By Susan Gallagher

Assisted by her 3-year-old son, Katie Powner is at Belgrade’s St. Catherine Family Health Care Clinic & Pregnancy Resource Center once a week to clean it— without pay. Her little boy, supervised by his dad, uses disinfecting wipes to sanitize toys in the reception area.

The Powners are among the volunteers– young, elderly and in between–who have helped propel the nonprofit St. Catherine, which is approaching its second anniversary. Last year it provided 2,093 medical procedures for women, men and children. For 79 percent of the care, fees were discounted or services were provided at no charge.

“There are so many extenuating circumstances” that diminish patients’ ability to pay, said Marybeth Adams, the clinic’s chief executive and medical director who volunteers her services as a nurse practitioner. “It’s such a blessing to be able to tell people they don’t have to worry about it.” Contributions from a variety of sources help sustain the clinic.

Adams, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., laid the groundwork for St. Catherine, open since Aug. 1, 2008. God “held our hand through the whole process” of startup and ongoing service, she said.

Adams moved to nonprofit outreach after finding her work in a for-profit clinic was not what she wished to do. “I wanted to practice Catholic medicine and to help people, and I didn’t feel I was achieving that” in the previous setting, she said.

Donated labor and materials led to a steep reduction in the cost of building the Belgrade clinic, encompassing two exam rooms, a laboratory and office space. Equipment for ultrasonography, allowing pregnant women to see images of their babies early in development, was installed recently.

“Once they’ve seen the ultrasound, we have not had anyone leave here thinking they were not going to bring the baby to term,” Adams said.

According to a St. Catherine brochure, the pregnancy resource center provides “emotional, spiritual, medical, material and financial resources to women and men facing unexpected and/or difficult pregnancies.”

Most patients at St. Catherine, which maintains regular office hours Tuesday through Friday, are from the Belgrade area. Besides individual pledges, financial support includes annual fundraising banquets plus money from patients who receive services and are able to pay out of pocket or through insurance.

“A lot of our best supporters are the people who have the least,” Adams said. “People dig deep.” Among the operating expenses, payroll covers just two people. There are several dozen volunteers.

Adams and Melissa Baxter, the pregnancy resource director and office manager, collaborated in launching St. Catherine. Both are active in Valley of Flowers, the Belgrade mission of Holy Family Parish in Three Forks, as is Tana Steiner, the nurse manager. Father Eric Gilbaugh, the Valley of Flowers pastor, is on the St. Catherine board.

The clinic and pregnancy resource center are “very much Catholic based, a very caring atmosphere,” said Arlene Lininger, another board member. “The people who work there and volunteer there care about the people who come through the door.” Patients who need an hour with a care provider get an hour, because St. Catherine does not function on a model with 15- minute appointments queued up, Lininger said. She added that patients whose language is Spanish find a good communicator in the bilingual Adams.

Concern about money with which to operate recurs, Lininger said, “but we trust in God to keep the doors open.”

Volunteer Virginia SanSoucie of Bozeman serves at the clinic weekly, greeting patients, answering phones and performing general office work. She helped with banquet planning, as well.

“It’s an important mission that we be there for not only people who need health care and can’t afford it, but as a pregnancy resource,” SanSoucie said. Prenatal care is provided until the 30th week of pregnancy, at which time the patient transfers to a delivering physician.

Volunteer Powner, married to the youth pastor at Manhattan Bible Church, said her involvement at St. Catherine began nearly two years ago, after the clinic was discussed at a ministerial association meeting.

“We are really pro-life and we appreciate St. Catherine’s stance,” Powner said. She said the janitorial work is in lieu of financial support, which she and her husband are unable to provide.

Adams encourages more people to become active in the clinic and pregnancy resource center, as volunteers, financial supporters or both.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 6, June 18, 2010.