AUBURN – Tri-County Health Services, the reproductive health and family-planning program of Western Maine Community Action, has hired Julia McDonald. Since November, McDonald has been working at both the Auburn and Norway offices as a reproductive health specialist and a counselor with the STD Clinic.

McDonald comes to Tri-County Health Services after working and living in a rural village in Morocco for two years. As a health/sanitation extension agent with Peace Corps, her primary responsibility was to raise awareness regarding hygiene and basic sanitation practices, but she extended her work to include reproductive health, disease prevention, safe-birthing practices, nutrition and infant care.

McDonald worked in the local health center, presented classes at schools and traveled between seven small villages to offer home visits and personalized health-related discussions in the local language, Tashelheit. She also worked in conjunction with several international aid organizations, such as USAID and OX-FAM.

Tri-County Health Services provides a wide range of affordable health services for women, men and teens. Services include routine physical exams; birth control counseling and supplies; emergency contraception; testing, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections; anonymous HIV testing and counseling; immunizations and laboratory testing.