Ep. 95: Benefits of Pregnancy Resource Centers for all, with Sarah (RN)
Caitlin:
Welcome to the Woven Well Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Estes. I'm a certified fertility care practitioner with a master of divinity degree. Each episode will cover a topic that helps educate and empower you and your fertility while honoring the deep connection your fertility has with your faith. Let's get started. Welcome back to the Woven Well Podcast. If you're a frequent listener, you know that among other things, we focus a lot on providing free and accessible resources related to women's health topics. We believe that every woman is made in the image of God and is worthy of both dignity and respect, even in the doctor's office, maybe especially in the doctor's office. And I'm thrilled that we aren't the only resource out there for you. So, part of what we hope to do is connect you with other like-minded resources to provide you with tools, services, and knowledge that you need to make the most informed medical and health decisions.
Caitlin:
One of those resources that we haven't talked about before today is pregnancy resource centers. I actually became familiar with pregnancy resource centers years ago when I worked for a large Christian adoption and orphan care ministry. So pregnancy resource centers were our close colleagues, joining together to provide as many resources as possible to women who were in need. And later, as I worked with restorative healthcare providers, I saw their close partnership with these centers too. So there's a common theme here. There is a deep care and respect for the dignity and support of each and every woman who walked through their doors. So if you're unfamiliar with pregnancy resource centers, I want to introduce you to them today with the help of my sister-in-law, Sarah. Sarah began working as a registered nurse at PRC local to her a while back, and is the perfect person to introduce us all to what they have to offer. Sarah, I'm so excited to have you on the show today.
Sarah:
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Caitlin:
Yes! Me too. Okay, so share with us, what is a pregnancy resource center? What services do they provide there?
Sarah:
Yeah, I mean, there's a giant list. So generally a pregnancy resource center will offer free pregnancy test for any woman of childbearing age. You can come in, walk in, schedule an appointment, everything's at your convenience. Besides that, once, say, you test positive, we offer a report of pregnancy if you're trying to get a Medicaid application. We can verify all of that for you to get you along in the process of finding the best healthcare for you. We also offer free STI testing with appropriate treatment if needed for the woman, for her partner, for whomever she's been in contact with. We offer free ultrasounds. So if you test positive for your pregnancy, depending on your life situation, we can get you scheduled for an ultrasound that day or a week or two later, depending. We help people walk through their choices. So if you choose to parent, we offer parenting classes.
Sarah:
If you choose not to parent, we offer resources for adoption agencies, like Lifeline. We offer counseling. We have counselors onsite or offsite, depending on your situation. If anything, if you need mental health counseling for any reason, we can get you connected. We have connections to women's shelters for people who come in a dangerous situation. For the people who do parent, we have classes. Baby items, you can like earn credit and get free clothes, free diapers, free hygiene things. This is even including diapers for like older siblings. Say a mom comes in and she's pregnant for a second time; she has a toddler already. She's like, I need size four diapers. We're there for you. We got you those size fours. We do general health education, especially reproductive health education. And I love that there are people at my resource center that go out into the community. They go to high schools, they go to women's prisons. They are like helping people understand their bodies. And then say somebody is maybe needs a higher level of healthcare so we can do same day referrals to an OBGYN.
Caitlin:
That is, that is an incredible list of sources, or an incredible list of services. And I'm just so thrilled to hear all of those. I think I knew maybe 75% of those, but there were even new ones that I learned in that. And what I love about everything you just said is that is full spectrum care for women in those early days of pregnancy, including the days when they're like, uh, am I pregnant? I don't know. All the way through to providing resources for that baby if you need that kind of support. I love how you talked about connecting with other local resources, mental health counseling, OBGYNs, et cetera. That is a fantastic, and I think that that's what makes a pregnancy resource center such a great first place, first connection, because they have so many resources that they know that they've worked with over the years that make them really solid partners, so that you know that those connections you get are going to be trustworthy and supportive and good places to partner with. So who can make use of a pregnancy resource center? Is it just for everyone?
Sarah:
Yeah. Any female of childbearing age can come in. Whether you just need an STI test, whether you just need a pregnancy test, we do both one or the other. But that's where we start. Those are like the two basic appointments that we start with pregnancy test or STI test. And then we take it all from there.
Caitlin:
Great. I love that it's open to absolutely anyone. So you hear that anyone of reproductive years, you are welcome at a pregnancy resource center. So maybe walk us through what some of the common scenarios are when someone would want to visit a pregnancy resource center. I know you, you gave us all the different services, but what are some of those scenarios and what may that look like?
Sarah:
Yeah, I actually love the fact that it's such a diverse demographic. We have people, obviously the whole spectrum of childbearing age. And it's so fascinating to see like different people in different life situations coming in and like, oh, I, this was a surprise. I didn't know this was coming up in my life. Here I am. And we're so happy to help. So I love that it's a lot of families of different cultures, all the ethnicities in, you know, a major metropolitan area. We have all the age ranges and even families, whole, sometimes a whole family will come in and they want more healthcare or more information. So we can get them in. And I think one of my favorite patient populations is the new immigrants. Like they've come to the us, they're trying to start a new life. They don't have health insurance yet. So how can we get them started in their healthcare journey here and help them understand the system and make sure that if they are pregnant, they're getting appropriate prenatal care as soon as possible.
Caitlin:
So, wow. That's really great. I love exactly what you said, that it is open to everyone, and that includes our listeners, you know. Listeners of all different backgrounds and goals and family situations. They're able to work with a pregnancy resource center. That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. Now before the episode you mentioned that sometimes ladies will come in for a pregnancy test. And you shared something that I thought was really important because I was asking about, well, can any woman come in and have a pregnancy test? And I find this especially important for those listening because there are a lot of times when we can be at home taking a test and we're like, is this really positive? So how can a pregnancy resource center help in a scenario like that?
