2012 Physician-Couple Retreat
Make plans to attend the 2012 physician-couple retreat in February! Fr. Jaroslaw Szymczak from the Holy Family Institute in Warsaw, Poland will be the retreat master. Each weekend session includes a lecture, a workshop, and couple dialogue. Presenters at the retreat include Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers, who will offer two CME lectures, and his wife Sue Hilgers.
Download the brochure/registration form and the poster.
February 9th – 11th, 2012 – Omaha, Nebraska
Opening Mass – 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 9th | Departure – Sunday, February 12th
Location: Pope Paul VI Institute Chapel of the Holy Family and Comfort Inn & Suites.
A weekend retreat focusing on marriage, family, and the practice of women’s medicine in a Culture of Life.
* Daily Mass
* Silent reflection and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
* Sessions (with lecture, workshops, couple dialogue) include:
– Idealized Visions Versus Reality
– Respect and Acceptance of Differences
– Gift–Not Demand
– A Time for Us
– Dialogue and Communication
– Sealing the Gift of Sexuality
* Continuing medical education lectures (tentative)**
What participants said…
“My husband and I would like to encourage all physicians and their spouses to come and visit with others even if you are just considering the training program. To hear and see the other strong, intelligent, capable physicians talk about their experiences of conversion and to know others like yourself are practicing successfully in the world today without contraception was a great encouragement. It was essential to me in changing my practice; it gave me the courage to do what I already believed. When my husband was also able to understand the issues, I was so worried but he became completely supportive of my decision no matter the consequences. As most people, I needed more than my conviction to live out this belief. I needed a supportive network of colleagues and a partner who believed in it with equal passion. This conference gave me both of these gifts. Thanks! ”
“The retreat was an awesome experience for us. I can’t wait for next year’s retreat.” — Spouse
“The retreat leaders were excellent.” — Physician and spouse
“Fr. Jay was an excellent retreat leader.” — Physician
“Workshops were awesome. The individual dialogue was good as well. Looking forward to our homework! The retreat was an awesome experience for us.” — Spouse
“Liked the workshop (dialogue approach). Conducive to small groups, given the nature of the topics.” — Physician
“It was a great help to hear from Dr. and Mrs. Sue Hilgers on how they balanced family life with their calling to NaPro.” –Spouse
“I thought the retreat allowed for a deeper level of discussions with my fiance than I had experienced on the engaged encounter retreat. We were also given tools to learn to work together and understand better each other’s perspectives. It is clear to me that Fr. Jay has extensive experience with married couples and hardships of the vocation of marriage. I hope that with the knowledge gained and the graces obtained in this retreat my fiance and I will be better equipped to embark on this journey called marriage.” — Physician (wedding date: June 11, 2011)
New EWTN Appearance
Echoes of Our Choices, on Friday, January 20th at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CST, will feature neonatologist Robin Pierucci and will feature Dr. Tom Hilgers, pioneer of NaPro Technology. They will be addressing the underlying causes of infertility and the level of success women have had achieving natural pregnancies.
To view this program live online, visit EWTN Television and click on “Television” in the top black menu bar, then select “Live TV – English” and choose your viewing area.
An alternate show time will be 3:00 a.m. ET/2:00 a.m. CST.
Also, check out Dr. Catherine Keefe‘s radio interview on Spirit Catholic Radio Network’s Daybreak with TJ and Rachel (click the red “Listen Live” button at the top of the page). An interview with her will air this Tuesday, January 24th at 8:00 a.m. CST. She will be speaking about NaProTechnology and her trip to Colombia where she presented this new women’s health science.
VIDEO Now Available for Webcast of Dr. Hilgers’ Debate in Poland – NPT vs. IVF
The video of the NPT vs IVF debate is now available on teh web site listed below in the original post.
Thomas Hilgers, MD will be debating one of Poland’s leading IVF physicians on Friday, September 23rd (9:00 am CEST/ 2:00 am CST) following his Thursday, September 22nd (11:00 am CEST/ 4:00 am CST) lectures on NaProTechnology at the Polish Society of Perinatal Medicine meeting in Poznan, Poland. Both meetings will be broadcast live on the Internet. Tune in to hear the live webcasts of Dr. Hilgers as he presents the culture of life and the benefits of NaProTechnology at a conference for perinatologists in Poland.
To link to the live webstream, click here: http://tv.man.poznan.pl/Hilgers/index_1_en.html
This is an exciting opportunity for the physicians of Poland and for people around the world to hear about the medical, surgical, and ethical superiority of NaProTechnology to in-vitro fertilization. Thanks for your prayers as Dr. Hilgers speaks out for LIFE!!!
CHECK BACK HERE FOR THE LATEST UPDATES!
“FertilityCare for Young Women” Newsletter Has a New Look
One of our popular newsletters, FertilityCare for Young Women has a new look! This newsletter, started in 2009 by the Institute’s FertilityCare Center of Omaha, is specifically designed for college-aged and post-college-aged women. Many of the topics address issues that affect young women, their health, and their fertility. The pages are also filled with interesting biological facts in the Did You Know??? and the Fun Facts about Your Fertility sections. The articles serve to support young women in their commitment to chastity and true expressions of love. Also, women will find features on virtuous men and women who can serve as models of Christian virtue in contemporary life.
Be sure to read our latest issue and share this publication with the young women whom you know!
Now CLOSED! CEIBA Study
For more information:
Available Now! The NaProTechnology Revolution
Dr. Hilgers’ new book, “The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman’s Cycle”, is now available! This book for the general public discusses many aspects of the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology. Full-color graphics embellish this great hardcover gem that should be on every woman’s or medical professional’s book shelf!
