Friendly and knowledgeable staff, very friendly and welcoming, welcoming and helpful. Comments like these about our staff and volunteers are the most common answers to this survey question, “What did you like best about your experience at First Care Clinic?”

Another familiar theme is summed up in this patient’s words: “I felt respected and that I mattered.”

We all want to be treated with respect. We long to be cared about. We want to be shown that we matter.

Too often, the women and men who seek help at our clinic have been disrespected, put down and overlooked. Often they feel that they don’t matter. And when they don’t matter, their unborn child does not matter either.

At a time when a young woman is feeling overwhelmed and may have many voices telling her what to do, our staff and volunteers take time to welcome her, to listen and to offer help and hope.

As someone who gets a frequent peek into our clinic, I can say that our nurses and front line staff and volunteers are among the best! They deliver warm and friendly patient care with excellence. It is no surprise that these attributes of our front line staff are the things our patients most notice and appreciate.

We are glad to be able to provide a little shelter from the storm of life – a place of welcome and hope. A place where women and men can take respite and consider their choices, temporarily free of the pressures around them. A place where they can return at any point in their decision making process. And a place where they can receive care, support and resources to make moving ahead a little bit easier.