Catholic Answers Live – Dr. Hilgers’ Interview
Listen to Catholic Answers Live this Friday, September 9th starting at 5:00 p.m. CST to hear an interview with Dr. Hilgers, Fertility as Gift!
To hear Dr. Hilgers’ interview this Friday on Catholic Answers Live, visit Catholic Answers Live and click on the Listen Live link immediately above the top left corner of the calendar. Or, on the sidebar, select “Live 3pm-5pm, EWTN” under Catholic Answers Live heading. By selecting the program “Fertility as Gift – Dr. Thomas Hilgers” on the September 9th calendar block , you will find options to set an online reminder for yourself and to share this news with friends too!
Also, you will find this information on our web site.
2011 AAFCP Annual Meeting
This summer, I will be presenting at the 2011 American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals Annual Meeting, which will be held in Duluth, Minnesota from July 20th through the 23rd. I will be speaking on Thursday morning, the 21st of July, on The Fetal Safety of Progesterone in Pregnancy. During my talk, I will be presenting the largest database in the world on the use of progesterone in pregnancy. I will detail fetal anomalies and will then compare the use of progesterone support with non-use. And, I will review the medical literature available on this topic.
I will also be available for two Q&A break-out sessions. The first one on Friday will be for medical professionals and will explore issues about NaProTechnology. The second session on Saturday will be for all attendees and will consider the application of the Creighton Model System and NaProTechnology and will explore practical uses of these in case-related areas.
I hope you can incorporate this meeting in your summer plans. For more information and to register, visit http://www.aafcp.org and click on “Annual Meeting” under the Events tab.
Awards Bestowed
During 2010, I was one of the recipients of the Vatican’s highest medal for healthcare workers–the Good Samaritan Medal. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council of Healthcare Workers, bestowed the medal on me at the 5th of September 2010 closing Mass of the Pope Paul VI Institute’s 25th anniversary celebration. The Good Samaritan Medal is awarded to “those who serve the sick and the suffering in an exceptional way” (from rcdow.org.uk). As Archbishop Zimowski bestowed the medal on my wife, Sue, and me, he said, “With God’s grace and the commitment of the management, staff, and supporters, the Institute has educated practitioners, instructors, supervisors, educators, nurses, medical consultants, clergy and religious, and of course touched the lives of many mothers and families.” He lauded the efforts of the Institute–its sometimes solitary efforts–in building a culture of life in women’s health care.
On April 8th, 2011, during a ceremony at our largest-ever Education Phase, I was presented by our FertilityCareTM Educator Janina Filipczuk with the Fides et Ratio medal, which was awarded to me on the 19th of March 2011 by the Polish Catholic Scholars Guild. Janina, who received the award for me in Warsaw, was also a recipient of the award for introducing NaProTechnology to Poland. This award is given by “the Polish Catholic Scholar’s Guild for the promotion of goodness and beauty in the world” and for service to the human person and human dignity. In our spring 2011 issue of “Building a Culture of Life in Women’s Healthcare” newsletter, we have comments from Archbishop Henryk Hoser from the award ceremony.
Physician Couple Retreat — You and I = We
This February, we held our first-ever physician-couple retreat, which was specifically for physicians and their spouses/fiance[e]s to strengthen these physician couples in promoting a culture of life. Our retreat master, Fr. Jaroslaw Szymczak, tailored the retreat lectures, workshops, and couple dialogue times to physician couples. I had the opportunity to present two continuing medical education lectures on NaProTechnology. We look forward to offering the second retreat in this series later this year and to offering other retreat opportunities for those whom we serve.
Pope Paul VI Institute Celebrates 25 Years ~ Celebrate Love & Life
This year, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction–the home of FertilityCareTM and NaProTechnology–celebrates its 25th anniversary! Over Labor Day weekend, many staff, former employees, patients, friends and benefactors of the Institute joined together for a weekend of festivities here in Omaha.
