Tarrytown, United States—The effect of hormones on women’s health and reproductive functioning was the topic of a program co-sponsored by UPF.
The local chapters of UPF and Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), an affiliated organization, invited Weronika Janczuk to be the guest speaker at a program held on June 10, 2018, at the Belvedere Estate in the village of Tarrytown, New York.
Ms. Janczuk is the regional education director of World Youth Alliance and an instructor in Fertility Education and Medical Management (FEMM).
Kathy Ross, the WFWP chair for Westchester County, and Lynn Walsh, the director of the UPF Office of the Family, gave brief introductions to their organizations and explained why they thought all women could benefit from understanding more about their hormonal health.
Explaining that the FEMM curriculum is based on robust peer-reviewed research, Ms. Janczuk presented a thorough and detailed overview of how our hormones, often mistakenly thought to affect only the reproductive system, in reality impact every area of health. Using charts, she related how different hormonal imbalances affect multiple areas of the body.
Ms. Janczuk demonstrated the benefit of every woman monitoring her monthly cycle. Understanding one’s personal cycle pattern, the brief viability of the egg and longer viability of the sperm can increase a couple’s chances of conceiving a child. On the other hand, the same information can be used to avoid pregnancy without taking birth control pills, which disrupt healthy hormonal functioning and often result in unwanted side effects, she said. With the aid of graphs of normal and abnormal female hormonal cycles, Ms. Janczuk showed how menstrual cycle patterns can help a woman and her physician understand causes of and treatments for various health problems. She explained that there are doctors locally as well as all over the world, trained in the FEMM program, who can do the follow-up medical care if needed.
After the presentation, there was a lively period of questions and answers. Several older women stated with some sadness that they wished they had learned this many years ago but were grateful that this new information would improve the health of those beyond childbearing age. Many, both young and old, expressed interest in hearing the next presentation as well as bringing their friends and family members to hear the FEMM curriculum. We were happy to hear Ms. Janczuk state that she would be delighted to return and teach at any time and that she also could teach in a webinar format.