With homemade treats and a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre (CAPCC) opened its new Olds location on 51 Avenue on March 1.
With homemade treats and a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre (CAPCC) opened its new Olds location on 51 Avenue on March 1.
The 74-square-metre space in the basement of the Lone Pine Professional Centre is considered an extension of CAPCC’s headquarters in Red Deer and will offer services such as free pregnancy tests, prenatal education and information and support services in areas such as childbirth, abortion and adoption.
The centre will have one staff member— director Rita Fahlman— along with 10 to 15 support volunteers and is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursdays from noon to 5 p.m.
Anne Waddell, CAPCC’s executive director, said those days and hours of operation will expand as need for the centre’s services grow.
She added the centre expects to receive 100 new clients in its first year and will service the region.
Olds was selected as the site for the centre after community consultations and studies in the region looking at the need for such a facility.
Beyond the reception area, the centre has three main rooms: A room for counselling, a medical room and a common room that can be used for educational meetings.
Fahlman said the plan for the medical room is to offer onsite, walk-in sexually transmitted disease testing by 2015.
If this plan is realized, she added, the centre would be only the second facility in Canada to offer such a service.
The vision for the centre is to include ultrasound services in the medical room down the road as well.
The room can also be used for training and counselling as its walls are soundproof for the sake of "confidentiality," Fahlman said.
"We want everyone that comes here to feel safe and secure."
One of the educational services offered at the centre is the Keys to Young Parenting Program, which Fahlman said teaches parents whose children are taken away by children’s services the skills needed to prove to the court that they are working to earn the right to regain custody of their children.
Most of the furniture, equipment, electronics, decorations and even the floor were donated by local businesses, community groups and financial institutions, Fahlman said, and the centre relies on donations and community support for its operations.
The year’s operations budget is expected to be $60,000.
Two major fundraising events are planned for 2014— a baseball tournament in June and a family hockey day and concert in October.
The centre welcomes volunteers and there is an eight-week training course for volunteers.
To volunteer, or for more information, contact the Olds centre at 587-796-0733 or [email protected].
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