What's New
from the xytex blog
From Heather's Desk
 They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well the village I belong to is that of Reproductive Medicine where it takes a team of health care professionals to create the child that the village will raise.
My world is that of Reproductive Medicine and in particular Third party Reproduction. My role in the village is the Canadian Distributor of donor semen. My company, Outreach Health Services, imports donor semen from Xytex Cryo International in Augusta GA. Because of our relationship of Processor/ Importer/Distributor I am the acting agent in Canada for Xytex and represent Xytex in all our interactions with physicians, patients and Health Canada.
We have had this role for the past 10 years in Canada and because of our excellent customer service and philosophy of “doing whatever it takes to make it work” for the clients along with representing an excellent product, we have made the name Xytex synonymous with Third Party Reproduction using donor semen in Canada.
It all began in March of 1999 after Health Canada passed new regulations as law and produced a document called “Processing and Distribution of Semen for Assisted Conception Regulations” All operating sperm banks in Canada now had to be compliant in the screening of sperm donors and the processing of donor semen as per the new regulations.
Many thought the new regulations were too stringent and significantly increased the costs of processing because the donors would now have to provide a urine sample at the time of banking the semen sample. The urine would be tested for Gonnorhea and Chlamydia. At the same time the semen was to also have a General Culture performed on the semen sample. But with the mandate to protect the Canadian public Health Canada became the governing body for Third Party Reproduction and anyone screening/processing donor semen had to abide by the new regulations.
The new regulations wreaked havoc on the supply of donor semen because they were not retroactive, meaning most of the donor semen belonging to any donor bank in Canada was now most likely not Canadian compliant and could not be used. At that time there was approximately 27 operating donor semen banks in Canada, mind you many of them were hospital based programs and screened and processed donor semen for their own in-house clients.
Many of the hospital based donor programs chose not to comply and closed their donor semen processing banks. The immediate fall out was the dramatic decline in donor semen available to the patients that required it. However, there were 2 commercial banks operating in Toronto and 1 in Montreal. Back in 1999 Xytex was importing into Canada but on a very sporadic basis.
Being a registered nurse already working in a Private IVF clinic and an infertility patient who had conceived her son through IVF, I immediately recognized the challenge patients were going to have with the limited choices that was now the reality for anyone requiring donor semen to assist them in creating their family.
Through the private IVF clinic where I was working I had been introduced to the name and services of Xytex and had met the then Director of Marketing and Sales, David Towles at an ASRM meeting. Being impressed with David’s knowledge of the industry and his inherent ability to provide excellent customer service through his outgoing and gregarious personality I looked further to the history of Xytex and decided this is who I can work with to provide services to the Canadian patients.
Being an entrepreneur at heart and already having an existing company; Outreach Health Services providing CPR instruction and services to the elderly, I felt that I had met a company with the same beliefs as myself when it came to providing unparalleled customer service to their clients.
I wanted to work with these people! David and I spoke about the opportunity I presented to Xytex and in September 1999 my company, Outreach Health Services, became the formal distributor for Xytex in Canada.
Think of what we could achieve and knowing the long, hard journey most infertility patients face; think of the impact we could have on Canadian patients in assisting them in creating their families!
For 10 years now I have been achieving those goals and it has been a true privilege to be a part of my client’s lives on such a personal level. The privilege is never taken for granted and being so passionate about what we do at Outreach Health Services I have put myself in many challenging situations with Health Canada and some members of the public on behalf of Xytex as we sometimes have to defend what we do and be the champion for those clients affected by Infertility and those who have had their choices made for them by beaurocrats and governments seemingly with the patient’s best intentions in mind. Due to the very personal nature of Third Party Reproduction many patients are hesitant to make a public stand with the government.
Those that make the rules have never walked in the shoes of an infertile patient so it makes sense that they do not understand the complex emotional and medical needs the patients have.
I have had a personal relationship with infertility and therefore I am able to pass on a unique perspective to my clients, something most of our competitors are not able to do. I also understand that when they are upset on the other end of the phone line it is not personal, they just find their circumstances very frustrating and this is where the excellent customer service and training of my Client Specialists comes in.
We work very closely with our clients, answering their many questions and assisting them in their selection of a donor, right up to ensuring the donor samples arrive when they are supposed to.
Xytex, myself and my company Outreach Health Services have had a mutually beneficial relationship on so many levels over the past 10 years, but the most important level of all has been that of being a part of our Canadian clients lives in such a personal way and to have the impact that we do on their lives and that of their children conceived through the assistance of the team of health care professionals that we are a part of.
As we enter another decade of partnership between Xytex and Outreach Health Services I look forward to continuing our relationship, achieving our shared goals of helping our client create their Canadian families through unparalleled customer service and expanding the village we are part joyously of.
Heather Brooks, RN
You can reach me at h.brooks@on.aibn.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Leave a Reply
|
