Pregnancy Aid Center
The yellow frame building looks like just another house in the city – until you take a closer look at the tiny sign at the entrance of the building.
Located at 4809 Greenbelt Road (please see map below), the Pregnancy Aid Center (PAC) opened its door some 36 years ago.
I stopped by the PAC office last week to drop off boxes of clothes that we collected as part of our annual winter clothing drive for the infant and children who receive services at the center.
Initially, PAC provided places where you can get pregnancy test done and options counseling, food, clothes, and referral services. In 1986, with seed money from the Meyer Foundation, PAC’s services were expanded to include a prenatal care clinic. Family planning services were initiated in 1995, and, with a grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation, PAC started an adolescent outreach program.
In 2000, PAC became a site for the Maryland State Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Programs for uninsured women over 40 and low-income women. To further assist uninsured, indigent women in our community, PAC added Title X family planning services in 2001. More recently, in 2005, PAC implemented a flat fee maternity program in response to a need for prenatal care for uninsured pregnant women. Most recently, PAC initiated a pilot program for uninsured newborn pediatric care.
Furthermore, pregnancy testing and treating pregnant women for STDs is a vital way to prevent serious health complications to both mother and baby that may otherwise happen with infection. The sooner you begin receiving medical care during pregnancy, the better the health outcomes will be for you and your unborn baby. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2015 STD Treatment Guidelines recommend screening pregnant women for STDs with simple procedures just like this HCV Antibody test.
PAC is a nonsectarian, non-profit, community-based women’s health clinic and social service agency. PAC’s mission is to provide culturally sensitive, individualized medical and mental health care to low-income women, adolescents, and newborns who have Medicaid, or whose Medicaid is pending, or who have no insurance.
PAC is the sole non-government program in Prince George’s County providing comprehensive women’s health care on a sliding scale: basic primary care to the uninsured, prenatal care, family planning, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, cancer screening, and an outreach program for teens to prevent repeat pregnancies. Approximately 1 out of 11 residents is covered by a Medicaid managed care program, and nearly 1 out of every 7 residents is not insured. PAC’s clinic programs provide a significant source of health care for this population. Last year more than 2,000 low-income patients received women’s health care services. Prenatal care was provided to 769 pregnant women and girls. The Newborn Clinic provides immediate care and intensive case management services to uninsured newborns. PAC also distributes emergency food and children’s clothing.