by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
LANSING — Nine months.
That’s about how long it took from “conception” to “birth,” so to speak, for the newest pregnancy resource center within the archdiocese to open its doors.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann blessed Sparrow Women’s Clinic, located at 100 E. Kansas St. in Lansing, on Oct. 31. It opens later this month.
The name comes from Psalm 84, which says: “As the sparrow finds a home and swallow a nest to settle her young, my home is by your altars, my king and my God.”
Founders Brice and Patty Halley hope the welcoming environment provided by the medical clinic will help many women choose life for their children.
The idea for the clinic was born approximately nine months ago.
After moving to the area in August 2021 from Bentonville, Arkansas, the couple said they planned to settle into a retirement lifestyle.
God, they said, had different plans.
“I thought we were going to travel, do hobbies and spend time with family,” Patty said.
The couple had moved to Kansas to be near Brice’s family. They had no other plans beyond that, except maybe to use their time and talents to serve at a pregnancy resource center in the area. Throughout the past 15 years, they had volunteered, worked at and served as board members of other centers in Alaska and Arkansas.
“Brice went out looking for a place for men’s counseling, and he went to Birthright. I was looking around for a place where I could do ultrasounds again. There wasn’t any,” Patty said.
Thinking it might be “time to get back to work,” the couple started praying.
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, Brice said, one day the couple just looked at each other and realized they needed to found a clinic themselves, one that would serve clients in the area.
“There weren’t any plans for it,” Brice said.
Patty agreed.
“We asked family and friends to talk us out of it,” she said, “but they all said they thought we needed to do this.”
That was in February.
Since then, the couple founded a 501(c)(3) foundation, formed a board of directors, secured and renovated a brick-and-mortar location, and enlisted the services of medical director Catherine Grote, D.O.
The new clinic is distinct from some of the other pregnancy resource centers found within the archdiocese in a few ways.
First, it will be solely a medical clinic. As such, the clinic will offer pregnancy verification testing administered by a registered nurse, ultrasounds and abortion pill reversal treatment in partnership with Heartbeat International. And because the pregnancy verification will be signed by a nurse, a client will be able to submit the form to insurance providers.
Also, for now, it will be open all five days a week, although that could change. Most pregnancy resource centers within the archdiocese are closed on Fridays.
The clinic’s stated mission is to serve “the abortion-minded, the abortion-vulnerable and the underserved” and “to treat each person with kindness,” while connecting clients to community resources.
“We are a medical clinic,” said Patty. “My vision or business plan or whatever you want to call it is that we will network with all the resources in the area. I think the chances of someone hearing the Gospel, meeting a believer or seeing the love of Christ out in the community will be much better for them than if everything was right here.
“Whatever that woman needs, we are going to connect them [to it].”
And it is all thanks, she said, to the generosity of donors and volunteers.
In his remarks, Archbishop Naumann said, “I am grateful to Sparrow Women’s Clinic for opening its doors to serve women facing difficult pregnancies. This is an incredibly important time for the work of pregnancy help centers in Kansas.”
“It takes special courage and obedience to God’s call,” he added, “to open an enterprise like this at this time, but it has never been more important.
