Our Lady of Good Help Fertility Care

What inspired you to start this business?

I started this practice as a way to increase access to effective, life-affirming fertility care services. When I worked for the Archdiocese of Miami Respect Life Office, I counseled many pregnant women who were unsure of how their bodies worked, and, once they were postpartum, thought that contraception and sterilization were the only options, since their OBGYN offered these free with insurance. Though I counseled against it, my words made little difference to someone with free birth control pills or an already scheduled sterilization appointment. Therefore, my goal was to create a Catholic fertility care center where couples could receive accessible, effective, and life-affirming counseling, education, and care through a Catholic lens. That’s how I was inspired to start Our Lady of Good Help Fertility Care, after the only Marian approved apparition in the United States in Champion, Wisconsin.

How does your faith shape your work?

I work with everyone regardless of ability to pay. This service is important for all women to understand their body and use their fertility for the glory of God. The education I give not only includes the science of fertility and how to read and record the signs of the woman’s body, but also the Catholic teaching on Periodic Abstinence and Infertility that the Church has handed down to us for our salvation. Our Lady of Good Help in her apparition said to the visionary, “Gather the children of this wild country and teach them what they need to know for salvation.” Therefore, I also encourage Marian devotion to all of my clients, especially through the Rosary.

What's a favorite patron saint or scripture?

My favorite devotion is Marian Devotion. St. Dominic said, “one day through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.” Later on when Our Lady introduced the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine, the medal was also included in the trifecta: Rosary, Scapular, and Miraculous Medal. Saints devoted to the medal include St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Mother Teresa. They witnessed radical conversions because of the medal. That’s why all of my clients receive a free handmade Rosary, made by my husband, and a Miraculous Medal for them to wear around the neck as Our Lady stipulated to St. Catherine. Consecrate yourselves to Mary. I tell everyone: place her first and God’s designs will be realized in your fertility and family.

What's one thing you'd like customers to know?

I teach the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, an evidence-based method of providing gynecological health education and charting menstrual cycles for women to monitor their fertility and for married couples to either achieve or avoid pregnancy. Once charting begins, I can refer, if needed, to Natural Procreative (NaPro) Technology Medical Consultants who can morally and effectively evaluate and treat reproductive health concerns identified on the chart. The majority of my clients see me to achieve pregnancy. Therefore, my biggest impact has been with the infertility population which is rapidly increasing. I have several clients currently pregnant after experiencing infertility, pregnancy loss (miscarriage), or recurrent pregnancy loss. Besides achieving pregnancy, couples have also commented that this program has helped them grow in their spousal relationship, given them an intimate understanding of their body, and increased their confidence in the evaluation and maintenance of their own gynecological health.