Chloé Roumain, MD, FRCSC is a medical physician in Toronto, ON with focus in Infertility, Gynecology, and Obstetrics. She is the Founder and President of Fertility Friends Foundation
Fertility Friends Foundation, is a registered Canadian charity, that provides educational resources and financial support for families going through fertility treatments. Their mission is to alleviate the financial burden of fertility treatments and ensure everyone has access to building a family of their own. Since March 2022, Chloé Roumain, MD, FRCSC and Frederick Dzineku, MD, FRCSC have created a foundation to help couples and individuals start and grow their families.
Here is an excerpt from our interview with Dr. Chloé Roumain, Founder and President of Fertility Friends Foundation
Why did you start this foundation?
As an OB/GYN, I help couples and individuals start or grow their families. One thing I see daily, on top of the medical struggles that our patients go through, is the financial strain of fertility treatments. Treatments can be expensive and is a huge stress on top over everything else our patients go through.
Patients also need other allied care from healthcare professionals and some patients have a difficult time accessing this care.
Due to this situation, the idea came to create a foundation that helps patients deal with the financial barriers of fertility treatments and offers access to other healthcare professionals.
What types of fertility grants do Fertility Friends Foundation offer?
We offer grants to cover expenses associated with assisted reproduction such as IVF, egg and sperm donation, and gestational surrogacy. Grants are awarded several times a year based on availability of funds.
Fertility Friends Foundation is currently in the process of selecting the Spring 2023 grant recipients and this announcement will be made in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Most recently, the foundation was happy to introduce nine Fall 2022 grant recipients! Not every fertility story is the same, but they all share the heavy burden of fertility procedure costs. The Foundation was excited to give them more hope in their journey and another chance to realize their dream of becoming parents. Click here to read their stories.
Let’s review the cost of IVF treatment.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) fees, using your own eggs, can range from $6,000 – $10,000 for natural cycles, and from $9,000 – $11,000 for stimulated cycles depending on the clinic. These fees usually include cycle monitoring, egg retrieval, extended blastocyst culture, laser-assisted hatching, fresh embryo transfer and embryo freezing with one year of storage.
Variable fees include ICSI, PGT (Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing), medication, sperm freezing and storage, frozen embryo transfer, embryo thaw and culture, positive serology screening and annual storage renewal (embryo/egg/sperm).
Medication costs vary per patient and are based on an individual’s progress during the cycle.
What is the vision of Fertility Friends Foundation?
Infertility is a reproductive disease that is accompanied by physical, psychological, and emotional challenges. Our goal is to provide a path toward parenthood by alleviating the financial and psychological burden of infertility.
“The cost of fertility treatments is one of the reasons why patients will not continue their fertility journey. How many families do we see at our clinic who just cannot afford the treatments they need? A lot… To my mind, no one should give up building a family for financial reasons”.
Frederick Dzineku, MD, FRCSC
As a foundation, we were happy to receive testimonials like this solidifying our quest in creating a more equality access to fertility treatments.
“We are so thankful and more than grateful to receive a grant from the foundation. We have been struggling for almost 7 years of secondary infertility. You could just imagine how costly 7 years of treatments can be. Foundations like yours can really help struggling couples like us achieve what we have been dreaming of our whole lives. We are so happy you exist and can help many more couples. You are a blessing. Thank you. “
Sim and Cesario, Grant recipients of Fertility Friends Foundation
You can learn more about Fertility Friends Foundation work at www.fertilityfriendsfoundation.com/ or @fertilityfriendsfoundation on Instagram or YouTube.