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1、Last update: January 20, 2006 6:48 PMIn this clinic, faith binds physicians and patientsPhysicians at AALFA Family Clinic in White Bear Lake embrace a Christian prolife philosophy. That means more than shunning abortion and birth control, patients say. It means warm, personal care.Pamela Miller, Sta
2、r TribuneF irst, theres the clinics name: AALFA, the brainchild of a doctors child, an acronym for All Ages Love Firsthand Attention. Its not the only clue that the White Bear Lake family clinic is one of a kind. Others are apparent in its busy waiting room. The front-desk staff greets patients by t
3、heir first names. Religious magazines and books are on the side tables. A portrait of Mother Teresas sad, sweet face watches over the room. In the lab area, cards and photos from patients eclipse the bulletin boards. Paintings of Mary and Jesus, needlework Bible verses and Hmong story panels - all g
4、ifts from patients - brighten the halls and exam rooms. The AALFA Family Clinics uniqueness goes well beyond its name and decor. It offers services that most family-practice clinics offer, with one major difference: As a self-described Christian prolife clinic that serves primarily Roman Catholics a
5、nd evangelical Christians, it does not refer patients for abortions or prescribe birth-control pills or other forms of contraception, said Dr. Mary Paquette, one of AALFAs three physicians. As of Sunday, Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, will have been the law of
6、 the land for 33 years. But AALFA, believed to be the only clinic of its kind in Minnesota, adheres to what its doctors and patients view as higher principles. Paquette, her husband, Dr. Matthew Paquette, and Dr. Paul Spencer, along with a physicians assistant, a nurse practitioner, two nurses and m
7、any of their patients, believe that life begins at conception. We are called to care for each patient with love, care and respect from conception to old age, Mary Paquette said. AALFAs philosophy and highly personal care have won it a large following - 5,000 active-account patients over the past two
8、 years, said office manager Nancy Grace. Patients come from throughout Minnesota and other states. Patients interviewed on a recent morning expressed admiration for the clinic and its approach to care. This is such a safe, comfortable place, said Kathleen Woodbury, 47, of White Bear Lake. Other plac
9、es, you go in, theres a quick exam and a prescription, and not much listening. Here they give you all the time you need, really get to know you. Plus, theres a piece of medicine where I think you do need help from the Lord, and thats acknowledged here. The clinic was founded by Dr. Stan Johnson, who
10、 has since retired from full-time practice. Mary Paquette, a family-practice physician with an emphasis on womens health, joined the practice in 2000, leaving Allinas Cottage Grove clinic because rapid growth was causing it to lose the personal touch, she said. Matthew Paquette, who specializes in i
11、nternal medicine and had practiced at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, followed in 2001. When one Paquette is on duty, the other is at home in Mendota Heights caring for their four daughters, ages 2 to 6. Family planning, sans the Pill Many of Mary Paquettes patients are women who have s
12、truggled with fertility issues, recurrent miscarriages or hormonal problems or who do not want to be treated with birth-control pills. They run up against a wall and get frustrated, and so they come here, where we work with other options, she said. Paquette said she uses hormonal methods that work w
13、ith a womans cycle rather than shut it down. She learned them at the Pope Paul VI Institute for Human Reproduction, affiliated with Creighton University in Omaha. In general, the system teaches women to closely monitor and work with their menstrual cycle to help avoid or achieve pregnancy. Paquette,
14、 like many Catholics, opposes use of the Pill because, simply put, hormonal contraceptives prevent a five- to nine-day-old zygote from implanting in a womans uterus 7 to 11 percent of the time, she said. Philosophically, you can say what you want, but biologically, its a new life form, and hormonal
15、contraceptives in this case are the equivalent of an abortion, she said. A quiet crusader Paquette, who with her family belongs to St. Josephs Catholic Church in West St. Paul, is a quiet, gentle woman who does not volunteer information about her faith unless asked. She is not a proselytizer, procla
16、imer or protester. Her philosophy extends well beyond opposing abortion and birth control to providing volunteer services, including free health care, to many pregnant women and young mothers who find themselves with no home or money. The clinic also offers care and immunizations for children. If a woman has had an abortion or believes she needs one, it is not my place to judge or scold, Paquette said. It is p
