Abortion clinic turned Catholic Charities infirmary is expanding

MANASSAS — A medical clinic now operating where an abortion clinic once sat is expanding thanks to doctors and volunteers who are giving of their time and expertise.

The Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic provides free, quality healthcare to low-income individuals who are uninsured or under-insured in western Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park.

Located on Forestwood Lane in Manassas, the clinic is operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington. Space the clinic occupies used to be an abortion clinic called Amethyst Health Center for Women, which closed in 2015.

Doctors and clinic administrators on Dec. 4 hosted an informational reception at All Saints Catholic Church’s Parish Activities Center in Manassas to celebrate the clinic and its first anniversary.

Art Bennett, the President of Catholic Charities, noted the 180-degree change of in the use of the clinic space.

“It’s not enough to shut down a bad thing; we gotta do a good thing,” Bennett said of replacing the former abortion clinic.

He touted the clinic’s mission as being that of “helping people at the margins.” He emphasized that the clinic looks at the whole dignity of the human person.

Jim Koehr, a member of the BVM Foundation that purchased the building from Amethyst’s owner, said that they didn’t just want to remove abortion – they wanted to “serve life.”

“This is the antithesis of an abortion clinic,” Koehr said. “It’s a complete one-eighty.”

Alexandra Luevano, the director at Mother of Mercy, said they have had over 520 unique patient visits since the clinic opened its doors, with a full 36 patients booked on a typical Wednesday. Originally slated to be open only one day a week, the clinic now operates four days a week and has 180 volunteers helping.

Starting on January 8, the clinic will be offer prenatal care.

Also starting in January, the clinic will expand into an adjacent space and operate adoption services.

“The Catholic Charities Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic is a wonderful story of redemption,” Koehr said. “It’s a local story.”

When the clinic first opened last year, they were open for four hours a day one day a week. This only lasted two months. Luevano said doctors began coming to her and volunteering their time, so the clinic expanded to six hours one day a week.

Then, people began to appear and offer their services. A cardiologist, a physical therapist, and a dietician asked to join their ranks.

Luevano said her chiropractor asked if he could volunteer. More doctors wanted to come and help.

Soon, the clinic was operating Monday through Thursday and went from being open for four hours a week to 30 hours a week.

The expanded space that the clinic will also house a break room, a place for prayer, and a dedicated room for physical therapy and chiropractic care. Luevano explained the need for physical therapy and chiropractic care is great because many of their patients work in manual labor or construction.

Besides their volunteers who help run the clinic, the clinic has volunteers called “prayer warriors’” who offer to volunteer an hour of prayer for the clinic. “It is amazing what God does with prayer,” Luevano said.

In addition to treating patients inside the clinic, physicians have also made house calls.

One unidentified patient weighed close to 500 pounds and had recently broken his leg. He was bedridden and was developing cellulitis.

Doctors gave him antibiotics and educated him on maintaining a healthier diet, and the patient has begun losing weight and gotten his diabetes under control.
Deacon Doctor Scott Ross, who is a Deacon at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, as well as a doctor in family medicine and primary care sports medicine, has been at the clinic since it opened its doors.

Ross said the clinic offers an opportunity for him not to worry about insurance and all the bells and whistles that come with a standard medical practice.

“We get to practice medicine the way we want to practice medicine,” Ross said.

Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic is open Monday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.., Tuesday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Thursday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.