Last update January 20, 2006 – 6 48 PM.docVIP

Last update: January 20, 2006 – 6:48 PM In this clinic, faith binds physicians and patients Physicians 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, Star Tribune F 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 their 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 gifts 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 and 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 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 many 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