Crowds of people gathered Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s new South Madison Family Planning and Education Center.
Representatives from PPWI’s management, County Executive Kathleen Falk and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, were present to show their support for the facility at 2222 S. Park St.
PPWI President and CEO Teri Huyck praised the opening of the new facility as a welcome change to what had previously been available to area residents.
“This new health center is a bit of a miracle, we have been, as an organization, trying to move out of our West Mifflin Street site for 15 years,” Huyck said.
The site of the new facility is shared by the Urban League of Greater Madison and the Madison Public Library. Funding for the facility was provided by a $700,000 capital campaign by Dane County, according to a statement by PPWI.
Huyck added the collaboration of Planned Parenthood, the Urban League and the library allows for residents to have access to a wealth of information and services concerning topics ranging from employment and tax assistance to basic health care.
The new facility’s education department provides family planning services, counseling and cancer screenings and detection. The range of informative classes on healthy decision making and reproductive health, combined with the center’s other education services, reaches 3,000 individuals in Dane County, the statement said.
A continued focus on providing reproductive health services over the years was central to the statements made by speakers at the event.
“It was important back then for all the very same reasons that it is today,” Janet Piraino, chief of staff for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said. “It sits on an important gateway to the city and the university…it’s a wonderful collaborative of education, health and social service organizations.”
Piraino added that although the new, state-of-the-art center has been in the works for quite some time, the real benefit to the community is the continued work of the facility and organization’s staff.
Rep. Baldwin, the event’s keynote speaker, elaborated upon the necessity of comprehensive and competent health services in Dane County.
“With this new facility, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is improving on the wonderful services it already provides for basic healthcare, family planning and community education,” Baldwin said.
According to the statement, PPWI currently provides health care and other services to an estimated 10,000 individuals in Dane County. Many present at the facility’s grand opening were enthusiastic that with this new location many more could be reached and cared for.
Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5 said the new facility is a marked improvement from the Mifflin Street location, described by many present at the event to have fallen into major disrepair.
“I think that their ability to see more patients in an environment that is much more welcoming is really great,” Bidar-Sielaff said. “It allows both of the communities that are here on the south side better access, [and] it allows better access for students.”
