Freedom Fertility Pharmacy Blog

This week marks RESOLVE’s National Infertility Awareness Week blog challenge. Each year RESOLVE: The National Infertility Awareness Association, challenges both those who struggle with infertility and those who advocate on their behalf to follow a common theme and contribute a blog posting in honor of spreading awareness about infertility. This year’s theme, “Join The Movement” presents the question of how each of us in the infertility community, both patients and caregivers alike, have in our own way contributed to making the voice of the fertility patient heard loud and clear.

Over the last 6 years working in this field, I have had the pleasure of interacting with countless patients from across the country, all at different stages of their fertility journey. Working at Freedom Fertility Pharmacy has given me the unique opportunity that many nurses are not afforded; that of having an impact on patients who I most likely will not meet in person. Throughout my education I learned the importance of caring for my patients in every manner, both physically and emotionally. I learned the procedures for administering injections, dressing wounds and starting IVs. More importantly though, I learned what might be the most crucial skill that any nurse can learn: listening.

The eccentric American physician Patch Adams once said, “You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.” This quote is particularly impactful when thinking in terms of those individuals struggling with the disease of infertility. As with all fields of medicine, infertility can be defined in countless numbers: affecting 1 in 8 couples, 154,412 IVF cycles completed nationwide in 2011 (Source: SART) and so on. However as my days have become dedicated with educating and advocating for those who are challenged by infertility, it has become clear to me as a nurse, as I am sure it has to patients, physicians, nurses, advocates and all others involved, that it is the individuals behind those numbers who truly make an impact. As we join our patients in fighting to treat this disease it becomes rapidly evident that as much as we hope to have a positive impact on their lives, they too often leave us a little wiser than we were before.

This past Sunday marked the start of RESOLVE’s  National Infertility Awareness Week. For so many of you, the reality of infertility is something you are aware of every day and here at Freedom, we work every day in hopes of making the burden of your fertility treatments a little easier to bear.

We recently asked our employees to share their most moving patient stories in honor of NIAW, knowing that as they help to set up delivery of your medications or answer the questions that kept you up all night, you have made an impression on them. They remember the first patient they ever spoke to, the one who called with updates at every step in her cycle and the one that they spent the extra few minutes with on the phone to help calm their fears.

We received many entries and each one told a different story about both the patient and the employee who helped them. One employee in particular sent in many stories. Her compassion for and dedication to the patients she works with was truly made evident.

For National Infertility Awareness Week, I will be sharing her stories with you.

__________________________________________

One night at about 5:30, I got a call From Deana who lives out in California. This was her first time doing an IVF cycle and she really was very nervous about the whole process. We ran her insurance and found that she had some very high copays on a few of her medications.  I went over all of the copays with her and noticed that for some of the medications, our out-of-pocket price was lower. I asked her if she was working towards a deductable and she confirmed that she was not. By combining her insurance and also having her pay out-of-pocket for some of her medications, I was able to find some pretty significant savings. To say the least, she was thrilled.

She then realized that she needed this for the next day and was began panicking as it was getting late. She was in tears as she was so sure we could not get this to California the next day for her. I told her that we would do everything we could do to make sure this got on the truck for delivery. I promised her I would watch the package and let her know what was going on.  I noticed that she had a tracking number and e-mailed her that number with her total. She emailed me back right away. I swear she was sitting by the computer waiting to hear if her meds went out. She was so happy to know that she would get this on time. I got a few emails the next day about her order and thanking me. I let her know there were lots of people working here that helped make this happen.

The next day she sent me a great photo of her and her husband and said, “I want to you see who you have helped to start their family.”