What would you do if you found out the treatment you needed to build your family could cost $20,000, $40,000, or even $200,000 out of pocket? For most people, that number is the end of the road. For Elana Frank, it was the beginning of something bigger.

Elana is the founder and CEO of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, a nonprofit that has allocated over $3.25 million in fertility grants to more than 560 families, trained over a thousand community and healthcare leaders, and watched 377 babies come into the world as a result. But before any of that, she was a patient herself, navigating infertility in Israel, cycling through embryo after embryo, and fighting for a third child in a way that nearly cost her her marriage.

In this episode, Elana pulls back the curtain on all of it.

• What it was like to receive IVF for free in Israel and return to the U.S. to find almost no financial support
• The conversation in a JCC baby pool that sparked the founding of JFF
• A real breakdown of what fertility treatment costs, from IUI to IVF to donor eggs to surrogacy
• Why fertility treatment is a medical necessity, not a luxury, and what needs to change in the insurance landscape
• How JFF's grant program works, who it serves, and how to apply
• The emotional toll infertility takes on relationships, and what it looks like when partners are not on the same page
• What nurses and clinic staff can do right now to better connect patients with financial resources

Laura and Ashlee bring their nursing perspective to this one in a big way, reflecting on what they wish they had known about financial resources when they were working in the clinic, and why proactive education from care teams can change the trajectory of a patient's journey.

If you or someone you love is facing the financial and emotional weight of fertility treatment, this episode is for you.

Connect with the Jewish Fertility Foundation:

• Website: https://jewishfertilityfoundation.org/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewishfertilityfoundation/