Community

Aim Women’s Center marks decades of serving women with expanded care

STEUBENVILLE -- Aim Women’s Center is just that place in town where women go to get free items for their babies, right?

Think again.

Aim has been serving women with unexpected pregnancies since 1987. While the needs of women and their babies have always been the organization’s primary focus, Aim’s services have evolved as those needs have changed over the years.

The center offers pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, options counseling and education, doula support and childbirth classes, parenting and life skills classes, community events and support groups, counseling and spiritual support, connections to housing, medical care and other resources, a residential program for pregnant mothers experiencing housing insecurity and a Baby Boutique with diapers, formula, clothing and baby supplies.

To provide testing, ultrasounds, education and support, Aim employs three professionals with advanced credentials to help ensure consistency and quality of care. The staff includes two registered nurses certified in inpatient obstetric nursing, a credential representing national certification verifying expertise in antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and newborn care.

Administered by the National Certification Corp., the certification validates advanced knowledge for labor and delivery and maternal-newborn nurses.

One nurse said the work at Aim is rewarding because of the relationships developed with clients.

“When I had the opportunity to have a small class on postpartum mental health at Aim for my BSN, I was able to see the close relationships these moms had developed with everyone at Aim,” she said. “I wanted to work at Aim to be able to share my knowledge of labor and delivery and postpartum with the moms. I also feel that I can empathize very closely with so many of the women that walk through the doors here. Having a baby changes your life and I believe the support at Aim helps women be successful as mothers.”

Aim also employs a sonographer who holds the credentials of registered diagnostic medical sonographer and registered vascular technologist, credentials issued by the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. The RDMS credential certifies expertise in general or specialized abdominal, obstetric and breast sonography, while the RVT credential certifies specialization in diagnosing blood flow and circulatory system disorders.

Advanced sonographer Shannon Schultz said her job is gratifying.

“One of the greatest privileges is using my skills to give parents their first glimpse of their baby. Those moments are often filled with emotion, hope and love. Knowing that my work can bring hope during a difficult time is what makes working at Aim so meaningful,” she said.

The professionals are essential to providing comprehensive care for the women who seek Aim’s services, Executive Director Rebekah Cohen Morris said.

“Most of the women who come to us are coming as their first stop to learn if they are pregnant, and most with no plan about what to do if they are,” she said. “They’ve had no previous medical care and although we encourage it, they may not seek prenatal care at all upon learning they are pregnant. It’s crucial that the professionals they see at Aim are equipped to answer their questions and guide them through their pregnancies.”

Cohen Morris stressed that Aim staff strongly encourage women diagnosed as pregnant at the clinic to seek prenatal care from a medical professional.

To learn more about nursing, ultrasound and other services, visit Aim Women’s Center’s website or call (740) 283-3636.