From the doctors' desk:
Tepeyac in the Community:
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2008 Natural Family Planning classes - Update
Location: St. Raymond of Penafort
Time: 2 - 4:30 pm.
1) Mar 30 2) June 29
Apr 27 July 20
May 18 Aug 24
The classes will be taught by Bob and Gerri Laird in the parish hall at St. Raymond's, using the new materials recently introduced by the Couple to Couple League. Gerri Laird was is the editor for the new Student Guide. The cost is $135 and includes a newly published student guide and other class materials.
To learn more about the class or to register, please email Gerry Laird or call: (703) 339-7261. For more information about NFP click here.
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Upcoming speaking engagements
April 8, 2008 @ 8pm: Dr. Bruchalski will be speaking on the topic of "Finding Joy in Mudville: Catholic Medicine in the 21st Century" at the monthly meeting of the Northern Virginia Catholic Physicians Guild. This talk is open to the public. Location: St. Raymond of Penafort, 8750 Pohick Rd. Springfield, VA 22153.
July 18-19, 2008: 40th Anniversary Celebration of Humanae Vitae. This weekend celebration will be held at St. Raymond of Penafort and extend from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon. Speakers will include Dr. John Bruchalski, Dr. Lorna Cvetkovich, Fr. Richard Hogan, and Sr. Mary Jordan. Further information and registration details to come.
July 31, 2008: Couple-to-Couple League Convention
The Couple-to-Couple League annual convention will be held in Asheville, NC. Dr. Bruchalski will be giving the 9:50am main morning talk as well as two afternoon workshops on Thursday, July 31st at the four-day convention. For more information or to register, please see http://ccli.org/convention.
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Tepeyac Announces the Addition of Three OB/GYNs to the Staff
Tepeyac Family Center announces the addition of three physicians to their staff, bringing the total number to six doctors and one nurse practitioner. For many years, the practice had been unable to accomodate the needs of patients in the Northern Virginia area because the schedule was full. Now, the addition of two board-certified OB/GYNs and a new physician just out of her residency allows Tepeyac to take those patients who seek an Obstetrician who cares about them, who takes time with them, and give them the best possible medical care. OB patients should call for an appointment (703) 273-9440. GYN patients should email us at info@tepeyacfamilycenter.com.
From the left: Drs. John Bruchalski, Jennifer Brown, Marie Anderson, Miriam Pereira, and Daniel Fisk. Dr. Lorna Cvetkovich was enroute from Michigan when photo taken.
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Tepeyac welcomes visit from local Girls Challenge Club
In December '07 the Tepeyac Family Center received a visit from a the Girls Challenge Club of Great Falls, made up of girls ranges 10 to 16. Members of the staff spoke about their work and the mission of Tepeyac and Mr. Bob Laird, Director, guided the group on a tour of the office . The girls in return presented Tepeyac with an assortment of baby blankets they had made and other baby items, which were gladly welcomed and will be given to patients this winter.
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2007 Divine Mercy Care Gala featured in the Arlington Catholic Herald
Click Here for a link to the article.
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Dr. Bruchalski awarded "People of Life Award"
On August 3rd 2007, at a dinner in his honor during the National Meeting of the U.S. Catholic Diocesan Pro-Life Directors, Dr. John Bruchalski was awarded the "People of Life" Award by The Secretariate for Pro-Life activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in recognition of his outstanding leadership as a pro-life physician in founding Tepeyac Family Center and Divine Mercy Care. The dinner was attended by nearly 150 individuals from all over the United States. Mrs. Susan Wills, the Associate Director for Education, read the citation honoring Dr. Bruchalski. Arlington Catholic Herald Article about award.
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Dr. Bruchalski applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision on
Partial-Birth Abortion
This is a statement by Dr. Bruchaski concerning today’s U.S. Supreme Court Decision concerning the ban of partial-birth abortion.
“We are thankful that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to ban the cruel and deadly practice of partial-birth abortion. Today’s decision is a ‘no-brainer’ because the life of a child is always to be protected – whether the child is in the womb or out of the womb. Thank God that today we can now stop the killing of those precious children in their last months of preparation before changing their address from unborn to born. Our legal system is finally starting to right the moral compass of this nation.”
