Jill Schramm/MDN Nurse practitioner Janis Neumann sits in an exam room between client visits at Dakota Hope Clinic. Neumann, who began as a volunteer at Dakota Hope and later provided nursing services, will be bringing new services to the clinic in her current role.

From new wellness services to fertility and adoption education, Dakota Hope Clinic in Minot is broadening its offerings to address what it has found to be needed in the region.

Clinic Administrator Nadia Smetana and nurse practitioner Janis Neumann outlined new programs the clinic has started or hopes to begin as Dakota Hope looks ahead to its annual fundraising banquets in September in Minot, Tioga and Bottineau.

In addition to working with Dakota Hope’s pregnancy clients, Neumann recently began offering sports physicals and plans to later add sexually transmitted infection testing to the clinic’s services.

Neumann added she is in the process of becoming certified in Fertility Education and Medical Management (FEMM). FEMM is designed not only for family planning but it’s also about having a healthier body, she said.

The certification would enable her to teach women and girls about their bodies and fertility and eventually assist in treating issues clients might have with hormones and other menstrual concerns.

“I would love to do some of this FEMM training with mothers and daughters, just so the girls can get to know their bodies,” Neumann said. “The girls, if they really get knowledgeable about their bodies, they’re more likely to protect their bodies. That’s what the research is finding. So, we want girls to be knowledgeable.”

Neumann expects to eventually bring the education to Dakota Hope’s clinics in Bottineau and Tioga, and the goal is to provide education in area high schools as well. Some Dakota Hope staff already are Sexual Risk Avoidance-certified, which is another program the clinic would like to bring into schools.

Smetana said in the longer term, the clinic wants to offer wellness checkups and other health care services for women.

“When we first started, we were just focused on pregnancy services, on how to help anyone with an unplanned pregnancy, and now we have so much more added to that, because as we see the needs and as we have the ability because of our generous donors, we are able to meet some of the needs,” she said. “As we see a need, if it’s not being met in the community and it has to do with women or parent health and welfare and child welfare, we want to try to meet it if we have the resources.”

A desire to meet a need some years ago led to Discover Peace, a program for women seeking emotional and spiritual healing after an abortion. Dakota Hope has had requests for a similar program for men who have been affected through participation in some way in an abortion, Smetana said. The clinic is seeking a male leader to become trained to offer a program.

Dakota Hope also can provide peer support to expecting parents who are considering pregnancy termination due to a life limiting condition or life incompatibility diagnosis.

“We are also starting a group for women who have lost a baby through miscarriage or still birth,” Smetana said.

Banquet guests next month will hear about Dakota Hope’s effort to begin adoption education later this fall.

“The research shows that a lot of women really don’t have up to date information about adoption and what modern adoption looks like,” Smetana said. “There’s still kind of a stigma that people have, thinking that people will look down on them if they place their child for adoption, when, in reality, it’s a very loving and courageous choice.”

Dakota Hope received a grant from a local church to present to churches, high schools, youth clubs and other groups about adoption. Dakota Hope will be training presenters using a curriculum developed in Louisiana.

“The four presenters that we have that are going to be doing those presentations all have personal experience themselves with adoption. Either they are an adoptee, they’re a birth mom or they’re an adoptive mom,” Smetana said. “We’re hoping to find more presenters as needed.”

Also to be stressed at the banquets is the need for more volunteers, especially in the growing Earn While You Learn program at Dakota Hope, Smetana said. The free program provides parenting education to men and women expecting a child or parenting an infant or toddler. As they complete lessons, they earn points to obtain free items from the clinic’s baby boutique. All services at Dakota Hope are faith-based, but the spiritual application in the Earn While You Learn classes is optional for clients.

The class participation increases each year by 10-20%, and more volunteer client advocates are needed to work with those clients, Smetana said. Volunteers also are needed to provide child care when clients come to lessons or appointments.

All services at Dakota Hope are free, with the exception of sports physicals. Dakota Hope does not accept government funds, although North Dakota donors are eligible to receive a tax break on donations to pregnancy help centers such as Dakota Hope.

People are using the new tax credits, but it has been difficult to gauge whether it is resulting in more donations, Smetana said. Although donations went up significantly last year, they have been rising every year, she said.

All Dakota Hope’s programs are made possible by donors, she added.

“That’s why we’re having our banquet – to let them know what their money is being spent on, what the needs are in the community and how it’s so great that they will support it, and really make them feel good about it because they should feel good about what they’re doing,” Smetana said. “It’s very gratifying to us who work here and it’s, I hope, gratifying to the people that support us.”

For community members who are wondering about whether to support Dakota Hope, the banquets are an opportunity to come, learn and decide, Smetana said. The banquets are free to attend but preregistration is required by Sept. 5.

This year, instead of having a guest speaker, the clinic plans to share its own story. Testimonials will be read from clients who received support during unplanned pregnancies and healing from regret after abortion. Staff members also will be sharing testimonies.

The banquet theme, “Worthy,” reflects the message to clients that regardless of their situations, they are worthy of help and have a community of donors supporting them, Smetana said.

The banquets will be held Sept. 15 in the State Fair Center, Minot; Sept. 16 in the Community Center, Tioga; and Sept. 22 at the Cobblestone Inn, Bottineau. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m.