Damage to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs was difficult to gauge from beyond a crime-scene perimeter, but Vicki Cowart sounded a defiant note Tuesday as she vowed to restore services there as soon as possible.
“Picture my fist in the air,” said the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in a phone interview from her Denver office. “We will rebuild.”
The clinic was the scene of , including one police officer, during a siege that began late Friday morning and stretched for several hours. At one point, a police tactical vehicle rammed into the front of the building.
Eventually, a man surrendered to authorities and
Planned Parenthood serves about 8,000 clients at the Colorado Springs clinic. Even as the standoff unfolded, staff members began contacting patients who had scheduled appointments for Saturday and this week to make alternative plans at other facilities.
“We’re looking forward to getting back in, assessing the damage and how much it will cost us to repair it,” Cowart said of the organization’s southernmost clinic on the Front Range. “We’re a nonprofit, so it’s a daunting thing to consider. But we’re absolutely committed to reopening the facility.”
The property, at 3480 Centennial Boulevard on the city’s west side, was purchased by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains five years ago for $2.05 million, according to county records. The building was particularly attractive, Cowart said, because it was already a health care facility — it housed the Colorado Springs Osteopathic Foundation — situated among other providers.
“We didn’t have to retrofit everything in terms of exam rooms, all the kinds of things you have in medical facilities,” she said.
The structure also was well-suited to Planned Parenthood’s other logistical needs, given the regular presence of abortion protesters. The distance of parking and the entrance from public sidewalks, Cowart noted, helps determine strategies to buffer patients and staff members from protesters.
“The Colorado Springs facility is beautiful from that perspective, because protesters have to be way out at the main thoroughfare,” Cowart said.
This week, authorities stretched a blue tarp over the opening in the building that was created by a police vehicle during the confrontation. Crime lab vans were parked outside, and an area of about two blocks along Centennial Boulevard remained cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape.
Cowart said the 15 staffers on the premises Friday “performed in a textbook-perfect way” and survived. She added that the staff undergoes extensive safety training for active shooter situations based on a widely promoted, .
“This is where we live now, right?” Cowart said. “My folks did that. They got everybody out of harm’s way. They got into safe spaces. They hunkered down. They knew it was going to be a wait. They quieted cellphones, so their whereabouts would not be given up, and waited until police gave them the all-clear and escorted them out of the building.”
Although there were references in the immediate aftermath to “safe rooms” in the facility, Cowart said that while she isn’t familiar with the specific layout of the Colorado Springs clinic, the term generally denotes spaces that are behind securable doors.
“There are rooms that we know are safe, and people got to a lot of different spaces in the building behind locked doors,” she said. “That’s a safe room. What I know is that people got into safe rooms and they weren’t all in the same room. When we do training here (at the Denver administrative building), I know where my safe room is. I know everybody else has one, and we’re not all in the same space.”
Cowart said Planned Parenthood’s security plans undergo constant assessment and change in response to the environment and in coordination with law enforcement.
“Planned Parenthood has some unique security challenges,” Cowart said. “And they are exacerbated right now by this hate speech, the hateful commentary that’s going on about abortion and reproductive health care in general and Planned Parenthood specifically.”
She said women who might have been considering services at the Colorado Springs facility before last week’s attack can still make an appointment by calling 1-800-230-PLAN (7526).
Next year, she added, Planned Parenthood will celebrate its 100th anniversary in the state.
“After decades, nearly a century, and generations of folks that we’ve served, we’re here to stay,” Cowart said. “We’re part of the Colorado landscape and deeply committed to our communities.”
Kevin Simpson: 303-954-1739, ksimpson@denverpost.com or @ksimpsondp
