New mobile ministry offers life-giving prenatal care to mothers in need
By Dan McWilliams
Catholic Charities of East Tennessee debuted a mobile ultrasound van on Jan. 23 at its Pregnancy Help Center in Helenwood, allowing mothers to see images of their unborn babies—a service that most often leads them to choose life.
The gently used, low-mileage vehicle will ultimately travel throughout the diocese, said Deacon David Duhamel, executive director of CCETN.
Samantha Bigley, a registered nurse with Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, performs an ultrasound on expectant mother Aaliayah Claxton as Ms. Claxton’s fiancé, Dustin Terry, observes their baby. Catholic Charities registered nurse Melissa Coldiron is monitoring the ultrasound equipment as McCosh Films videographer Thompson Nguyen films the noninvasive procedure for Catholic Charities. (Photo courtesy McKensie Rogowski/McCosh Films
“We’re looking to expand our ultrasound and our services to moms out into our rural areas. Helenwood is one of those rural areas, and right now we’re just doing some trial runs,” he said. “We’re trying to work on our procedures and processes so that we can properly support our clientele.
“We have plans to go down to Chattanooga to the Basilica [of Sts. Peter and Paul], to Signal Mountain, up to the Johnson City-Tri Cities area, and up along our Kentucky-Tennessee border, where we have three Pregnancy Help Centers. We’re expanding our ultrasound offerings to clients in those areas, as well as Cumberland County—we’ve just started a new relationship there, working very closely with St. Francis of Assisi in Fairfield Glade and St. Alphonsus in Crossville. We’re working with community partners out there as well.”
The Knights of Columbus are a vital reason why the ultrasound van came to be. The Supreme Council donated the ultrasound machine, while many East Tennessee councils have donated to the van’s support.
“The Knights of Columbus have been a phenomenal partner with us,” Deacon Duhamel said. “Not only did Supreme buy us the actual ultrasound machine, but the councils also pitched in and gave us a substantial amount of contributions to help pay for the first two years of operating expenses, so we’ve relied quite heavily on them.”
Deacon Duhamel singled out Knights Ted H. Denning Jr. Council 8781 from St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut and Council 5207 from the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Also providing extra support were Council 4264 from St. Mary in Johnson City, Holy Family Council 6099 from St. Stephen in Chattanooga, and Council 14079 from Holy Spirit in Soddy-Daisy.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t identify the Knights at Sacred Heart as well as St. John Neumann as being some of the major players,” Deacon Duhamel said.
The ultrasound van is a 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
“We worked very closely with an organization called Save the Stork. They put us in touch with a nonprofit out of northern Indiana that was looking to sell their used van,” Deacon Duhamel said. “This particular van has only about 10,000 miles on it. It’s a 2016, so it certainly has a long life ahead of it. They gave us a great discount on the vehicle itself.
“All totaled, without anything on the inside in terms of medical equipment, it cost us roughly about $70,000. We got a large grant from Save the Stork, about $50,000, and then we made up the difference from contributions here that we got from Catholic Charities to focus on this program.”
Sandi Davidson, Catholic Charities Pregnancy Services program leader, was in Helenwood for the big day.
“This means that we will be able to reach women in every part of our diocese,” she said. “We won’t be covering areas where other pregnancy centers already have a mobile unit because we don’t want to duplicate services. There are a lot of pregnancy centers that don’t offer ultrasounds, so we’re going to partner with them.”
Catholic Charities will be partnering with the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic, and the van will visit pregnancy centers—Catholic-based ones or not—around East Tennessee, Ms. Davidson said.
“We’re going be covering a large territory,” she said.
Catholic Charities also operates pregnancy centers in Knoxville, Chattanooga, LaFollette, Newcomb, and Johnson City.
The pregnancy center in Helenwood saw clients and put the van to use on its first day.