Preceeding the festivities, we held a two day-long conference series. On Thursday, September 2nd, intellectuals and moral theologians presented on the pastoral directives in Pope Paul VI’s life-changing encyclical Humanae Vitae. On Friday, September 3rd, medical professionals from around the world and other interested lay people attended an international conference on the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology.
The culmination of the weekend was Saturday’s Family Fun Day. Families and friends of the Institute enjoyed inflatables, pony rides, a fire truck and smoke trailer, a police car, face painting, clowns, music, unicyclists, arcade games, testimonials, book signings, and much more! A tiered birthday cake and a drum battle between Dr. Hilgers and two of his sons crowned the day’s events!
Saturday evening was marked by a special reception and gala banquet. Raymond Arroyo, a newscaster on Eternal World Television Network and author of best-selling novels on Mother Angelica, gave a lively and enlightening talk. The weekend also included two special Masses, an opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal Justin Rigali and a closing Mass celebrated by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.
For coverage on the weekend’s events, visit Zenit and search for “NaProTechnology” and for “Zimowski” (articles range in dates from September 2, 2010 through September 11, 2010).
Coming Soon! A NaProTechnology Book for You…
Dr. Hilgers is preparing to release a new book for the general public on the women’s health science of NaProTechnology. The book is expected to become widely available in late September, but it will be released at The Labor Day Weekend Celebration of Love & Life. Look for The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman’s Cyclethis September!
Celebrate Love & Life
This year, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction–the home of FertilityCareTM and NaProTechnology–celebrates its 25th anniversary! We have festivities planned for this occasion in September. The Labor Day Weekend Celebration of Love & Lfe will be held here in Omaha, Nebraska, where the Institute was founded. There will be two day-long conferences preceeding the celebration.
On Thursday, September 2nd, we will hold the first-ever conference on the Pastoral Directives of Humanae Vitae. On Friday, September 3rd, medical professionals and other interested lay people can attend an international conference on the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology.
The culmination of the weekend will be Saturday’s Family Fun Day. The day of free fun to celebrate the 25th anniversary will have activities for the whole family including inflatables, pony rides, a fire truck and smoke trailer, a police car, face painting, clowns, music, unicyclists, arcade games, testimonials, book signings, and much more!
Saturday evening, there will be a special reception and gala banquet. The weekend will also start and end with two special Masses.
An amazing line-up of speakers are scheduled for the event. For more information, check out the Institute’s web site dedicated to The Labor Day Weekend Celebration of Love & Life: http://www.popepaulvi.com/celebrate-love-life.htm .
Upcoming speaking engagement at the AAFCP Annual Meeting
The American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals meets once a year to discuss timely issues relating to women’s health and FertilityCareTM. The organization was “founded in 1981 to foster, advance, and promote the Creighton Model FertilityCareTM System through service, education, leadership, and research.”
This year, the Academy is meeting in Greenville, South Carolina from July 21st to July 24th. The theme of the annual meeting will be Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Truth. Here, I will be giving a talk entitled “Adrenal Fatigue; FP Progesterone Level Research Results; and Application to NaProTECHNOLOGY.”
For more information on the annual meeting of the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals and to download a conference brochure, please visit http://www.aafcp.org/meeting_am.htm.
Caring for Mother and Child…Disturbing Trends
Did you know that one of the most remarkable opportunities for me, as an obstetrician-gynecologist, is taking care of both a mother and her child? OB/GYNs attend to the unique needs of women and to the care of mothers and their children surrounding the time of birth. Over the past few centuries, an incredible amount of progress has been made in women’s health. There has been a significant decline in childbirth-related maternal death and the decrease in infant mortality during the past several decades. This is because of better antibiotics and anesthesia, improved surgical procedures and blood transfusions, and new medications. However, some disturbing trends can be seen in the health care of women, children and families. These truly disturbing trends have been on the rise for at least the last forty years.
