In this week's Give Back New Hampshire segment, we take a closer look at the Equality Health Center in Concord.
It's a specialized health clinic that's been serving people across the Granite State since it first opened it's doors in the early 70s, in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade decision.
The following is a transcript:
Dalia Vidunas (Executive Director): We have one area of expertise: it's sexual and reproductive health. Equality Health Center has been in the community for 48 years. We opened our doors as the very first abortion center here in the state of New Hampshire and have been going full force ever since.
And we now do a full GYN service. We do STI testing and treatment. We do HIV testing and prevention services such as PREP. We also have a behavioral health service now because people in the community said that there weren't enough behavioral health specialists in the area that understood gender issues. So we see ourselves as this little tiny health center that just is able to really respond quickly to community needs because we are small and locally grown.
Cassie O'Keefe (Health Worker) : You know, we need to normalize, and destigmatize a lot of the services we provide. My name is Cassie O'Keefe, and I am a health worker at the Equality Health Center. I feel very fortunate being that first face that people see when they come in.
A specific example of a great day for me is abortion clients coming in, especially the days that we have protesters, coming in through the front door, crying, upset, obviously very anxious. What they have just seen outside has made them even more anxious. And then them leaving their appointment, telling me they want to just come back to hang out with all of us. Right?
That is a really good day for me, because that means that we have made this experience — as hard and as difficult it is for them — we have made this experience for them an experience where they could smile.
Lauren Wilson (health provider): My name is Lauren Wilson. I am the provider at Equality Health Center.
Someone may come in for a birth control pill, but at the end of the visit, we might talk and discover that maybe they haven't had a pap smear in years and years. Or maybe, you know, they have a really strong family history of breast cancer that we want to identify, or depression even. And maybe they need referrals to other community resources. So we really take care of the whole person.
And most of the people that I see, I always like to ask what they do for work. It's just something that's interesting to me and like that to me really runs the gamut. It's a teacher, it's a mother, it's a father, it's a software engineer. It's someone who works in the State House. It's someone who is a neighbor.
It's everybody.
Vidunas: I would hate to think what our community would look like without an organization like Equality Health Center, because one of the things that Equality Health Center does that most doctors offices will not do is we have a sliding fee scale so that people who are either under-insured or have no insurance can actually come for services to see us.
Being a small nonprofit, we are always in need of financial assistance, so money is always helpful.
Also, we're always looking for board members, for volunteers. We have volunteers that are escort services because we have so many protesters on Fridays. But the nitty gritty job of being a board member is really tough. And those are some of the places that we could really use assistance on.
Wilson: I do what I do because empowering women, men, all humans is something that empowers me. And I think when an individual can feel seen and heard and in a shameless way... that they can address whatever that concern is, and then they can tackle it and move forward with their life.
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Want to help Equality Health Center? Click, here.
And if you know of another local non-profit doing good work in your community, please let us know! Email us at Giveback@nhpr.org.
