Thanks to fundraising and donations on the part of the Knights of Columbus, Hope Unlimited will now have a 4-D ultrasound machine available to provide a first look at parents’ growing babies. The Knights of Columbus is a philanthropic organization of the Roman Catholic Church.
The machine will be unveiled at Hope Unlimited’s office in Paducah on Tuesday at 11:00 am. Everyone is invited to the ceremony and blessing of the machine. The bishop of the Owensboro Diocese will attend the ceremony, and the Knights of Columbus will be on hand in full color guard regalia.
Afterward, the Knights will take the machine to Hope’s Metropolis office at 305 Lincoln Street, where it will be available for clients who are making decisions to parent. The ultrasound scan is free and confidential.
While Hope’s Paducah office offers a full prenatal care medical clinic, including a 4-D ultrasound machine provided by the Knights of Columbus in 2013, the Metropolis office has only been able to offer free pregnancy testing up to this point. The new machine will allow moms and dads to have all available information before deciding to continue their pregnancy.
Hope Unlimited still has another hurdle to overcome before they can offer southern Illinois families free prenatal care - a doctor licensed by the state who would allow Hope to provide service under his or her medical supervision. So far, no qualified doctors have stepped forward. Dr. Jorge Cardenas, licensed in Kentucky, oversees care for Hope’s prenatal clinic in Paducah.
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