Gift of Hope Announces Call for Submissions For Parents Struggling To Have A Baby

BATON ROUGE, La. - March 5, 2015 - PRLog -- Each spring, board certified reproductive endocrinologist Dr. John Storment of FertilityAnswers awards a free cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) to a lucky local couple struggling to have a baby through his program called Gift of Hope. Now, the physician has opened the call for entries again.

Applications are open to couples in Louisiana and will be available to download from the website March 1, 2015 at FertilityAnswers.com. The deadline to apply is April 27, 2015.

Created to ease the high costs, both financially and emotionally of IVF, the Gift of Hope program awards infertility treatments to one couple each year who demonstrates both financial and medical needs for the procedure. Donors include Dr. Storment, FertilityAnswers. Since 2006, there have been 11 Louisiana couples chosen, seven of which conceived and four babies have been born as a result.

Eligibility for Gift of Hope requires couples:

- Earn less than $100,000 per year

- Have no insurance coverage for infertility.

- Be tax-paying residents of Louisiana.

- Have a documented medical need for in vitro fertilization.

- Have insurance coverage for prenatal care.

- Can describe in their own words the compelling nature of their need for fertility treatment.

“We started the program as a way to help local couples undergo IVF who could not otherwise afford it,” said Amelie Storment, wife of Dr. Storment and the creator and driving force behind the program. “We were approached in 2005 by a national foundation that was doing a similar program. Their program awarded an IVF cycle to a deserving couple somewhere in the U.S. and then they would fly them to participating donating clinics around the country to receive treatment. We liked the idea, but

following Hurricane Katrina, we knew that there were just as many deserving couples right here in our area who could use this service.”

The combined value of donated services to receive the Gift of Hope is estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. According to Resolve, the National Infertility Association, only a quarter of healthcare insurers offer coverage for infertility care. As a result, as many as 50 percent of American couples who fail to conceive do not seek treatment due to financial reasons.

John Storment M.D. and the other physicians with FertilityAnswers offer comprehensive treatment of infertility, including Assistant Reproductive Technologies and In Vitro Fertilization, treatment of multiple pregnancy loss, endometriosis, and all other reproductive endocrine disorders.

The FertilityAnswers Network is a Lafayette/Baton Rouge-based infertility health system with statewide reach. It is the largest network of fertility clinics in the state — serving more than two-thirds of Louisiana in over 40 parishes. It includes four separate, clinical offices with two state-of-the-art IVF laboratories serving a geographic area of more than 35,000 square miles. The FertilityAnswers Network has helped thousands of couples become parents, with more than 4,000 babies born.