Natural fertility training session draws record numbers

Omaha, Neb., Apr 13, 2011 / 00:23 am

A record number of women’s health practitioners from around the world have completed a training regimen in how to apply knowledge about the natural regulation of human fertility.

From April 2-9 the 107 practitioners gathered in Omaha, Neb. for the second phase of training by the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction.

Dr. Lewis D. Lipscomb, an OB/GYN practicing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said that he decided to stop prescribing contraception and performing sterilization after undergoing the first phase of the training.

“I can finally go to work with a true sense of peace, knowing that I am practicing in accord with my faith, and helping to promote a culture of life, family values, and respect for sexuality,” he said.

The training, which has been offered for 33 consecutive years, concerned the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology.

The FertilityCare System provides comprehensive and professional services through individualized follow-up, standardized teaching and ongoing research. The Creighton Model is a medically standardized modification of the Billings Ovulation method.

NaProTechnology, which stands for Natural Procreative Technology, is a system that monitors and maintains a woman's reproductive and gynecological health.

Conference attendee Joanna Najfeld of Warsaw, Poland said she was looking forward to making this “revolutionary” fertility care service accessible to women in her country.

“I strongly believe that all women deserve the empowerment that comes from self-awareness of their bodies, navigating their own fertility in an educated and reliable manner,” she remarked.

She said she would work with couples and women to teach them to navigate fertility problems. If necessary, she would help them secure the proper NaProTechnology diagnosis and treatment for infertility, miscarriages, premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression, ovarian cysts, or other problems.

Ezenkwele Ezi, an OB/GYN practicing in Enugu, Nigeria, plans to return home and become a medical consultant for the fertility system. Dr. Ezenkwele said she was intrigued that the results of the science might help prevent breast cancer, which would be “an enormous achievement in medicine.”

Attendees at the conference also came from Mexico, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada.

Both the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology were developed through a research and education effort coordinated by Thomas W. Hilgers, M.D., director of the Pope Paul VI Institute and clinical professor in Creighton University Medical Center’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The training conference featured the presentation of a “Fides et Ratio” medal awarded to Dr. Hilgers by the Polish Catholic Scholar’s Guild.

The Pope Paul VI Institute describes itself as the leading U.S. education and research center in the area of natural regulation of human fertility and the development of morally and professionally acceptable reproductive health services.