Case Histories - ABC Women's Clinic

Case History of ABC Women’s Clinic
1835 Highland Ave, Dublin, GA
Becky Wood, Execuive Director

The Challenges::

Becky Wood describes the challenges ABC Women’s Clinic was facing before implementing the CompassCare Optimization Tool: “After 10 years, the ministry was seeing over 1,000 women per year, but less that half were for pregnancy tests (46%). Of these, only 30% were positive and of the positive tests, only 12% were at risk. Typically, 10-15 babies a year were being rescued from abortion, with 20 in the best year and only 4 in the worst. It seemed the ministry had lost focus and was becoming primarily a Band-Aid to women who came for material assistance.

Couple the above with the frustration of not having committed volunteers, and then not knowing what was being said in the consultation rooms by staff or volunteers, and you can gauge what I walked into 6 years ago.”

This situation hurt the organization as Becky explains, “Lack of organizational professionalism and accountability led to poor morale and the inability to keep volunteers, which led to decreased service to community

The Journey:

Becky and her team took many steps and investigated several avenues in an effort to improve the situation as she notes, “Initially, the ministry used “Equipped to Serve” along with a training manual developed by Save-A-Life as a guide, before settling on CareNet’s “Serving with Care and Integrity”. Staff and Volunteers attended national training, as well. We implemented medical conversion using NIFLA’s TLC project and Focus on the Family’s OUP. Changing our name and relocating from the historic district to a commercial area of town, along with the new medical services, increased visibility and volunteer interest. But even with increased training, better services, and a more thorough interview process, there were too many variables in the consultation room and volunteers often felt at fault when a baby was lost. Worst of all, our numbers of lives saved was not going up in the way that we had hoped.”

The Discovery:

Then Becky received an email from Beth Chase about the OT Webinar and she says, “From the moment I saw it, I knew this was what we needed. The core staff felt the same and board agreement was unanimous. What caught my attention,” Becky continued, “was that it sounded like all the pieces of the puzzle we had been trying to pull together but had been unable.” Becky had some initial concerns though. “Cost was a concern, but the board felt this was a God ordained thing for which the time and the money would be made available.”

Furthermore she noted, “The staff was concerned about the extra time for training, but felt the investment of extra hours would pay off in lives saved. It has paid off in more than that…peace of mind, accountability, consistency of service, and most of all everyone feels a part of a team, so no one feels at fault if a mother chooses to terminate her pregnancy.”

The Solution and Results:

Becky talks about how the OT helped to resolve some of the issues she had been facing. “The 15 step patient flow process is a well thought out, documented, and effective method of serving women which has amazing results. Simply by implementing the OT, our clinic began seeing fewer overall patients, but more at-risk women, resulting in more babies saved.

The number of positive pregnancy tests has remained relatively stable for the past five years, but the amazing thing is that since OT, the percent of positive test patients who are at risk has jumped to an average of 70% or better each month! (Remember our starting number was 12%, then as a medical clinic without OT, it doubled to 24%)

Because each step is measurable, when we have an issue, we can determine where the break down is.

Our donors like to see these numbers: the average cost per baby saved was $5,800.00 for the first 12 years of ministry. As a medical clinic before OT, the average was $9,800.00. Since OT, the average cost to save one life is less than $2,000.”

When asked what aspects of the OT and corresponding training have been the most beneficial, Becky said, “The knowledge and research of the CompassCare staff, along with their passion to erase the (perceived) need for abortion one woman at a time, are instrumental in bringing pregnancy care ministry to a higher level. Through their sacrificial giving to all OT centers, this team lives what it believes and helps others do the same.

Having nationwide input in ongoing innovation will only strengthen every organization concerned. The dialog between other OT Executives has been encouraging and enlightening for me personally.

Having an easy to follow training and implementation process means everyone can be integrated into the system, no matter what level of commitment, interest, or experience.

And volunteers love having responsibilities and being held accountable for them. The check lists help them feel good about serving, no matter the outcome, because they have done what they were called to do. ‘Some plant, some water, but GOD gives the increase.’”

The following chart represents increased lives saved and increased efficiency at reaching the right women after implementing the CompassCare OT system.

Recommendation:

After being asked to rate the CompassCare OT on a scale of 1-10 relative to how likely she would be to recommend the OT to other PRCs, Becky exclaimed, “10!!!” She continued by saying, “OT works! It has revolutionized our center, those who serve, donors, and those who are being served.”