What Could Your Clinic Do With Just a Bit of Funding?

I've been thinking about how I wish abortion clinics got more funding. It sure would be nice if RFAs went out - publicaly - on a fairly regular basis, for clinics. Of course, this doesn't happen much and it's a shame. If my clinic could get a good influx of money, I would love to see some of the things at other surgi-centers I've seen recently.

For example, really nice, big, cushy recovery/pre-op chairs. Chairs where you can do the labwork, but also recover in. Warm blankets. Comfy socks for each woman with no-slip little soles. Perhaps a little duffel bag women can take home (a place to put their clothes when they undress from the waist down, instead of having to put them on a chair for all to see. It would be a convenient place for the meds to go, too!). Perhaps gift baskets for overnight clients who use contracted hotels that offer a discounted rate for our clinic's women. Something simple could be in that basket: some fruit, maybe some crackers or juice to have after their abortion. A thank you note. Follow-up calls for all clients the very next day to check-in on them and see how they're doing. Maybe a website for a "registered clients only" section with a question board so clients can chat - kinda of like yahoo groups or something - where staff respond to any inquires.

Oh! Electronic Medical Records for all! Including a way to electronically send prescriptions to pharmacies!

Other streamlined physicians offices do these sorts of things. Okay, not normal physician offices, but some surgi-centers do.

...seriously, my wish list would look a lot larger than this, but imagine what could be done with just a bit of funding!

Just AboutAGirl dreaming again. Bill Gates? Warren Buffet?? Anyone listening? FUND ABORTION CLINICS.

What I hear you saying is...

Part of the pre-abortion process at my clinic is counseling. Clients talk with a counselor one-on-one to review their medical histories, discuss the details of the procedure, ask questions about the aftercare instructions, and work thorough any lingering doubts or concerns they have. Some clients latch onto this idea and want to use it as an in-depth therapy session for things that really should be handled by a professional, while other clients roll their eyes at the idea and assume that counseling is yet another law with which the clinic must comply, a law created with the assumption that women don’t understand what an abortion is or that every human was once a fetus.

But the majority of the clients welcome the opportunity to talk with someone whose job it is to listen and to be pro-choice. I value it because it gives clinic staff a chance to develop a rapport with a client. (Not to mention the chance to debunk myths about having to slice someone stem to stern to perform an abortion.)

I actually took the counseling portion of the program for granted until I learned that some very compassionate, professional clinics don’t offer counseling to their clients. It could be a trick to save time (clients always complain about how long the process takes) or minimize cost (we ARE in a recession), and it could simply be what has worked and continues to work for individual clinics.

So, readers, I’m curious: If you’re an Abortioneer, does your clinic offer counseling? If you’re a friend of the Abortioneers, would you opt for counseling, given the choice? And if you’ve been a patient, did you have a counseling session? What have your experiences been?