Record Numbers Complete Training
Record Number of Practitioners Complete Pope Paul VI Institute’s Training
For Immediate Release — April 11, 2011 (Contact: Sue Hilgers, Institute Advancement, (402) 505-8949, suehilg@aol.com)
(Omaha, Nebr.) From April 2-9, 2011, 107 women’s health practitioners from the U.S., Poland, Mexico, Nigeria, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, gathered in Omaha to complete Education Phase II of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction’s training in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology. It is the largest number of practitioners to attend the Institute’s the annual training, which has been offered for 33 consecutive years.
The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is the leading education and research center in the United States in the area of natural regulation of human fertility and the development of morally and professionally acceptable reproductive health services. Dedicated to Pope Paul VI’s challenge to “physicians and health care professionals” and to “men of science,” it is a living memorial to the challenges placed before us by the Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life).
Each year, the Pope Paul VI Institute offers two Education Phases for national and international students in the following programs: Practitioner Interns, Medical Consultants, Double Program Interns (Practitioners and Medical Consultants), Nurse Practitioners, Physicians Assistants, and Pharmacists.
Medical practitioners from around the world pose with Dr. Hilgers (back row, tan jacket)
at the Pope Paul VI Institute Education Phase II training conference in Omaha, April 2-9.
According to patient and conference attendee Joanna Najfeld of Warsaw, Poland, the Creighton Model and NaProTechnology is a revolution in women’s health.
“I strongly believe that all women deserve the empowerment that comes from self-awareness of their body, navigating their own fertility in an educated and reliable manner,” she stated. “I am going to work with couples and women, teaching them to track the symptoms of their cycles in order to navigate fertility and monitor health, and, if necessary, obtain the proper NaProTechnology diagnosis and effective treatment for infertility, miscarriages, premenstrual syndrome, post partum depression, ovarian cysts, abnormal bleeding, or whatever the problem may be. I am really looking forward to making this revolutionary FertilityCare service accessible to women in my country.”
Another attendee, Ezenkwele Ezi, an OB/GYN practicing in Enugu, Nigeria, plans to return to her country and become a medical consultant of NaProTechnology. Dr. Ezenkwele said the most striking thing she learned in the second education phase is the possible link between NaProTechnology and breast cancer.
“More research needs to be done in this area,” she explained, “but the results could possibly provide a solution to preventing the breast cancer, which would be an enormous achievement in medicine.”
Dr. Lewis D. Lipscomb, an OB/GYN practicing in Winston-Salem, NC, said that after attending Education Phase I in October, 2010, he decided to cease prescribing contraception and performing sterilization.
“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 of sexuality,” he stated.
The Creighton Model FertilityCare System and the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology have been developed through a research and education effort coordinated and directed by Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, director of the Omaha-based Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Creighton University Medical Center.
The Creighton Model FertilityCare System provides comprehensive, professional services through individualized follow-up, standardized teaching tools and ongoing research. The Creighton Model is a medically standardized modification of the Billings Ovulation method. It is the only education program in this field that meets the education demands of a newly emerging allied health profession and provides a case management approach to teaching.
Two organizations unite Creighton Model FertilityCare Centers nationally and internationally: FertilityCare Centers of America and FertilityCare Centers International.
A highlight of the training conference was the presentation of a “Fides Et Ratio” (Faith and Reason) medal awarded to Dr. Thomas Hilgers by the Polish Catholic Scholar’s Guild. Pharmacist and Pope Paul VI Institute faculty member, Janina Filipczuk of Toronto, Canada, received the medal for Dr. Hilgers in Poland on March 19. She presented it to Dr. Hilgers, “for his faithful service of the human person and its dignity, as well as the affirmation of human fertility.”
***
Founded in 1985, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction has developed a new approach to women’s health care that embodies the best principles of medicine and offers superior treatments to women and challenges mainstream medicine, which relies on contraception, in vitro fertilization, and abortion. Through the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology, its healthy, moral solutions to issues in women’s health care impact the lives of thousands of women, couples, doctors, medical students, priests, and babies nationally and internationally. More than 1,000 teachers and 300 physicians have been trained in the Creighton Model System.
Thomas W. Hilgers, MD
Senior Medical Consultant
Obstetrics, Gynecology, Reproductive Medicine and Surgery
Director: Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction
Clinical Professor Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Creighton University School of Medicine
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.
Journal Article Published!
In March, Dr. Hilgers had a paper published in the Journal of Gynecologic Surgery entitled “Near Adhesion-Free Pelvic Surgery: Three Distinct Phases Over 23 Years.” The article presents a surgical technique that “allows patients with the most extensive form of pelvic adhesions to undergo reconstructive pelvic surgery wtih a near-adhesions-free postoperative outcome. The study shows that, “with the use of a comprehensive, well-defined set of surgical antiadhesion techniques, it is possible to perform adhesion-free or near adhesion-free reconstructive pelvic surgery.” (Taken from Abstract, J GYNECOL SURG 26:31)
Welcome to My New Blog Site!
As summer wraps up, the Institute loses its summer research assistants but gains three new fellows! In addition, I have two international speaking engagements before our new Education Phase begins in October.
Keep checking this site, as I will post current happenings, answer some of your questions, and tell you how NaProTechnology continues to find real solutions to real problems …
NaProTechnology…Real solutions to real problems such as premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression, ovarian cysts, miscarriages, and infertility!