In Honor of Our Veterans
Finding Fulfillment in Family Medicine with FABMs
By: Megan Boyer, DO
Director’s Note: Next Monday, we celebrate Veterans Day. Today, we feature the story of Dr. Bill Blanke, a veteran and family physician who spent 11 years in military medicine before a meeting with a young resident and fellow Roman Catholic encouraged him to switch to a practice that exclusively uses fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs). Although he was a practicing Catholic, Dr. Blanke explained that he never learned about the myriad natural options available for family planning, either through his faith formation or his medical school and residency training. Dr. Blanke’s journey to FABMs is an encouraging one and underscores the reality that regardless of faith, socioeconomic status, or other demographic differences, these natural methods should be made available to everyone. Through the FACTS elective and online CME course we hope to train the next generation of physicians to fully appreciate the value of charting the female cycle. If you are a healthcare student or resident hoping to learn more, sign up for our elective today!
Journey to Family Medicine
Dr. Bill Blanke began his medical career at St. Louis University School of Medicine. During his undergraduate medical training, Dr. Blanke knew he wanted to practice the full-scope of medicine as a family physician.
“Nothing just grabbed me as, ‘I want to do that’ to the exclusion of everything else,” he said, adding that he had a wide variety of interests which included obstetrics and women’s health.
Having grown up hearing stories from his uncle, a retired rural general practitioner, Dr. Blanke liked the idea of “being the family doc” and “taking care of anyone who came into the office.” After graduation, he accepted a military position training in family medicine with the U.S. Army in Augusta, Georgia. Within the military, he was able to experience the full-scope training he desired.
“I could take care of retirees, young active-duty members and their spouses, deliver the babies, and take care of those babies,” he said. “We had a lot of freedom in the military.”
After completing his residency, Dr. Blanke served an additional eight years practicing and training residents in the military.
Interest in FABMs
Dr. Blanke is a practicing Roman Catholic and remains strong in his faith. He recalled an early understanding of the Catholic Church’s position on the use of contraception; however, he didn’t understand or learn about the multitude of options available to patients interested in natural methods of family planning. Dr. Blanke’s first exposure to the science behind fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) was when he decided to learn and practice the Sympto-Thermal Method taught by the Couple to Couple League. He and his wife used this method to successfully prevent and achieve pregnancy for many years, but Dr. Blanke felt a dissonance between his personal life and his medical practice. He continued to prescribe hormonal contraceptives, perform vasectomies, and refer for tubal ligations. He thought surely this was just what “[he] was supposed to do” as a doctor. Yet “practicing one way at home, but professionally another way” began to trouble him.
“Reflecting on his training in medical school and residency, Dr. Blanke felt that his knowledge base and education fell short in the area of natural family planning (NFP).”
“NFP [methods] were just lumped together, usually with the ‘pull out method’ or ‘coitus interruptus’ or the ‘Rhythm method’ or to just look at a calendar or something,” he said.
As a medical professional, he felt as though “the pill” was the only “acceptable” form of contraception or “solution” to most common gynecologic complaints. Dr. Blanke felt the disconnect deeply but did not yet have the solution to bridge the gap between his personal views and professional practices.
“While serving at his last military hospital, Dr. Blanke met a resident and fellow Catholic who incorporated FABMs into his medical practice and had developed a dedicated patient population due to his knowledge of NFP methods.”
“He had a very peaceful nature about him that I hadn’t seen before,” Dr. Blanke said. “I was like ‘I kinda like what he has. I kinda want to learn what he’s done.’”
Upon completing his distinguished 11-year career in military medicine, he made the decision to seek a Catholic hospital system that would embrace a family medicine physician who offered these methods exclusively, as well as provide opportunities for him to expand his knowledge base in this area. Dr. Blanke found a health system that supported those goals in his home state of Indiana. Shortly after arriving in Evansville, Indiana, Dr. Blanke connected with the local NFP program and decided to enroll in the Creighton Model Medical Consultant course to become a certified medical consultant.
Current Medical Practice as an FABM-Only Physician
Dr. Blanke has cultivated a thriving medical practice over the last 20 years where he continues to work as a full-scope family physician and help patients meet their family-planning goals exclusively through FABMs. Upon joining the private practice, he recalls early conversations with a senior partner who questioned him: “You don’t prescribe contraception at all? You’re never going to have any females coming to you!” Despite these initial doubts, Dr. Blanke has built a very busy practice. Through his work, he seeks to empower women by helping them better understand their bodies and natural cycles of fertility. His goal is to accompany patients and investigate common concerns such as painful periods or irregular cycles that other physicians might use the “easy fix” of birth control pills to “solve.”
“Dr. Blanke has cultivated a thriving medical practice over the last 20 years where he continues to work as a full-scope family physician and help patients meet their family-planning goals exclusively through FABMs.”
Dr. Blanke’s current practice uniquely meets patients’ needs by providing reliable NFP options in his community.
“The pendulum has swung towards the appreciation of fertility and fertility awareness. There are so many women these days and podcasts and articles and things, almost demanding this [information],” Dr. Blanke said. “We need to have options! We should have options!”
Dr. Blanke continues to emphasize daily the “excellent, excellent, excellent science” contributing to our understanding of FABMs and advocate for patients who have decided to embrace the science behind them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Boyer, DO
Megan Boyer, DO is a PGY-4 Obstetrics & Gynecology resident at UPMC Harrisburg in Harrisburg, PA. Dr. Boyer graduated from Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine and participated in the FACTS medical student elective during her fourth year. Dr. Boyer is pursuing a subspecialty fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology, but has enjoyed incorporating the principles of FABMs during her residency to help her patients achieve their reproductive goals.
