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LifeQuest Patients Invited for coffee and a chat... |
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...in support of Canadian Infertility Awareness Week:
May 16 to May 22, 2010 is the fourth annual Canadian Infertility Awareness Week (CIAW). It’s an initiative of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada (IAAC) and it’s designed to inform Canadians about the facts of infertility. CIAW is also designed to let you know you’re not alone: that 1 in 6 Canadian couples, or 250,000 Canadians, experience infertility issues.
In support of IAAC and our patients here at LifeQuest, we’re hosting an informal breakfast on Tuesday May 18th from 7:00am to 10:00am. Please join us in the reception area for coffee and a muffin. Also on hand to meet and greet you and informally answer your questions will be Sherry Dale, MSW, our infertility counsellor; Jim Meriano, our Embryology Lab Director; several IVF and Cycle Monitoring Nurses and other LifeQuest staff; and acupuncturists from the Total Wellness Centre, who specialize in acupuncture treatment for infertility. We hope you’ll save the date and join us! |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 April 2010 08:43 |
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LifeQuest Launches Egg Freezing Program for Fertility Preservation |
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As revolutionary as the birth control pill, egg freezing, an assisted reproductive technology, is giving younger women an opportunity to slow the ticking of their biological clocks. For instance, a healthy 29 year-old-woman knows she wants to have a biological family; but she has not yet met her life partner, and she is dedicated to building a career. Still, she worries about the statistics that tell her infertility could be an issue, especially as women delay pregnancy. Now, egg freezing provides an opportunity for her to preserve her eggs at the peak of her fertility.
Beginning March 2010, with the launch of HERS (Human Eggs for Reproductive Safekeeping), LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine became the first fertility centre in Toronto to offer an elective egg freezing program for fertility preservation. Full information about the program is available on the website: www.lifequesteggfreezing.com.
Egg freezing is a new innovation in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technologies. For the past 20 years, it has been possible to freeze embryos, and thousands of babies have been born around the world. Until recently, the technology for freezing unfertilized eggs (oocytes) has not proven reliable, and has resulted in very few pregnancies. However advances in research and new techniques have made egg freezing a viable option for healthy young women.
LifeQuest has been freezing eggs for five years, using a modification of the ‘slow freezing’ method first reported by 2002 by Italian researchers. The first baby in Canada using this slow freezing method was born to a LifeQuest couple in 2004. Since then, LifeQuest has successfully frozen, stored, and later thawed and fertilized human eggs, with subsequent live births.
A woman’s age at the time of her egg collection is the biggest determinant of a successful outcome to egg freezing, and any subsequent chance of pregnancy and live birth. The ideal time to freeze a woman’s eggs is in her 20’s or early 30’s. After the age of 37, both the quantity and quality of eggs decline rapidly. LifeQuest offers elective egg freezing to women between the ages of 19 and 36. |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 April 2010 08:45 |
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LifeQuest has also launched an Egg Freezing “blog”, hosted by our very own social media ‘superstar’. We hope you’ll check in to see what people are saying about Egg Freezing, Fertility issues and LifeQuest’s new program: www.lifequesteggfreezing.com. Feel free to join the conversation! |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 April 2010 08:48 |
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LifeQuest to Attend Primary Care Today Tradeshow |
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LifeQuest will once again participate at the prestigious Primary Care Today Tradeshow and Conference for Family Physicians and General Practitioners, May 6 – 8 in Toronto. The LifeQuest booth will provide information and facts about infertility, as well as highlight the importance of diagnosing and referring patients with fertility issues to a clinic that specializes in helping couples with these issues. |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 April 2010 08:49 |
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Mandatory Counselling for IVF Patients |
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In anticipation of the passing of proposed government legislation that will make counselling for IVF patients mandatory, LifeQuest has decided to proactively institute its own counselling policies. Effective July 1st, 2007, all IVF patients must receive a minimum one hour counselling session from LifeQuest's counsellor, Sherry Dale, MSW .
Counselling helps couples deal with the stress of infertility and prepares them for the emotional highs and lows of treatment. In the IVF counselling session, patients get the chance to ask questions, learn from the experiences of a counsellor who has first hand experience with fertility treatment, learn what to expect emotionally during IVF, and develop coping strategies. To book an appointment call the IVF reception desk at 416 506-0804.
Further information is available in the Our Team and Counselling & Support sections of our website. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 22 March 2010 05:52 |
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