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Family Medicine to offer menopausal options  As a woman ages, she is challenged to understand the tell-tale signs of change—hot flashes, mood swings and vaginal dryness. Women are also challenged in understanding the benefits of hormone replacement therapy and other risks as they enter menopause. In response to that growing need, MUSC Family Medicine Center has organized a program to help examine both traditional and alternative approaches to treating specific women's issues. The new program is called WomanKind. Whether a woman is perimenopausal or menopausal, she has seen countless newspaper and magazines articles focusing on the subject or can recall discussions with friends. Today’s woman has so many things to consider—hot flashes, breast cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and sexuality. There’s also the issue of choosing between natural or synthetic hormones. How does she know what’s right for her? Many women have found it difficult to find an environment that encourages them to participate in this important decision. Today’s woman wants to explore both traditional and alternative approaches to different treatment plans that meets her individual needs and maximize her sense of health and well-being.  Through WomanKind, women learn more about individually-designed treatment plans that help target their needs and concerns, medical and family history, health/risk status, and emotional and spiritual well being. WomanKind also offers pharmacological, herbal, nutritional and lifestyle management, as well as counseling and referral for alternative modalities of treatment. Carolyn Thiedke, M.D., assistant professor, and Louise Pecevich, clinical instructor, faculty members in the Department of Family Medicine, are joint collaborators in this project. Both bring years of clinical experience in primary care medicine. Well-grounded in traditional medicine, Thiedke and Pecevich have gained expertise in counseling patients about alternative therapies. As primary care practitioners, both are in an ideal position to treat a woman’s health care needs with a holistic approach. Studies conducted over the last few years have confirmed that a large percentage of the U.S. population has utilized complementary medicine. Alternative approaches now appear more mainstream, as a better-educated, sometimes dissatisfied, public demands them. Scientific data about the safety and efficacy of these approaches continues to accumulate. What lies beneath these alternative approaches is a belief in one’s interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. WomanKind will help women explore all these facets within their lives in an attempt to maximize their sense of well being, no matter what state of their health. The event will take place at the Family Medicine Classroom located at the rear entrance of the Family Medicine Center parking lot on Calhoun Street. Free parking is available behind the building. For more information, call 792-5172 or 792-2742.