Young Catholic residents are the new face of natural family planning

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- It was a month before she had to decide her specialty in medical school, and Brooke Jemelka found herself at a crossroads.
 
She had been concentrating on pediatrics during her studies at Texas A&M University, but by the end of her third year, she was starting to question what she wanted to do with her life.
 
Then she delivered her first baby, "and my whole life changed," said Jemelka, a native of Yoakum, Texas.
 
As a Catholic, she was involved in pro-life activities, including sidewalk counseling, pro-life rallies and more. It was later that she realized that was preparing the way for a future in obstetrics and gynecology.
 
"I felt like there was no way I could not be doing God's work," she said in an interview with the St. Louis Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
 
Today, Jemelka is one of six -- yes, six -- resident physicians in the OB/GYN Residency Program at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis who plan to specialize in natural family planning, or NFP, in their future practices. As part of their training, the residents currently are caring for uninsured and underinsured women who come to Mercy's JFK Clinic.
 
Each of them has a different story of how they became involved in medicine, but all of them agree that God put them in the place where they're at now for a reason. While doctors in St. Louis and around the nation who specialize in natural methods of fertility care are still considered the minority, all of these residents have encountered many women who want to know the truth about their fertility through the use of NFP.
 
First-year intern Jacob Peyton of Argyle, Texas, said as a Catholic, his family and friends were very supportive of his decision to focus on NFP. However, as a student at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, he said almost no one was familiar with current natural family planning methods.
 
"They thought it was impossible to do OB/GYN without prescribing contraception," he said.
 
Second-year resident Gavin Puthoff, a native of Austin, Texas, admitted he tried talking himself out of pursuing OB/GYN, but he realized, like the others, that "for most of us, a big part of what we do every day is God's work."
 
Jemelka, a fourth-year resident, said she, too, was told by many during her medical school days that they "thought I was hanging myself out to dry" by focusing on NFP. Next year, she will be moving to Omaha, Neb., for a fellowship program at Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction.
 
Founded in 1985 by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, the institute is the home of the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, one of several church-accepted natural methods of fertility regulation. It also is the force behind NaPro Technology, a medicine-based health science that monitors and maintains a woman's reproductive and gynecological health, all within the realm of church teaching.
 
While it's common knowledge that practicing NFP-based medicine isn't exactly mainstream these days, the residents and others have heaped praise on Mercy for welcoming them into the program.
 
Jemelka said she interviewed with more than 17 residency programs around the country and found the process discouraging.
 
Several of those programs, including some at Catholic hospitals, even told her that she wouldn't be able to practice medicine "according to my moral conscience."
 
At Mercy, "even on my first interview, I felt accepted and not judged based on my religious beliefs," she said. "I knew that my beliefs would be supported at this program without a doubt."
 
First-year intern Alexis Simon, said she, too, has been pleased with her decision to come to Mercy for residency.
 
"I know that my beliefs aren't exactly mainstream, but nearly every person I've worked with has been supportive of me," she said. "I feel so blessed to have been welcomed into this program."
 
K. Diane Daly, supervisor of Mercy's Department of FertilityCare Services and director of the St. Louis archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning, said she gives "a lot of credit to Mercy for the support they give to these residents, for the hospitals that support these NFP programs, and to the archdiocese for the support they give to all models of natural family planning, which help empower women to be partners in their health care."
 
Besides the six residents, there are five other OB/GYN doctors practicing in St. Louis. There also are several family medicine doctors, not to mention nurse practitioners, nurses and others who teach four methods of NFP locally.
 
Daly, who travels around the world to teach and supervise others in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, said St. Louis is emerging as a leader of fertility care through NFP.
 
"It's not the old rhythm method that your grandmother once used," she said. "St. Louis has been outstanding in its leadership and support."
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Brinker is a reporter at the St. Louis Review.