Our Egg Donor Solutions Education Team ensures donors understand and are well prepared for the egg donation process. The Education Manager Holly Muzny, Donor Educators Jordyn Boucha, Mikela Dietrick, and Denise Popow guide new and potential donors through the process and educate them about all aspects of egg donation, including the benefits, the commitment, as well as the risks and side effects.
Jordyn and Mikela are prior egg donors making them invaluable assets to the recruitment and education team. Their knowledge enables them to educate others. It is their responsibility to conduct interviews with potential donors and ensure they are aware of the process and commitment involved. They also help donors record videos and ensure their profiles are updated regularly.
When Jordyn was asked what she enjoys most about her job, she said “I love getting to educate donors on the process and what to expect. I also love watching a donor go through the entire process from prescreen to retrieval and watching her knowledge and comfort grow.” You can read more about Jordyn’s personal story and how egg donation helped Jordyn and her husband have their dream wedding and become debt free.
As Mikela says, one of the best parts of her job is getting to educate donors and facilitate matching them with intended parents. It is the most rewarding part because I get to help them all the way from our interview process, to seeing them matched with such deserving intended parents.”
Denise is a key member of our egg donor recruitment and education team. Her responsibilities include guiding donors through the application process and helping them complete their profiles so that intended parents can select them. She also is responsible for approving or denying those applicants and providing general information about egg donation. By maintaining a database of egg donors, she ensures that EDS has egg donors available to move forward with a family immediately upon selection. Additionally, she conducts interviews with potential donors and assists donors with recording videos for their profiles. She says her favorite thing about working at EDS is being able to add wonderful new donors to the database, providing more opportunities for families. She also appreciates working with some of the most dedicated and caring colleagues in the field.
The egg donor recruitment and education team is led by Holly. When given the opportunity she enjoys sharing her knowledge and explaining the process, commitment, and impact egg donors make through their donation. Holly says what she likes most about her job is “being part of a team that is dedicated to serving our donors and intended parents well. Everyone genuinely cares about our clients and their experience through this process.”
Tips for new and potential egg donors
Have you considered egg donation and the impact you could have in helping to create a happy family? Below are five tips to keep in mind:
- Know the qualifications.
To build a family, intended parents are emotionally and financially invested in selecting the right person. Consequently, egg donors must meet certain criteria regarding age, family health history, BMI, education, and availability to attend appointments. The complete list of qualifications can be found on our website. - Your profile is important.
The quality of your profile photos and content can directly influence how quickly you match with intended parents. “Intended parents want a personal connection with the donor, and the donor needs to provide enough content to do so,” Holly explains. Additionally, non-filtered, high-quality photos are crucial. Intended parents need to see facial features, freckles, eye color, etc. They are more inclined to select smiling, modest photos rather than Snapchat photos, kissy faces, or anything obstructing the photo like sunglasses and hats.” - Anonymity cannot be guaranteed.
With the availability of commercial DNA test kits through sites like 23andme.com and www.ancestry.com, facial recognition software and ongoing technological advancements, it is impossible to guarantee that donors and intended parents will always remain anonymous. Even though we do not share your contact information with intended parents, we feel anonymity does not exist anymore, Holly says. Donors are now required to sign up for the Donor Sibling Registry, which allows safe, appropriate communication between donors and intended parents without divulging their identities.” - Understand the commitment required and manage your expectations.
The commitment involved in being an egg donor is considerable, as it requires taking time off work or school to attend medical appointments, participating in a psychological evaluation, signing legal contracts, administering injectable medications on one’s own, and undergoing local anesthesia for egg retrieval followed by recovery time.
“Manage your expectations,” Jordyn advises donors. You may feel overwhelmed or inconvenienced during this process. Flexibility is essential, and you need to understand that things are sometimes beyond our [or your] control.”
- It is worth it.
Many donors tell us that despite inconveniences, time commitment and other requirements, knowing they contributed to creating a happy family makes it all worthwhile. After her sixth and final cycle, one egg donor expressed her thoughts on the process: “Being an egg donor requires time, dedication, and mental focus, but it’s 100% worth it.”. You know you have done something completely selfless. There is no greater feeling than knowing that intended parents who could not have children on their own or wanted to complete their family were able to because of me.”
If you feel egg donation is right for you, we would be honored to guide and support you through the process. Please reach out to us at Info@CreateAHappyFamily.com or submit an application through our website.
We help Intended Parents Create Happy Families via Egg Donation & Surrogacy
with the help of caring Egg Donors & Surrogates.
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