FertilityCare is a program of integrated health education in the area of fertility, using the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.
FertilityCare increases a couple’s awareness of and appreciation for their fertility, enabling them to be active participants in the care of their particular fertility situation or women’s health issue.

The Creighton Model FertilityCare System teaches a woman or couple to accurately identify the time of ovulation in each of their own cycles. The naturally-occurring times of fertility and infertility in each cycle can be pin pointed with ease using this method, and couples can use this information to achieve or avoid a pregnancy. The system is also very useful for arranging medical investigations such as blood tests and ultrasound scans to correspond with the time of the woman’s ovulation in the cycle. A medical interpretation of the woman’s chart can itself give valuable clues in the diagnosis of fertility and women’s health problems.

For family planning purposes, the Creighton Model FertilityCare System is 99.5% method-effective and 96.8% use-effective for avoiding pregnancy. (TW Hilgers, JB Stanford; ‘Creighton Model NaProEducation Technology for avoiding pregnancy: use effectiveness’; J Reprod Med 1998; 43: 495-502)

The real benefits of this method for family planning, however, lie in the areas of the woman’s health and the couple’s relationship. As a natural method of family planning, there are none of the side-effects commonly associated with some of the other contraceptives. In fact, the FertilityCare charts can actively assist in the early detection and prevention of gynaecological problems. In the hands of a trained medical consultant, the charts can also be used in the investigation and treatment of various conditions.

The new fertility awareness acquired by the couple encourages new levels of understanding and communication between man and woman. The responsibility for family planning becomes truly shared, and the couple together determines their times of fertility and infertility within the cycle. One of the great strengths of the natural methods of family planning is the fact that the fertile time of the cycle requires a time of genital abstinence if it is the couple’s intention to avoid pregnancy. Couples report new depths of ‘non-genital’ expression of their love during the fertile times, together with a ‘honeymoon effect’ of renewed appreciation for intercourse when the time comes.

NaProTECHNOLOGY

NaProTechnology refers to ‘Natural Procreative Technology’. It is an emerging medical science that, as its name suggests, works co-operatively with the body’s natural procreative cycles. It does not suppress the body’s reproductive system, but enhances its function.

This newly emerging women’s health science has been developed through the research efforts of the Pope Paul VI Institute, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, under the direction of Dr TW Hilgers MD. It involves the orderly and systematic evaluation of the events that occur during the course of the menstrual and ovulation cycles, and it has been built upon the standardized gynaecologic charting record of the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.

The following information is taken from the www.creightonmodel.com website:

“When the procreative systems are working properly, NaProTechnology works cooperatively with them. When these mechanisms are functioning abnormally, NaProTechnology cooperates with the procreative mechanisms in producing a form of treatment which corrects the condition, maintains the human ecology and sustains the procreative potential.

The FertilityCare System is based upon the standardized and objective monitoring of normal and naturally occurring biological signs. This series of biological markers (biomarkers) reveals the presence or absence of certain types of reproductive and gynecologic abnormalities. They give the physician and the patient a "handle" on the menstrual cycle to allow for its proper evaluation and, if necessary, its treatment. It does this in a way which is cooperative with the cycle.”

NaProTechnology allows for the accurate monitoring of a woman’s reproductive and gynecologic health. It can be used in many different situations, including the following:

• infertility, including male fertility difficulties
• miscarriages
• premenstrual syndrome
• irregular bleeding
• chronic cervical discharges