Dr. John T. Bruchalski, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., is the founder and a practicing physician at Tepeyac Family Center, a non-profit pro-life OB-GYN medical practice in Fairfax, VA. Dr. Bruchalski has testified before Congress on this subject.
Contact: Bob Laird, info@tepeyacfamilycenter.com or (703) 273-9440.
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Prenatal Screening and Diagnostic Testing Information to Consider
Prenatal screening is done to assess whether or not your baby is at increased risk of being born with a genetic abnormality or neural tube defect. Diagnostic testing is performed if a screening test comes back positive. Some families find this information very useful, while others are happy to wait for this information to arrive with the baby at birth. At Tepeyac Family Center, we would like to offer you what you need, and so present this information so that you can decide what is best for your family. Each test has its strengths and limitations as well as a time frame when it can be
performed.
The following link gives you information on each subject. Screening tests include: First Trimester Screen; Alpha-fetoprotein; and the Quad Screen. Diagnostic tests include the Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS); and Amniocentesis.
Click here to read more on Prenatal Screening and Diagnostic Testing.
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Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Testing Options
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder that severely affects a person’s respiratory and digestive systems. It is caused by an abnormal gene that makes the body produce thick mucous in the lungs. The mucous causes infections which can be life threatening. This mucous can also affect the pancreas causing serious problems with food absorption. It is most common in Caucasian and Jewish populations, but is also common in Latino populations. In general, people with CF have a shortened life span. Though some will die in childhood, others are living active lives into their 40s or even longer. While there is no cure for the disease, research is ongoing to discover treatments that can lengthen, and improve the quality of life of, those people affected by CF. It should be noted that treatments have improved greatly in recent years.
Click here to read more information about testing options for Cystic Fibrosis.
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What Does a Doula Do?
Are you, or someone you know, pregnant and interested in learning more about Doulas and their specific role in the birthing event? Read our patient handout which includes names and contact information for individuals that Tepeyac Family Center most often participates with!
Our Doula information sheet is currently being revised.
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Information about Tepeyac Family Center for your Doula
Do you have a doula who has not worked with Tepeyac Family Center in the past? Please print this patient handout and deliver it to your doula before your visit.
Click here to read the letter from Tepeyac Family Center for your Doula.
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HPV Vaccine Information for Patients
What is Tepeyac Family Center's position on the HPV vaccine?
The human papilloma virus (HPV) causes cervical cancer and genital warts and is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the United States. HPV is spread through sexual contact which includes, but is not limited to, sexual intercourse. Recently, a vaccine to prevent the four most common types of HPV was approved by the FDA. Tepeyac Family Center maintains that the best way to avoid an infection with HPV is to abstain from sexual relations before marriage and to remain faithful if maried. But because more than 50% of men and women are infected with HPV at sometime in their lives, exposure to the virus is possible even in a monogamous relationship (due to a spouse's possible prior exposure to HPV). Additionally, we live in a world where non-consensual sex is a sad reality, and receiving the vaccine would provide protection against unexpected exposure to HPV. As a result, we will offer the HPV vaccine to those who are interested in receiving it, as long as they are in the age range for which the vaccine was approved. The patient must be between 9-26 years old.
Click Here to read the HPV Vaccine Fact Sheet.
For more information, or if you have specific questions regarding HPV, please call the office to speak with a nurse.
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Catholic Medical Association: Position on HPV Vaccine
On January 18, 2007 the Catholic Medical Association made a statement on the HPV Vaccine and its significance to present-day healthcare. The document addresses questions such as "Does the Catholic Medical Association support the use of the HPV Vaccine?...Should the vaccine be mandated?...and How can the HPV vaccine serve the individual patient and society-at-large?"
Click Here to read the Article.
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Spring 2007 TFC Newsletter
Click Here to read the Spring 2007 Newsletter of Tepeyac Family Center. Copies were mailed on February 20, 2007.
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Tepeyac Announces New Guidelines for Fetal Surveillance
This year, our governing board, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, has mandated earlier and more aggressive blood and sonographic testing in search of children in the womb who carry genetic deformities. This mandate changes the “standard of care” for the entire OB/GYN community, including the Tepeyac Family Center.
