Goal 2 Greater Access

Options Pregnancy Center strives to help women make life-affirming decisions, by removing barriers to access medical services. The center offers pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, pre-natal vitamins and community referrals free of charge to women in Benton and Linn counties.

“We have trained nursing staff that do the testing and ultrasounds,” said Karen Tameling, CEO. “We also offer individualized support for every patient throughout their pregnancy – and beyond, if they request it.”

Based in Albany, Options has a mobile unit that currently parks in Corvallis once a week. Women in Corvallis can schedule an appointment at the unit for services, even an ultrasound. Samaritan’s Benton County Social Accountability Committee has supported the mobile unit with grants for the past three years.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Options to suspend appointments in the mobile unit for several months. However, Options was still able to serve 30 patients with 20 pregnancy tests, 18 ultrasounds, 13 bottles of prenatal vitamins and 17 specific community referrals. In addition to serving many women in Linn County from the Albany location, that facility also served women from Benton County with 10 pregnancy tests, six ultrasounds, 7 bottles of vitamins and 15 community referrals.

“Samaritan’s support allows us to focus on providing much-needed services in our community without figuring out how to pay for it,” Tameling said. “Without Samaritan, we would have to provide our services on a more limited basis.”