Melange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2020 | Page 107

Seal of Approval from the Joint
Commission International,
a leading international
healthcare accreditation
body. This distinction, along
with the fact that the Centre’s
success rate exceeds the US
and UK national averages,
helps to dispel any myth
about sweeping substandard
medical care in the Caribbean.
In its 18-year existence,
the BFC has helped to
conceive over 2,000 babies
for couples from around the
world through the highly
personalized, patient-centred
care it has become known for.
American patients particularly
have often contrasted this
with the sterile, “assembly-line”
environment they experienced
at home before deciding
to come to Barbados for
treatment. On initial contact,
a BFC patient is assigned a
dedicated co-ordinator who
meets with the team of nurses
and embryologists to develop
the optimal program for her.
The team stays with her into
week 12 of the pregnancy,
ensuring the most supportive
environment possible. For
IVF Case Coordinator Dionne
Holmes, “it’s a journey we
take with the patient. Their
good news is our good news
and their disappointment
is our disappointment.”
Underpinning such a
personalized approach is a
commitment to delivering
high quality service, and upon
completion of the (typically)
10-day treatment program,
patients can affirm that they’ve
received world-class care in an
idyllic location at roughly one
third the expected cost.
The BFC offers the full gamut
of implantation options and
also caters to non-traditional
cases, including LGBTQ
couples, single women, and
oncofertility, a subfield of
medicine that addresses
the future fertility of cancer
patients. In addition, and
following its philosophy that
stress-free environments
promote conception, the
Centre provides an on-site
full-service wellness facility
staffed by licensed therapists
and a clinical psychologist.
Apart from counseling and
standard pre/post-procedure
acupuncture, the Life Wellness
Centre offers massages, reiki,
reflexology, chakra rebalancing
and nutrition consultation,
among other services. Patients
are strongly encouraged
to take advantage of these
offerings, as they promote
mental and physical wellbeing,
improve circulation, and
reduce stress, all vital factors in
the process of conception.
Now, mid-2020, we are finally
starting to release ourselves
from a months-long Covidinduced
suspension. We are
going back to work, getting
back on planes, and leaving
home. We are emerging
from a time of confusion and
desperation knowing that we
made it. We remember when
we had to lean on faith and
gratitude for small mercies;
when we had to rethink to
birth new mindsets that would
bring resolution first and joy
later. At the same time, in
another dark place, people
were anticipating and praying
fervently for another type of
miracle. They were fighting
hopelessness, building their
resolve, and affirming that
they would see what they had
conceived. In this desert of
despair, the Barbados Fertility
Centre had been their oasis; in
this dark place it had become
their beacon of light, guiding
them into new life and dreams
realized.
by Shana Jones, the Roaming Aviatix