Recognizing our duty as physicians to our patients and to the larger medical community to continue to provide excellent medical care and counsel on the medical-moral issues of our time, we make this central comment and ask this vital question to our parents: these results may steal the joy away from your pregnancy almost from the moment you find out you were pregnant; and more seriously, will these results cause you to contemplate aborting your affected, sick child?
Scientific testing is morally neutral. The ethical challenge comes when we act on the results of these accurate but not perfect tests. Our Center believes in education, in the family, in cutting edge medicine, in the genius and preciousness of the human person, and in the healing presence of God. Parents want to spend time with their sick children. With the above caution, we honor your decision to have this information available to help you prepare for the birth of your child and provide the best care for them. We cannot help you end the life of your sick child. You deserve better. We will not judge you, because we all have walked in those shoes. Because of our experience, we have developed the Kristen Anderson Perinatal Hospice Program for situations like this.
~Dr. John Bruchalski
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ADCCW to Honor Dr. Marie Anderson with Our Lady of Good Counsel Award
The Arlington Diocese Council of Catholic Women (ADCCW) will honor Dr. Marie Anderson on Saturday, March 10, 2007, during a mass celebrated by Bishop Loverde at 11:15 am.
Dr. Anderson will receive the Our Lady of Good Council Award.
The ADCCW (co-sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington Office of Family Life) is holding its Spring Conference with a day-long schedule of events at All Saints Parish in Manassas, Va. Registration begins at 8:30 am and the day concludes at 3:00pm.
Cost is $25. For more information or to register, please contact Liz Schiavone at
(703) 471-4047 or eschiavone@msn.com.
Registration includes Continental Breakfast, Program Materials, Luncheon and Keynote Address.
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Dr. Bruchalski on EWTN
The interview conducted by "The World Over" show host Raymond Arroyo, aired at 8 pm on Friday January 19, 2007. This interview with Dr. John Bruchalski was taped November 7, 2006 in front of a LIVE audience in the beautiful new library of Christendom College in Front Royal, VA. (www.christendom.edu)
This program is rebroadcast on Saturdays at 1 am, Mondays at 10 am and 11 pm, and on Tuesdays at 1 pm.
You can find out more information at : http://www.ewtn.com/WorldOver/index.asp .
Be sure to thank Raymond Arroyo and EWTN for hosting Dr. Bruchalski by calling 1-800-221-9460 or email "The World Over" at worldover@ewtn.com.
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2006 Divine Mercy Care Gala for Tepeyac Family Center
November 11, 2006: Over five hundred friends and patrons gathered at the Dulles Hilton Hotel for a night of celebrating the continued growth and success of Tepeyac Family Center. To read the Arlington Catholic Herald Article, click here.
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Tepeyac Family Center in
The Washington Post
August 31, 2006: Tepeyac Family Center gained national recognition after The Washington Post featured the practice on the front page. Consequently, national correspondences from multiple broadcasts have been inquiring with Tepeyac Family Center.
To read the article, click here.
September 14, 2006: The Arlington Catholic Herald published an article describing the Washington Post coverage and its impact to Tepeyac Family Center.
To read the article, click here.
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Baby Boom: Tepeyac Family Center Announces Record Number of Deliveries
The end of the calendar year is always a busy time of the year at Fair Oaks Hospital, where the physicians from the Tepeyac Family Center deliver babies. This year was no exception. With a total of 17 babies delivered between December 27th through December 31st , the Tepeyac Family Center delivered 62 babies in December, the most ever for the 11-year-old OB-GYN practice and a total of 586 for the year, a record number for the year.
Tepeyac Family Center is a non-profit OB-GYN medical practice and the only full-time operational health care facility in the Arlington Diocese. Significant among the figures were that 120 of the mothers who delivered babies from Tepeyac were from the local crisis pregnancy centers. Bob Laird, the Executive Director of Tepeyac noted that two organizations in particular, AAA Women for Choice in Manassas and Gabriel Project, a ministry of the Office for Family Life of the Arlington Diocese, have been not only generous in sending women to Tepeyac, but also providing funds to help pay for their medical costs. Both of these organizations pay at least $2,500 toward each of the deliveries for the women that they send to Tepeyac.