Sarah:
Yeah, because we are a licensed medical clinic, we have tests that are prescription-grade pregnancy tests, so it's still just a three minute test. We get your results as soon as possible, but we have prescription grade ordered from a medical supplier. The test is run by a registered nurse. So we see it, we, we make sure that those are valid tests every time. Every single time.
Caitlin:
Yeah. I love that so much because, you know, it is very common for women to see, is that a double line? Is that a plus? Is that a, you know, whatever it is. And when you have a nurse that is standing there with you interpreting the results for you, I just think that makes the, the biggest difference in the world. So. So I'm curious to hear what impact you've seen pregnancy resource centers have in women's lives. What does that look like for you?
Sarah:
Yeah, I, I was honestly surprised myself to find out everything that can be done at a pregnancy resource center. And I love the community that I've seen. I work with advocates who are not licensed professionals. They maybe just want to help their community out. So they're kind of more a social worker role. And so every patient who comes in, the advocate goes and talks to them first and they identify social needs, spiritual needs, all of that. And then the nurse would go in with the patient and review the test results and health history. So I've seen everything, tears of joy, tears of pain, people who don't know what to do next in their life. And we are just here to provide education for them, to provide emotional support for them, to let them know that they have us, if they have any questions, physical, mental, spiritual.
Sarah:
Like we want to reassure people that we are there, that we care about them in a holistic manner. And to go in for me and to have a core of volunteers who are walking alongside of me with this same mindset we desire to serve whether you're single women, whether it's a family, we want to honor those family stories and provide a place where they know that they're safe. And so we start with their information and then we show them what kind of support system they can have from this, from this group. And I tell everybody who comes in, like, if you have any more questions, like you think of it later. Call back, ask to talk to a nurse. We are here for you, you know, every day of the week we want to serve you. And just reassure you that what's going on in your body is not something scary or frustrating, that you can get quick access to healthcare, that you can especially come in and know that we're supporting you. Heart and mind, heart and body, all of the above. And we go in like as respectfully as possible to ask people like, what are your views on, you know, your lifestyle, on your faith, on healthcare? All of the above. And we have the opportunity to walk them through our faith and to, to offer them like church resources, to share scripture with them. Whatever they need in that moment, we are equipped to, to kind of introduce them to the ideas of holistic healthcare and to show them that they're not alone first and foremost. They're not alone. Whether they have a faith in God and they know like, oh yeah, God gave me this resource. Or whether they're like, no, I'm Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, but I have community who can, can walk me through the healthcare aspect of it. Like they are all people who are important to us.
Caitlin:
Wow. How beautiful to hear about a resource that is truly honoring and respecting women, mind, body, and spirit, who knows that their mental health, their spiritual health, their emotional health, even their relational health, you mentioned that earlier, is just as important as their physical health. And that all of those things need to be assessed and supported at the same time. When you walk into a pregnancy resource center, you are not just a number, you are not just a, okay, here's your test, here's the results. Call us if you need us. They are truly meeting you wherever you are and giving you whatever support you need in that moment, in that season. And they're, as Sarah said, available and present for the rest of that pregnancy if you are pregnant or the rest of that season if you found out some difficult results. That is beautiful. It really is. I love to hear that and I love those kind of resources. So how can someone get connected with a pregnancy resource center or refer a friend to a pregnancy resource center?
Sarah:
Yeah. We don't have to have any kind of medical referral. We take walk-ins. We can schedule appointments. So really you can Google Pregnancy Resource Center in your area or free women's clinic. There's a lot of options there for, for looking that up. Free pregnancy testing I think might be a key Google search phrase. And then you can see, I know they're nationwide but you don't have to have a referral. You don't have to have an appointment. We, we try to see 20 patients a day average. And so just come on call, reach out to Google or another local provider and see what they can have.
Caitlin:
I love that. And you said something really critical there free. That's something we haven't addressed so far, but every one of these resources is completely free to the women that come into the clinic, correct?
Sarah:
Yes. Everything. This is a not-for-profit organization. All of these are, so we're exclusively run on donations and we offer everything completely free, no questions asked. It does not matter your financial situation, your social situation. You come in and you get those tests and you get that support, first off, for free.
Caitlin:
I love it. Okay. Listeners, do you see why I'm such a big fan of pregnancy resource centers? Everyone is welcome. Everyone's needs are validated and you are treated from a holistic care perspective. So that is just fantastic news. I'm so glad to hear about that. And I feel like this has just been really helpful, Sarah. I think it's so important for all women to know that they have a great local resource in a pregnancy resource center. So thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your experience.
Sarah:
You're welcome. Yeah, it's my pleasure to be here.
Caitlin:
Listeners, I'm curious if you've learned anything new today, because I know I have. I'm curious if you've already known about all the great things that pregnancy resource centers do or if it's new information. I know you can't really respond through a podcast, which is a shame, but you could post through our Instagram page. So find the post for today and share something new that you learned or how a pregnancy resource center may be helpful to you and those you love. If you enjoy the show, I'd love to invite you to show your support by clicking the support the show link in the show notes. This will allow you to contribute $3 as a way to say, Woven Well has been helpful for me, and I want to see it continue. It takes a lot to produce a weekly show, and we want to continue doing so for a long time to come. Thanks for your help in that. As always, thanks for listening. As we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.