcision services and on the first Tuesday of every month for those looking to obtain a vasectomy.
“This was deemed to be a need for the community,” Mickelsen said. “It’s a need for us as far as providing more experience and opportunities to my residents and to provide a service to the community.”
Mickelsen said he began meeting with the Pocatello Free Clinic about nine months ago to begin brainstorming about offering the service, understanding that the missions for both organizations mix well together.
“The free clinic is obviously all about providing free needed health care to the community,” Mickelsen said. “We are all about educating and training medical residents. Our residents do three years of training in family medicine after medical school, which is on the job training.”
The mission of the Pocatello Free clinic is to "provide quality health care to the medically underserved of Southeast Idaho and to promote the health and well-being of our community through disease prevention, continuity of care and education," according to its website, pocatellofreeclinic.com .
As one of the oldest free clinics in the United States, the Pocatello Free Clinic provides free medical and dental care, including labs and prescriptions, to those who are uninsured and below 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
"These are two procedures that are not covered by insurance typically," said Sherrie Joseph, president of the Pocatello Free Clinic Board of Directors. "This is a great way for the residents to get the training they need and make these services more accessible to the public."
Mickelsen said that many of the aspiring doctors who participate in the ISU Family Medicine Residency program move on to work in smaller or rural communities of Idaho, which “interlaps nicely with the free clinic’s mission to provide free health care to everybody.
Mickelsen said he and others involved in the planning process for the vasectomy and circumcision clinics deemed these procedures to be of need both from a public health standpoint and for training opportunities. He added that these clinics will be available to those with or without insurance and regardless of their income.
“The cool thing about this is the free clinic is generally limited to people who do not have any insurance, but because of the the need for this and the fact that a lot of times insurance either doesn't cover these procedures or covers them in a limited fashion, the free clinic was able to get permission from their board to offer this service to anyone in the community in the region, whether they have insurance or not.
The ISU Family Residency program has worked with the Pocatello Free Clinic for over two decades and for some years even offered discounted vasectomy clinics at a cost of around $50.
Mickelsen said the process of going about taking advantage of either clinic is quick and painless.
“It’s just going to be a matter of calling up to the free clinic and setting up an appointment,” Mickelsen said. “From there depending on the individual and their comfort level there may be an initial consultation appointment to make sure they are aware of everything that will happen.”
The vasectomy clinics each last about 45 minutes although the actual procedure is completed in about 10 minutes, Mickelsen added.
“It always really depends on a person’s anatomy,” Mickelsen said. “The goal is to be as minimally invasive as possible so that the recovery is as quick as possible.”
Many people who receive a vasectomy are back to work the same day or the very next day after the procedure, Mickelsen said.
“But the problem is when you overdo it,” Mickelsen said. “If you overdo it then you risk the chance of bleeding and then all of the sudden you are struggling for two weeks. So we absolutely recommend that people take it easy for a couple of days to heal up properly.
Mickelsen also touched on how vasectomies can help to reduce any unwanted pregnancies, particularly because of the recent changes to health care in Idaho and the end of Roe v. Wade.
“Unwanted pregnancies are much more complicated in Idaho than they used to be,” he said. “With some of the laws that have been passed recently, when you have unwanted pregnancies, things are much more complicated than they used to be. And so anything that we can do to prevent an unwanted pregnancy is always a huge win, but especially in a state where there are some laws that make unwanted pregnancies more complicated now than they were five years ago.”
The vasectomy and circumcision clinics are expected to last indefinitely, so long as there is community interest Mickelsen, added.
Those interested in either one of the vasectomy or circumcision clinics is encouraged to make an appointment with the Pocatello Free Clinic, 1001 N. Seventh Ave. Suite 155, by calling 208-233-6245.
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