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Infertility Community Reacts to IVF Funding Announcement for Ontario #ivf4ON #onpoli
Ontario’s infertility community reacted with many emotions this week to news that IVF will soon be funded. That’s long awaited for many who took two or three jobs and sometimes used credit cards and second mortgages to be able to pay for health care treatment needed to get the health care treatment prescribed. Last Thursday, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Longterm Care Deb Matthews announced that public funding would be made available for in vitro fertilization. IVF funding is part of the draft budget officially. The funding will take place starting in 2015. An advisory committee or board will be appointed to help roll the program out. There will be…
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The Many Faces of Infertility #Abhc4ivf #abpoli
What does infertility look like? You might be surprised. Very often someone you know has already been struggling with infertility. Many times there are underlying medical issues that contribute to infertility. You might be surprised to know that in all likelihood someone on your street has intimate experience with struggling to conceive. One in 6 people struggle with infertility. Take a moment to think about that. What does infertility look like? Sometimes it’s a couple who may never know the cause of their infertility. Sometimes infertility is a young married person like Danielle who learns at 25 they cannot conceive a child. Sometimes the face of infertility looks a lot…
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Five Free Infertility and Fertility Apps
Fertility apps and infertility apps are a great way to track ovulation and reproductive health. Here are five free fertility apps that will help at any stage of your fertility or infertility journey. When you are struggling with infertility or trying to conceive you need a huge toolkit of resources just to get through the journey. Knowledge is power, right? Luckily power and knowledge in the age of Google are right at your finger tips. Lately numerous press releases regarding the latest and greatest fertility and infertility apps have been flooding my inbox here at thrifty momma’s tips, so I thought I’d take a peek at a few and share…
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Five Creative Advocacy Ideas For Non Profits – #ivf4on #onpoli
My regular readers know I have been working with numerous non profits and charities to build their profiles on social media. I am community manager for Conceivable Dreams, the Ontario patient group advocating for better awareness and access to fertility treatments, and for Generations of Hope in Calgary. Conceivable Dreams has had some brilliant ideas over the last two years and their name/ brand as a non profit is extremely well known now, especially on social media. I am proud to have been part of their team. When we started we had about 50 followers on Twitter and we have grown authentically and organically to 2000. But the real story…
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What Makes EEVA Special? #EEVA1stBC
Imagine that you are one of the one in six people of reproductive age who struggles with infertility. Very often the medically recommended course of action is in vitro fertilization. The procedure itself can be costly. And like any medical treatment, you want to be sure you are making the best decision for your personal situation, your family. You want the best. Infertility Treatment in BC Luckily if you live in British Columbia you have some remarkable fertility clinics to choose from and some amazing talented award-winning doctors like Dr. Sonya Kashyap, medical director of @GenesisIVFBC. Kashyap was mentored by Celine Dion’s fertility doctor, Dr. Zev Rosenwaks during her competitive fellowship in reproductive medicine…
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Five Things You Could Have Bought for $10,000: If You Didn’t Have to Pay for IVF
This morning I had math on my mind. Well, math, health and shopping, actually. What do all three things have in common? Let me tell you. They all have had to pay for IVF. I was talking to five Facebook friends across Canada and I tallied up the price tag of their collective infertility journeys. The tally came close to several hundred thousand dollars. That’s five families. $300,000 to $400,000 paid to build four families. One couple was not successful yet. I can tell you that the infertile couples I interview, and meet and talk to often as community manager for Conceivable Dreams, the Ontario OHIP For IVF patient…
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A Male Perspective on Infertility #IVF4ON #onpoli
Meet Adam Bekhor, father of two, infertility advocate/ support person and owner of a successful business called WineWire.ca Bekhor volunteers as a support person for couples struggling with infertility in Toronto area. His wife was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis. Subsequently, they were unable to conceive. Bekhor relates to the male partner’s journey through infertility and is clearly experienced in the realities of all the costs associated with this health care issue. Emotional. Financial. Relational. Social. Mental and Physical. Infertility leaves no area of your life untouched. Once you have journeyed through this complex health care issue you are quite simply changed. Bruised, broken, elated, drained. Sometimes you end up with a…
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Crowdfunding A Baby: How One BC Couple Paid for Fertility Treatments #ivf4bc #bcpoli
(This post about crowdfunding a baby was originally published in 2013. It has been UPDATED with 2016 information) You’ve heard of crowdfunding a new product. And crowdfunding to launch a concept like a new app, or the perfect Canadian winter coat. How about crowdfunding a baby? When expensive fertility treatments are necessary and they aren’t covered sometimes you have to get extremely resourceful. Remember Nick? You might have read of his creative approach to fertility funding earlier this year when he spoke to the Vancouver Sun about crowd funding health care treatment. Nick Beaulieu and his wife were running out of options when he decided to ask friends, family…
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The Pfeiffer’s In Vitro Fertilization Success Story #abhc4ivf #abpoli
Tammy and Matt Pfeiffer have their hard-earned miracle family. But it was a long route to parenthood for the Stony Plain, Alberta couple. And it was a long time arriving at their In Vitro Fertilization Success Story. The Pfeiffers began trying to conceive just before they were married. At 32, Tammy had irregular periods and tests resulted in a diagnosis of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome.) After several months of trying, their doctor put Tammy on oral fertility medications. But still, the couple had no luck conceiving. Tests revealed Matt had male factor infertility on multiple levels, low count, slow motility and low volume. Male factor infertility makes up about…
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We’ve Been Trying Since I Was 25: An Infertility Story #ivf4on #onpoli
Ashley and Brandon Powell Ashley Powell is 29, diagnosed with PCOS and she has exhausted most of her options trying to get pregnant. Ashley ’s infertility story starts back at puberty. She had her first period at 13. But it took a full year before her next period arrived. Her menstrual cycles have always been erratic and painful. Powell typically had only 4-8 periods each year and they were extremely painful. In college she was diagnosed with Polycystic ovarian syndrome and referred to a gynecologist. The doctor told her she might have trouble conceiving and that has been proven repeatedly. She married her husband Brandon in 2009 and they began…