For Catholic couples experiencing infertility and reproductive health issues, finding medical providers offering solutions that align with the Church’s moral teachings can be challenging.
Thankfully, the Gianna Center of Philadelphia has been for a resource for women and families experiencing those challenges in the Philadelphia region since 2017.
The center is named after Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, a patron saint of fertility, pregnancy, and childbirth. She was an Italian pediatrician, and many miracles regarding pregnancy and childbirth have been attributed to her intercession.
Barbara Rose, a certified Fertility Care Practitioner and nurse practitioner at the center, said that over 200 babies have been conceived by clients who sought fertility care at the Gianna Center in the past five years.
She says the center “promotes the dignity of women, the sanctity of marriage, and respect for life.”
Located in East Norriton at Suburban Community Hospital, the Gianna Center provides infertility and gynecological care, including training in the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System (CrMS) and NaProTECHNOLOGY® (Natural Procreative Technology) medical and surgical treatments.
CrMS is a method of natural family planning which involves identifying the fertile period during a woman’s menstrual cycle. It may be used to either achieve or avoid pregnancy. CrMS was developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, the founder and director of the Saint Paul VI Institute.
To assist couples in practicing CrMS, an app is now available through the Saint Paul VI Institute. Visit popepaulvi.com/app/ for details on how to access the app.
CrMS pairs with NaProTECHNOLOGY, which uses natural methods and restorative surgery to treat reproductive diseases. “It’s functional medicine for women,” says Rose of NaProTECHNOLOGY.
Both methods focus on the restoration of fertility as a way to obtain a natural conception, providing a morally sound alternative to other assisted reproduction techniques, such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
CrMS “helps a woman identify the health of her fertility, and she’s empowered with the knowledge of her fertility,” said Rose.
At the Gianna Center, Rose says, “We feel like we’re making a difference” in the field of reproductive health care.
This week, March 17-23, the Gianna Center celebrates Worldwide FertilityCare Week, an annual event which highlights the benefits of the CrMS and NaProTECHNOLOGY. This year’s theme is “The Creighton Model FertilityCare System – It’s AUTHENTIC.”
On Wednesday, March 20 the Gianna Center will have an information table set up 10:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m. in the lobby of Suburban Community Hospital. On hand for education and conversation will be nurse practitioners, fertility care practitioners, and volunteers.
“We’re more of a medical mission,” says Rose of working at the Gianna Center. “There are few places that women can go for this kind of care,” she said, and because they’re a nonprofit organization, women of all income levels are accepted as patients.
The center also welcomes Spanish language patients. Dr. Delia Larrauri, who attended medical school in Venezuela before moving to the United States to complete her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Albert Einstein Medical Center, speaks Spanish.
For more information, contact the Gianna Center at info@phgiannacenter.com or visit their website at www.phgiannacenter.com/. For information about upcoming special events for the Gianna Center, visit www.phgiannacenter.com/event.
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