Samantha Lowe of Scott County visited the Helenwood Pregnancy Help Center on Jan. 23 for prenatal care and to monitor the progress of her unborn child. Accompanying Ms. Lowe is her daughter, Leah, who is holding photos of the ultrasound showing her sibling. The Pregnancy Help Center is located next to St. Jude Church at 13067 Scott Highway in Helenwood. (Photo Bill Brewer)
“This is our first time out. We have three or four patients already scheduled to do ultrasounds, but currently we’re doing ultrasounds and pregnancy tests,” Ms. Davidson said.
Ultrasound images “certainly are” an influence on young mothers, she added.
“Statistics say anywhere from 75 to 95 percent of women change their mind when they see their baby’s heartbeat if they’re abortion-minded,” Ms. Davidson said.
The Helenwood Pregnancy Help Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays but has the demand to be open more, Ms. Davidson said.
“We’re hoping to expand to five days,” she said.
Nyah Lay is the program coordinator for the pregnancy center in Helenwood:
“Right now, she has 38 clients. It’s a lot for three days a week and one person,” Ms. Davidson said. “She’s fantastic. There’s a big need, and she’s doing really well at meeting that need. We just need to have two more days so that she can add clients to her list.”
Melissa Coldiron of Maryville is a registered nurse for the ultrasound van, which she said “means women have access to being able to see their baby, to make a better choice about what they want to do with their pregnancy. It’s just wonderful to be able to see God’s creation.”
Samantha Bigley, an RN with CCETN’s Pregnancy Help Center on Dameron Avenue in Knoxville, described the ultrasound van as “amazing.”
“The more babies we can see, the more babies we can save,” she said.
Two mothers-to-be from Scott County shared their experiences of the new van.
Aaliayah Claxton called it “pretty incredible.”
“It was a new experience,” she said.
Ms. Claxton is expecting a boy, due May 5.
“It’s definitely different each time we get to see him, but this time it was a little more special because he’s just growing so much more,” she said.
Her fiancé, Dustin Terry, said “it was pretty good, not driving so far” to have the imaging done in Helenwood. “You can actually drive in town to get an ultrasound. They did a really great job.”
“We usually have to go to Knoxville, so we saved an hour’s time just by coming here,” Ms. Claxton added.
“We saved a lot of gas,” Mr. Terry said.
Samantha Lowe came to Helenwood with her young daughter.
“It was wonderful. She got to see the baby, and I got to see the baby and make sure everything’s good and the heartbeat’s good. That was just a blessing,” said Ms. Lowe, whose child is due Aug. 14.
Expectant mother Aaliayah Claxton, shown with her fiancé, Dustin Terry, was among the first to have an ultrasound on Catholic Charities of East Tennessee’s new mobile ultrasound van, which was serving the Helenwood Pregnancy Help Center on Jan. 23. (Photo Bill Brewer)
“It was really convenient. We didn’t have to drive an hour away to the doctor to get an ultrasound. Just to be able to easily check to make sure that the baby’s OK is always a blessing.”
A crew from McCosh Films was on hand in Helenwood for the ultrasound van’s first day.
Tammy Roberts, a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City, is vice president of client success for the Knoxville video company.
“Today’s experience was fantastic. We have filmed many films of all the programs at Catholic Charities, so it has been quite a journey of learning about the homeless and adoption and immigration services, all the services that Catholic Charities of East Tennessee provides,” Ms. Roberts said. “I just have such a great appreciation of it now that I’ve interviewed so many people and gotten their testimonials about how they helped.”
Interviewing expectant mothers in Helenwood also was a moving experience, she said.
“It was so nice to hear the moms say that to be able to see their baby and hear the heartbeat just makes all the difference in the world, and not having to travel too far to get that service was a real value to them.”
Ms. Roberts’ adopted daughter, McKensie Rogowski, served as still photographer for the four-person crew in Helenwood.
“It just makes my heart feel so warm because to know that there’s such a high percentage—and this is a proven statistic—related to moms who keep their babies once they hear the heartbeat and see the baby,” Ms. Roberts said. “To know that Catholic Charities of East Tennessee is saving babies really warms my heart.”
