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© Coloradoan libraryMaricela Lopez looks up from her paperwork to receive a mammogram at the Women's Resource Center tent July 13, 2012, in Loveland.
Center organizers say donations have dropped due to perceptions that federal reforms will cover women's health care needs.


Women's Resource Center closed its doors suddenly Friday, saying that federal health-care reforms have changed donor perceptions of the need to support affordable women's health care services.

The Fort Collins nonprofit, which has provided a wide array of bilingual health and human services primarily for uninsured or underinsured women, has operated in Larimer County since 1975. Its programs focused on prevention of breast, cervical, ovarian and reproductive cancers, dental health and diabetes education and mental health services.

"The perception among many of our previous grantors seemed to be that Obamacare would now be able to provide for all women's health needs," the nonprofit's board said in a written statement released Friday. "We started to develop a program to provide short-term crisis management for women who needed assistance with prioritizing and finding solutions to many of life's difficulties, especially mental health issues."

Center leaders said that many other county agencies were "fully supportive" of the nonprofit's attempts to remain relevant in the changing face of health care, but the decision was not backed up by the funding needed to continue operations.

The WRC website had events, including monthly mammogram vans at Northern Colorado retailers, scheduled through April 10. The organization's Facebook, Twitter and website had no mention of the closure, which was confirmed Friday morning by staff and board members.

Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver said it would continue to provide mammogram van services in Northern Colorado.

"The time needed to develop and obtain funding ran out, so we are closing our doors," the center's statement concluded. "We still hope that WRC may be able to make a comeback with the new program in the near future."