November 7, 2009 |
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Pregnancy Plus Medical center facing difficult timesST. PETERSBURG | On a sidewalk on Central Avenue, men and women carried pro-life signs and prayed for an end to abortion. Three miles away, the head of a Catholic Charities program that assists women vulnerable to abortions wondered how long her program would survive. Safety issues had forced the pro-life Pregnancy Plus Medical Center to move from a highly visible Central Avenue office building to inside Catholic Charities’ Jeff Forbes Center headquarters in St. Petersburg. Client numbers were down. The program’s budget was critically short. “There are no expenditures; nothing at all. There are cutbacks on everything,” then-program coordinator Diane Hale said in September. “It makes me a little sad, a little nervous.” It turns out Hale had good reason to be anxious. Two weeks after expressing her concerns, in the middle of the highly visible diocese-driven 40 Days for Life campaign, she and a part-time staffer who taught pregnant women infant care, money management and parenting skills were cut from the staff of Pregnancy Plus Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Only one full-time staffer remains. Some program services, such as parenting classes, have been placed on hold. The center is thousands of dollars short of its annual operating needs. The May move to Catholic Charities headquarters eased some financial issues, but the number of clients has dropped significantly. Emma Boe, director of Life Services for Catholic Charities, said times are tough but the situation is not dire. The services offered at Pregnancy Plus Medical Centers are very much needed, she said, and the church is committed to the Ministry of Mercy program because it supports the Catholic commitment to life. “It’s not gone,” she said, addressing concerns that the staff reduction signaled an end to the program. “Our other centers function on one coordinator and volunteers.” Boe has adopted a 90-day goal to turn things around, staring with an aggressive campaign to raise visibility and bring in new clients and more volunteers. Visibility is a big problem. “(Client numbers) have gone down. I think it’s because people don’t know where to find us,” said program coordinator Francesca McEntegart, the only remaining paid staffer. “When they come here, there’s nothing outside our building to indicate we’re here.” Boe is working with the City of St. Petersburg to get Pregnancy Plus signage outside the Jeff Forbes Center. Although the Catholic Charities headquarters is considered safer than the previous site, nothing from the street indicates pregnancy testing and services are available inside. A local ordinance currently prohibits the signs Boe needs. The waiting area of the Jeff Forbes Center also might need attention. Young women seeking assistance have to enter through a very public lobby that supports many ministry offices. Fear they could run into someone they know might be keeping some pregnant women from seeking assistance. “People have to come into the lobby and they have to sign in,” McEntegart said. “Although we haven’t had anyone verbally complain about that, we have seen it as an issue.” Raising money also is a priority. An annual fundraiser that had brought in thousands in previous years was cancelled this year when the center’s previous director, Rose Petito, required surgery for a brain tumor. Boe said the center is one of countless nonprofits facing declines in donations due to the economy. It’s another challenge, yes, but not insurmountable. She hopes some of those new volunteers will bring promotion and development skills that will help generate revenue. The banquet fundraiser is scheduled to return in 2009. “We’re addressing all those issues. … We’re just trying to build more energy so we do have a viable presence in the community and in our new location,” Boe said. “What (people) can do is to help us to be the voice and the hands and the feet of Christ to the community by volunteering. … We need the parishes to help market our services.” Boe said the clinic will continue its programs and, in some cases, is expanding them. Ultrasounds soon will be available five days a week, something not possible at the Central Avenue site. Ultrasound long has been seen as an effective tool in making women choose to continue their pregnancy. Having an ultrasound machine made a difference from its earliest days at Pregnancy Plus Medical. “It’s been amazing,” McEntegart said. “Young women come and see the ultrasound (and change their minds about having an abortion).” Petito, the former director whose drive and community connections built and ran the center for years, said the loss of the Central Avenue site was “a sword through her heart.” She recalled how people who believed in the ministry took the program from a cubicle inside the old diocesan library on Ninth Avenue North and raised its presence and its impact. People helped because they understood the need to help women to save babies, she said. Volunteers and staff connected mothers to education and work programs. “Through our actions, we showed the girls love, and they responded 100 percent,” said Petito, who never returned to the program she built because she suffered disabilities related to her surgery. “We showed them respect and built up their self-esteem. … If you can reach out and do that, you can do wonders with these girls, because they don’t have that.” Through Pregnancy Plus Medical young women who felt useless saw themselves as contributors to society, Petito said. They ended bad romantic relationships and learned to be loving mothers. They went to vocational schools and college, and with their education captured better jobs and started businesses. Many times those who received help returned to give to other women. From the beginning, the whole idea of Pregnancy Plus Medical was to help young women grow to a point where they and their children could have a future, to place them in a position where they no longer felt abortion was the best solution to an unplanned pregnancy. To diminish that in any way would be a tragedy, Petito said. “We changed their whole life. We made them so they could be productive members of the community and they could give back to the community,” Petito continued “They wanted to give back, that was the beauty of it. These girls wanted to give. … They would come back two and three years later and say, ‘Thank you, thank you for helping me.’”
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