New pregnancy resource center opens today

Lc Clinic, Creston’s new nonprofit pregnancy resource center, will open its doors 2 p.m. today at 1109 S. Sumner Ave.

The clinic will offer free and confidential medical services, including ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections. It will also offer free pregnancy resources and education.

Hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Services are available on a walk-in or appointment basis. The clinic’s staff includes about a dozen volunteers and the clinic’s manager, Hannah Shady.

Shady said those who have volunteered to get the clinic running include people from many backgrounds who share the mission of reaching those in the community who may not have support.

“(We) want to help those in the community who may not have anyone to turn to,” she said. “We’re hoping that we can reach out to them and be a support system.”

Creston’s clinic will be the second clinic opened by the nonprofit organization LifeCare Pregnancy Resources Inc. The first clinic opened in Stuart three years ago.

Ruth Fennessey, Lc Clinic’s cofounder and executive director, said the clinic’s overarching goal is to provide confidential and nonjudgmental care to those in the Creston area.

“I’m really looking forward to being able to help people in the community and just being a support to them,” she said.

Fennessey said the community reception has been positive so far, with a Creston fundraiser May 15 bringing in 120 guests and raising $26,000.

She said she hopes to eventually add two to three more hours in the evenings, possibly as soon as this month.

“We need to get some more evening volunteers,” she said. “Our evening hours in Stuart have been our most popular just because people don’t have to be at work.”

She said the clinic may add another day to its hours in the future, as well.

The clinic’s ribbon-cutting ceremony will be Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. A grand opening will be later in the summer.

For more information on the clinic's services and updates on its hours, visit www.iowalcclinic.org.