By Gene Buglewicz
OXFORD – New life will be in clear focus in Oxford, thanks to a Knights of Columbus project. Andy Reynolds, Grand Knight, Knights of Columbus Council 10901, delivered the final check to pay for a new ultrasound machine to Rebecca Bishop, Executive Director of the Pregnancy Center, Oxford on Tuesday, November 28.
To celebrate the purchase, the Pregnancy Center located at 295 County Road 101, Oxford, will host a reception and open house December 14th at 1:00 p.m. The Baby Boutique and Clothes Closet will be available for inspection as well as the ultrasound laboratory and the new ultrasound machine.
Donated funds provided through the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative enabled the Pregnancy Center to purchase a new, high-tech $40,000 ultrasound machine. Knights from the local Council 10901, the State of Mississippi and the national office enabled the purchase.

A manufacturer’s image of the new ultrasound machine the Knights of Columbus purchased for the Pregnancy Center in Oxford.

The Pregnancy Center provides a multitude of services to clients free of charge without state or federal funds. The Center is solely supported by local churches, organizations and private citizens who believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
Earlier this year, Bishop Joseph Kopacz toured the center and got an update on the fund-raising projects underway to purchase the new equipment.
Once a client receives a positive pregnancy test at the center, and is believed to be less than 14 weeks along, the non-diagnostic ultrasound determines if the pregnancy is viable and in the uterus where it should be. A client may be able to hear her child’s heartbeat. While the older ultrasound could determine viability around five weeks, it is hoped the new technology will establish viability even earlier.
The new ultrasound is a Toshiba Xario 100/PS Platinum Ultrasound Imaging System sold by Toshiba America Medical Systems in Nashville, Tennessee. This machine replaces a 10 year-old model used by the Pregnancy Center and provides a significant advance in determining pregnancy using a ultrasound probes with a wider selection of frequencies.
The project’s benefits will spread way beyond just the Oxford area. The older ultrasound from the Pregnancy Center is being given to the Women’s Resource Pregnancy Center in Cleveland to replace their 20 year-old model.

(Gene Buglewiczi is a member of Oxford St. John Parish and the Knights of Columbus.)