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AHS halts uninsured services at Edmonton fertility clinic, bumps patients elsewhere

November was a tough month for many Alberta families who had been using services at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women’s Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic, in Edmonton. On Nov.
The MacDonald family is one of many Alberta families affected by the changes at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women’s Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic.
The MacDonald family is one of many Alberta families affected by the changes at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women’s Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic.

November was a tough month for many Alberta families who had been using services at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women’s Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic, in Edmonton.

On Nov. 3, news broke that the clinic would no longer be offering uninsured services, and that patients would have to go elsewhere for fertility treatments, including one other clinic in Edmonton, Calgary, or possibly outside provincial borders.

For St. Paul resident Meagan MacDonald, the announcement only added to the stress of what had already been a string of disheartening news.

Starting a family didn’t seem like a challenge when Meagan and her husband began the process, over 10 years ago, and they conceived their two oldest girls fairly easily.

“But, when we decided to have a third, it took about four-and-a half years, and I was diagnosed with secondary infertility,” says Meagan. Through the care of Dr. Akindele, in St. Paul, Meagan was able to get pregnant with her son, Connor. She used a monitored and medicated cycle of treatments to do so.

When Connor about a year old, the family started trying for a fourth baby.

“We always wanted a big family . . . and started medicated cycles again.”

After three unsuccessful cycles, Meagan was referred to the fertility clinic in Edmonton. It took a year to hear from the clinic, and in the mean time, the couple kept trying.

“We did another two medicated cycles and had a miscarriage during that year wait.”

The process to get into treatment at the clinic was quite intensive, but the options to proceed with other treatments were made available at the clinic, and the MacDonald family continued to persevere.

The experience at the clinic itself was a good one. Meagan was given different medications, had the opportunity to try different treatment options, but she also made countless trips back and forth from St. Paul to Edmonton, and has faced costly expenses that go along with treatments. Thankfully, her husband’s benefit plan at work covers fertility drugs, so the MacDonald’s are fortunate in that sense.

“The staff at the clinic are amazing,” says Meagan. “Words cannot describe how welcoming and supportive they area. They make a really difficult and often invasive and painful process so much easier.”

As Meagan prepared for the intrauterine insemination (IUI) portion of her treatment cycle, an issue was noted and the process was cancelled. In October, Meagan started the process again, but her entire cycle was called off because the previous issue hadn’t resolved itself.

“This happened six days after the news broke that the clinic will no longer be offering uninsured services,” says Meagan. “So, in the course of a week, we found out that we are no longer going to be patients of our clinic, that we cannot currently keep trying to get pregnant, and that we may not be able to ever try again, depending on how my testing goes.”

She noted that going into the clinic six days after the announcement had been made, the atmosphere and feeling at the clinic seemed to have changed.

“Everyone there was so somber and sad, not just for what it means for them personally, but for what it means for all of us patients,” says Meagan. She notes that one misconception over the announcement is that some people believe the services were funded, and now they aren’t going to be.

“IUI and IVF were never covered, so we aren’t losing that. We’re losing the opportunity to access these services at our current clinic. Yes, we can transfer to private clinics, however the cost is much higher and we are being forced out of a clinic where we have developed relationships with the staff, have trust in our health care providers, and feel comfortable . . . It feels like AHS is telling infertile people and couples that we don’t matter to them.”

And because Meagan was in between treatment cycles, she only received 16 days notice of the changes, which felt like “a slap in the face.” She is also concerned about increased costs and wait times that she believes will likely come with having to change clinics.

“We are already in this process over two-and-a-half years, 13 unsuccessful cycles, one miscarriage, and now we don't even know when we can see our doctor next,” says Meagan.

When she and her husband started the journey for baby number four, they had decided that while they would try their best to conceive, they wouldn’t continue if it was going to take too much away from their three children at home.

The recent announcement and possible increased costs of seeking fertility treatments may mean the MacDonald family’s journey is coming to an end. And so far, the transition to a new clinic doesn’t seem smooth, as Meagan is still waiting for her files to be transferred to the other Edmonton clinic, and she continued to wait for confirmation on an appointment that was supposed to take place in December.

On Nov. 30, a rally to keep fertility services available at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women was set to take place. The rally was being organized by United Infertility Edmonton, supporters and in solidarity with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) and Friends of Medicare (FOM).

The rally took place at the Alberta Legislature.

On Thursday, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman released a statement on the issue, saying, “I know the departure of two physicians from the Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women to take up private practice has led to uncertainty and stress for many families.”

She added, “Alberta Health Services will continue to provide all the same publicly insured services it has done through the Lois Hole clinic, and will assist patients throughout the transition if they wish to move to the private clinic.”

Hoffman said she would be meeting with some of the affected families in the coming days, “and my door will always be open.”

On Nov. 3, Alberta Health Service posted about the decision on its Beyond the Headlines blog.

The blog notes that AHS’s “focus must be on publicly-funded services.” The Regional Fertility Clinic was the only fertility clinic in the province run through a public facility, and most other fertility clinics in Canada are privately operated.

“Discontinuing non-insured fertility services at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women will increase space and resources for high risk, pressure areas within the Women’s Health program including cancer screening, diagnostics and treatment related to cancer, the reproductive mental health and bereavement outpatient program, outpatient procedures and high risk pregnancy care,” reads the blog post.

The blog post also points out that there will be no employment loss as a result of the transition.


Janice Huser

About the Author: Janice Huser

Janice Huser has been with the St. Paul Journal since 2006. She is a graduate of the SAIT print media journalism program, is originally from St. Paul and has a passion for photography.
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