Women of Worth clinic needs public support to stay open
To help, come to tonight’s sip and stroke fundraiser
“Struggling” is the word the office manager of Women of Worth used to describe the organization that serves atcost health clinics and over 4,000 individual patients in the Northwest Georgia area.
Kristen Sheeley said the small clinic on Dean Avenue depends on fundraisers like the one happening tonight at Swerve: Off the Path to keep the nonprofit afloat. Swerve is offering a sip and stroke event beginning at 5 p.m., and will be donating half of its proceeds to WOW so they can continue helping men, women and teens with reproductive health and family planning.
Participants of the sip and stroke event will create mosaics, Sheeley said. A mosaic is when an artist takes colorful pieces of pottery and applies them to a medium; examples can be viewed on the Swerve: Off the Path Facebook page. Entry to the event is $40 said Sheeley, the money is split with the studio and WOW. Snacks, wine and materials are covered by the entry fee. She said this is the fourth fundraiser Swerve has done for WOW, something Sheeley really appreciates since, due to a small staff and limited funds, she is not really able to plan large fundraisers.
“It would be great if someone else could host a fundraiser for us,” she said. She added the organization has been “nickeling and diming” these smaller fundraisers.
The 10-year-old nonprofit receives some federal money but no local city or county funds. The clinic offers affordable health care for those who can’t afford basic health needs at a regular clinic or even the health department.
“One reason we are open is that there is not access to affordable reproductive health care,” Sheeley said.
A birth control shot at the health department is $150 for a teenager or woman, and is needed to be given four times a year to be effective, Sheeley said. That totals $600 a year just to prevent pregnancy; WOW administers those shots for $35 each she said.
WOW also offers birth control visits, at cost birth control prescriptions, Pap smears, annual exams, some STD testing, pregnancy tests and counseling, birth control implant and IUD removals, pre-pregnancy planning, labs and more. WOW does not see patients with private insurance or Medicaid since it focuses on patients with financial issues. For more information about the clinic or to schedule appointments call 706-232-3408. To support WOW come to the sip and stroke event tonight at Swerve in the Cotton Block at 108 Broad St.