Sancta Familia receives life-affirming certification

A medical clinic in Omaha that integrates the Catholic faith with health care has received certification for its life-affirming work with women from a new national group based in Fairfax, Va.

 

Sancta Familia Medical Apostolate received the certification from Pro Women’s Healthcare Centers and now is a member of the group’s consortium of clinics around the country “committed to life-affirming healthcare that cooperates with women’s bodies.”

 

Christine Accurso, executive director of the consortium, said a number of medical providers concerned about the state of women’s health care in the country began talking two years ago about ways to cooperate and help one another. A set of services and standards and a certificate of approval appeared to be the best route, she said. Those were formalized this year, and clinics are taking note, said Accurso, a Catholic who also is practice administrator for Morning Star OB/GYN in Gilbert, Ariz., one of the certified clinics.

 

Clinics, hospitals and other health care facilities interested in qualifying can be secular or faith-based, and five other clinics currently are certified in Virginia, Colorado, Florida and Iowa, she said. 

 

Certification standards include high-quality maternity care and emotional support, mammograms, STD testing and treatment, fertility and infertility consultation and education, and on-site or direct referral access to social services such as counseling, perinatal hospice and infant loss support and abortion healing. Certified clinics encourage opportunities for spiritual reflection, and they do not provide services such as abortion or contraceptives, Accurso said.

 

Teresa Kenney, a nurse practitioner at Sancta Familia, which was founded in 2011 by Drs. Michael Dulac and Lloyd Pierre, said she is proud and excited about the certification and joining the consortium. 

 

“As a women’s health nurse practitioner practicing for the last 18 years, I believe in empowering women through partnering with them towards better health,” she said. “I know that now is the time to unite under excellent standards of care in women’s health.”