(Note: We welcome this guest post by Kathryn Jamboretz, a great friend, owner & president of Vox Pop Communications and Fertility Partnership media relations consultant)

I didn’t know a lot about infertility when I started this journey with Fertility Partnership. Some of my friends had struggled with having a baby, but I never really asked many questions. I didn’t want to put them on the spot and I didn’t exactly know what to say.

I now know I should have stopped to listen more. Infertility can be incredibly isolating.

It’s been one year since Fertility Partnership opened its doors, but it’s been years in the making. 

In the beginning, we agonized over the right colors and the logos and the name and that darn lighted outdoor sign that never seemed to want to arrive. But in the end, I knew that Dr. Simckes and his culture of compassion would rule the day. We could have stuck him in a broom closet and patients would have flocked to see him.

Why? Because he’s different. He has a connection to women and babies that is hard to put into words.

My job was to introduce Dr. Simckes, my friend Elan, to the world. All I had to do was give him the platform and patients would hear the passion in his voice.

I know he will change the world of infertility treatment. Really, he already has. 

Congratulations to Dr. Simckes and the entire team at Fertility Partnership for a fearless year. You dared to do things differently. Here’s to many more years of babies, milestones and lots more lighted signs to come.