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Sterilization Reversal Surgery
We at the Tepeyac Family are pleased to announce that we now offer sterilization reversal surgery for women. This
procedure, known as tubal anastomosis, is done as an outpatient procedure in an office setting. It involves making a small abdominal incision and microscopically retrieving the cut ends of the interrupted fallopian tubes in order to sew them back together. The best candidates are women whose original surgery was performed within the past 5 years and whose procedure did not involve electrocautery. Please contact us if you would like to learn more.
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Statement by the Tepeyac Family Center On the Estrogen Plus Progesterone Trial Of the Women's Health Initiative
Many of you have expressed concerns and questions about the action taken by the Women's Health Initiative to halt an 8 year trial testing the long term use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women after only 5.2 years because of the increased risk of invasive breast cancer.
Specifically, the prospective randomized double-blinded trial concerned conjugated estrogens (Premarin) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera) vs. estrogen alone vs. placebo. 27,000 women between the ages of 50-79 years were enrolled in the study, and 16,608 were randomized to the estrogen plus progesterone group. The estrogen plus progesterone arm of the study was stopped, but importantly, the estrogen alone arm of the study is being continued.
Evidence on the potential risks and benefits of combined estrogen /progesterone has slowly accumulated in previous studies, suggesting that the addition of progesterone may further increase health risks above that observed with estrogen alone. It is also unclear whether this data concerning synthetic progesterone can be extrapolated to natural formulations such as micronized progesterone.
The increased breast cancer risk did not appear in the first four years of use. Risks for blood clots were greatest in the first 2 years of hormone use. The reduced risk of colorectal cancer emerged after 3 years of hormone use.
38% of postmenopausal women in the United States use HRT, but what does this study mean to you as one unique woman? We at the Tepeyac Family Center realize this question poses great difficulties for you, and we have considered the options and the literature including this study, and reached into the depths of our hearts in prayer before making this recommendation.
Don't Panic! The increased risk of breast cancer applies to an entire population of women, rather than to an individual woman. The actual increase to one woman is very small...less than one tenth of 1% per year. A decision about hormone use should take into account a woman's individual risk for specific conditions that may be harmed or benefited by hormone use.
We realize that it is always difficult to make general statements concerning the health of individuals. We feel these are good general guidelines to use in making this important decision. Of course, please feel free to make an appointment to consider any specific concerns.
- If you have had a hysterectomy and are taking estrogen alone, you may continue to do so, although you may want to consider other means to treat symptoms and lower the risk of osteoporosis.
- If you have your uterus and are taking estrogen and progesterone for relief of hot flashes and vaginal dryness, it is reasonable to continue that treatment for a short duration; this study supports up to 4 years. Again it is uncertain whether the type of progesterone makes a difference.
- Although this study demonstrated a lowering of the risk of colorectal cancer and hip fractures, estrogen and progesterone for treatment of chronic health problems is no longer recommended because the study demonstrated an increase in heart attacks, stokes, and blood clots.
- If you wish to discontinue HRT, it is easier to tolerate the removal of estrogen if it is tapered over 4-6 weeks by decreasing the dose, then taking it on alternate days and finally discontinuing it as tolerated by your symptoms.
- Other means are available to protect women from osteoporosis. This includes weight bearing exercise, calcium supplementation, and anti-resorptive drugs such as Fosamax and Actonel.
- A diet high in fiber and low in fat has been shown to lower the risk of colorectal cancer.
- After a woman is no longer troubled with hot flashes, she has the option of taking one of the SERM's (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators) such as Evista, to protect her bones and improve her cardiovascular risks and lipid profile. This is key because it acts a an anti-estrogen in the breast, and may actually lower the risk of cancer.
- Lubricants and vaginal estrogen can be used to improve vaginal dryness, and painful relations.
We at the Tepeyac Family Center realize that decisions about your health are sometimes difficult. We hope these guidelines help you with this daunting task. As always, we will keep you in our prayers, and hope to serve as a resource for you. We would be happy to see you for consultation should these guidelines fall short in terms of helping you make you decision. God bless.
Bibliography
- Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investigators
Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women
JAMA
2002;288
www.jama.com
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