The “sexual revolution” of the 1960s is related to major increases in such things as use of contraception, abortion, divorce rates, births to unmarried women, teenage pregnancy, teenage sexual activity, teenage alcohol use and depression, drug use, violent crime rates, child abuse and neglect, prematurity, multiple pregnancy [sic] rates, infertility, sexually transmitted diseases, and even sexually explicit literature and videos. A major rise in contraceptive use has occurred since the 1960s. The increased use of contraception has occurred as a parallel rise in the number of abortions in the United States. Abortion is often widely used as a backup for contraception. Many of the other trends are increasing in a parallel manner to the increases in contraception and abortion. Also paralleling the increases in contraception and abortion is divorce, which has drastically increased and is known to adversely affect adult relationships as well as the children involved. Child abuse and child neglect is increasing as well. Can you believe there has also been a six- to seven-fold increase in the number of unmarried women who have given birth! Among teenage women, the pregnancy rates and the rates of sexual activity have both been increasing significantly. Teenage sexual activity is also strongly correlated with alcohol use and with depression. Likewise, there has been an increase in new teenage cocaine users and juvenile crime. The estimated violent crime rate has risen dramatically. Like a domino effect, these disturbing trends have been increasing with the rise of contraception and abortion.
Since the 1960s, despite advances in medicine, we have seen increased prematurity, babies born with low birth weights, and multiple pregnancies. Many of you know that along with multiple pregnancies, especially those resulting from the artificial reproductive technologies, selective reductions are increasingly performed. Selective reduction is a well-crafted, deliberately deceptive term for abortion of one or more of the babies. Sadly, we have also been witnessing an increase in infertility and impaired fertility, and a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases, related cancers, and AIDS. I believe—and the studies are backing this belief—that these disturbing trends are related.
Women’s health care and the care of children and families is an exciting field for an obstetrician-gynecologist, but some disturbing trends have been developing over the past forty years. The shifts in sexual behavior, far from being revolutionizing, have really been sexually retarding. These disturbing trends must be halted. Women must lead the action, and all of society must join them. Because the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology help to build respect for women, for fertility, for life, and for children and because they help to create a different world view of the human being and sexuality, the Creighton Model System and NaProTechnology are our ways of helping to reverse these trends! They are real solutions to real problems.
PCOD …Successful Surgical NaProTechnology
A number of women reading this right now might have polycystic ovaries. Polycystic ovaries are present in about 14 percent of otherwise healthy women and full-blown polycystic ovarian disease, or PCOD, afflicts approximately 6 percent of women. While many women who have PCOD do not exhibit any of the common symptoms, frequent indicators of PCOD may include amenorrhea (which is the absence of a menstrual period), obesity, facial hair (also called hirsuitism), and high blood pressure. PCOD is also associated with infertility. Women who have PCOD have ovaries that function abnormally and have irregular ovulation. Having polycystic ovaries puts women at risk for infertility, abnormal cholesterol levels, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, thrombosis, and cancers including endometrial, ovarian and breast cancers. Women with PCOD also frequently have the signs of increased androgen levels, which are the male hormones in women. A physician can suspect PCOD if a woman exhibits these signs, which include facial hair, acne, and male-pattern baldness. PCOD puts women at risk for such things as infertility, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even cancer. Yet, most women with PCOD receive inadequate treatment.
Therefore, all women with polycystic ovaries should be properly evaluated and treated. NaProTechnology aids women and physicians in identifying and treating polycystic ovarian disease, or PCOD. It uses a woman’s Creighton Model charts, which record various biological markers of her fertility and menstrual cycles. This information telegraphs abnormalities, such as long and irregular menstrual cycles which all women with PCOD have. NaProTechnology uses women’s Creighton model charts as the key for identifying and diagnosing PCOD. NaProTechnology treatment protocol seeks to establish normal hormone levels by using surgery to reduce the size of the ovary. NaProTechnology combines this surgery, called an ovarian wedge resection, with techniques that prevent scar tissue (called pelvic adhesions) and with hormone management.