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April 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A new Catholic pro-life medical practice opened this month in the Kansas City area and the founding physicians formally placed it under the care of their patron, St. Gianna Molla. Gianna Family Care is an affiliate of the National Gianna Center for Women’s Health and Fertility at Saint Peter’s Healthcare System in New Brunswick, N.J.  The practice provides compassionate care to families, including obstetrical, gynecological, and reproductive care that upholds the integrity of the patient-physician relationship and maintains the dignity of each individual and his or her relationship with God, Church, spouse, and family while following faithfully the directives of the Catholic Church.

The practice was established by two local physicians, Dr. Terese Bauer, MD, and Dr. Angelique' Pritchett,  MD who are both board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and have over 25 years of combined experience in delivering family medical care. The staff is fluent in Spanish to serve a growing Hispanic population in the Kansas City area.

Dr. Bauer and Dr. Pritchett provide routine gynecological maintenance, including well woman exams, clinical breast exams, and pap smears, and manage female concerns. Dr. Pritchett is a natural family planning medical consultant and a NaPro (Natural Procreative) Technology provider, which means she has special training to understand natural family planning methods used to avoid or achieve pregnancies and has had special training to identify and manage gynecological diseases, including infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, recurring ovarian cysts, PMS, menstrual migraines, etc. by using medications and procedures that cooperate with a woman's own cycle. “We are both mothers, and we place our family as our highest priority,” Dr. Bauer said. “We desire to have strong families as well as work at this clinic to help other families be strong as well.”

As part of the inauguration the physicians hosted a special “Enshrinement Ceremony” placing the medical practice under the patronage of St. Gianna who was a dedicated wife, mother and physician. The Enshrinement is sponsored by St. Gianna Physician’s Guild as part of their outreach and support to Catholic physicians. Fr. Gary Pennings, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, lead the physicians and others who attended in the ritual of prayers, responses and a blessing of a framed picture containing a second-class relic of St. Gianna provided by the Guild. Its presence hanging on the wall in the practice serves as a model and source of inspiration to the doctor, staff and patients.

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During the ceremony the physicians read aloud the St. Gianna Physicians Guild Catholic Hippocratic Oath which is a statement of fidelity to Catholic teachings and which the Guild requires all medical practitioners to affirm as a condition to enshrine the picture and relic.

The opening of this Kansas practice marks the continued growth and outreach of the National Gianna Center for Women’s Health and Fertility which opened its first clinic six years ago in New York City. Since then more than a dozen affiliates have opened or are in negotiations to open which is an inspiring undertaking supporting the Culture of Life.