(WCCO/CNN) - A bar in Minnesota and a non-profit are teaming up to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome. Patrons can now find out if they're pregnant way before last call.
"I think it's a little weird," says Pub 500 patron Crystal Dervetski. Women usually like to go to the bathroom together. "I really don't know what goes on in there," says bar owner, says Tom Fredrik. But at Mankato's Bar 500 you might want to go alone. "I think it's great. It's cheap. People don't have to be embarrassed about it," says a bar patron.
"I had a person pop in and ask us about it. Are you really putting pregnancy tests in your bathrooms?" says Fredrik. But, they are. "It's good to know before you start drinking," says a bar patron.
Finding out is really easy. It's only 3 bucks and all you have to do is swipe your card. Then just grab it and take it behind closed doors. "How many times have you heard people say, 'Oh, I found out I was pregnant,' and I didn't know I was going to get pregnant," says Jody Allen Crowe. Jody Allen Crowe is an educator turned developer with the non-profit Healthy Brains for Children. "That early brain development is so critical."
The group is committed to preventing fetal alcohol syndrome. "The damage starts to occur to the brain at two weeks, 18 days of a pregnancy," says Crowe.
It's a serious message in what some consider a comical place. "I would think that someone who cared about that would check before they came to the bar," says Dervetski.
The bar doesn't mind if it becomes a novelty item. "Humor is a good educator as well," says Fredrik. Because it keeps people talking, think before you drink.
If the idea catches on, Crowe wants to expand the machines beyond the bar.
He says we could start seeing them in places like locker rooms, gas stations and malls.
