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MLA Rick Fraser on the Calgary Marathon and Why Infertility Patients and IVF Funding Alberta Captured His Heart #abhc4ivf #abpoli
Generations of Hope is a group of amazing, passionate, volunteers and infertility patients who are driven and talented and inspiring. They believe an accessible health care system also includes infertility treatment and funding for in vitro fertilization. They are smart and motivated and they work hard to help people understand why infertility patients and IVF funding Alberta matters. Together they champion better lives for infertility patients, and they envision a better future for their province. This weekend members will be running in the Calgary Marathon to raise funds and awareness to help others needing in vitro fertilization to build healthy families. They will be joined by MLA Rick Fraser who is…
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One Year Later: Happy Anniversary to Infertility Patients And What is Happening with IVF Funding in Ontario 2015
One year ago so many infertility patients in Ontario breathed a huge sigh of relief. I remember ecstatic voices and many tears too. I remember this post from last year and the patient reactions. It was an exciting time to be involved in this advocacy effort striving to generate support and IVF funding for infertility patients in Ontario. When the announcement came I remember being here watching it all unfold on television. Right before an election was called. The election plunged everyone into a period of high activity, anxiety and nerves too. It was a roller coaster ride added to the already brutally bumpy ride that is the infertility journey.…
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No Such Thing As Synthetic Children: On #IVF, Same Sex #adoption and Boycotting Dolce and Gabbana
Last night I was scouring twitter to check my messages when I spied a new friend talking about IVF, in vitro fertilization. She was clearly upset. I asked her what I had missed that had her so fired up and she sent me the link to the Dolce and Gabbana statement about IVF children being synthetic. The statement hit on same sex adoption as well. Did you Miss it? In an Italian magazine called Panorama Magazine Dolce and Gabbana, world renowned celebrity fashion designers, were quoted stating that IVF children are synthetic. They went on to add that they oppose same sex adoption. “The only family is the traditional one,” they said.…
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Ontario Infertility Patient Chat Tonight #ohip4ivf #onpoli
Ontario is the province I call home. Many of my readers also live in Ontario. I believe strongly in the leadership of this province and I believe also that Ontario values families. There is no greater evidence of this than the recent commitment to fund IVF for people struggling with infertility. Infertile couples will soon have access to vital efficient fertility treatment. Why is that such a big deal? WELL, let me tell you: 1. Funding IVF (in vitro fertilization) with SET ( single embryo transfer) saves money. When couples must pay 10,000 to $13,000 for a round of IVF that ends up being extremely cost prohibitive. Some couples borrow,…
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Families Are the Future of Alberta: Public Funding For In Vitro Fertilization Is Efficient #abhc4ivf #abpoli
Family Is The Future: In some small way I started in Alberta. It’s true. When my Mom and Dad got married they had their honeymoon in Banff. From Ontario, they took the train through the Western provinces to stay in Alberta. For a truck driver and a teacher in their twenties, newlyweds, Alberta was glamorous and beautiful and different. It was the destination where they started to think of the future, together planning for a family that would come first in the shape of a baby girl and then 2 years later, a baby boy too. Alberta is a place where many start to think of family and planning…
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What To Expect from the 2015 IVF Funding Program: An Interview with Dr. Marjorie Dixon #ohip4ivf #onpoli
This year infertility patients in Ontario welcomed the announcement that in vitro fertilization would be funded here as soon as 2015. Public funding for IVF would be a reality. Or would it? After that announcement last April, a spring election was called. That left many feeling worried that proposed funding would never arrive. For infertility patents in Ontario it was a roller coaster of emotions. But remarkably, the spring election resulted in a Liberal majority and the government did in fact reiterate its promise to support an IVF funding program in 2015. Members of Conceivable Dreams were overjoyed and hopeful with the announcement. But still, there has been little news from the government, and…
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Public Funding for IVF in Ontario: Can We Afford to Wait? #ohip4ivf #onpoli
Back in April we heard the happy news that IVF (in vitro fertilization) would be funded in Ontario. Then suddenly an election was called and infertility patients were worried the promise of IVF funding would die before it even had a chance to be reality. But then, in an amazing twist, the Ontario Liberal party won a majority under Premier Kathleen Wynne. The Liberal government promise was good. The Wynne government confirmed that public funding for IVF in Ontario would be reality in 2015. It was a cause to celebrate. It still is a cause to celebrate. In Canada an estimated 1 in 6 people of reproductive age struggle with infertility.…
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Turn Waiting for Infertility Treatment Into Action: One Couple’s Story #infertility #abhc4ivf #abpoli
When you are struggling with infertility sometimes it seems like you have nothing to do but wait. It’s pretty easy to begin to feel powerless inside the emotional roller coaster of the infertility health care journey. First, you realize you have no real control over your body when it won’t do what you want it to. You may feel like you have no control over doctors, nurses, or test results. Even your life plan is turned on its head when your body won’t conceive. You hoped to have a child by 30. You hoped then for 32, then 34, 35, by 40? You dare to hope it will happen at all.…
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Raise Your Voice IVF Funding Alberta Twitter Chat #abhc4ivf #abpoli
It’s time, Alberta. Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST. It’s time to raise your voice and make some noise on twitter. It’s time to challenge our notion of a health care system that is accessible to all. It’s time to tweet and talk and write and visit and share this message with the politicians in your area – the MLAs you vote into office. It’s time to tell them healthy families matter to everyone in Alberta and IVF funding matters to Alberta. By now you have to know the facts. I talk about them often enough here in this space. Infertility impacts one in six. Infertility is a complex health…
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Three Things You Can Do to Help Advocate for Public Funding for IVF in Alberta #abhc4ivf #abpoli
1 in 6 people struggle with infertility. I talk about that often here in this space. Why? Because I believe in a Canadian health care system that is accessible and great. And because infertility is a hard emotional and financial journey. It is devastating to far too many. That’s part of the reason why I help advocate for public funding for IVF. Couples, and singles, who are diagnosed with infertility, are sometimes prescribed In vitro fertilization as the best course of action. In Vitro Fertilization is a process by which sperm and egg are introduced in a lab and left to do their magic. The resulting embryo is then placed…