Debra Minjarez

Sonia was our coordinator and she is amazing. Super organized and totally invested in our journey to have a baby. As a queer couple, the entire staff embraced us and always addressed me and my wife appropriately. The nurses were all great! We mostly worked with Flo but also had other nurses. They were all knowledgeable and knew my medical chart very well. That type of knowledge and attention never happens at other clinics. Some of the nurses go between the Oakland and SF office so it was really nice on the day of my transfer to see one of our nurses in SF and get a hug before I went in for the procedure.

We haven't worked a lot with our nurse yet -- she taught an injectable medications class that was very helpful. Our patient navigator and the team have been very helpful, promptly answering all of our questions and providing clear, detailed instructions.

The nursing staff at Spring has been so helpful and caring. My care coordinator is responsive to my questions via call and email. I have also had a great experience anytime I have had to call in on the weekend for urgent requests (one time I was traveling and did not have the right medications and they immediately helped me find a local pharmacy that had the medication I needed).

My nurse, Flo, was very compassionate on the phone and nearly always called whenever I needed some type of explanation for my medications. My cycle coordinator, Marina, was extremely helpful over email and phone and very timely to questions I had over email. I nearly always received a response within 1 business day of my email from either Marina or another cycle coordinator/nurse. In my opinion, Spring is excellent on timeliness and customer care.

Initially the nursing staff was great - I had the same nurse from our first consult to egg retrieval, which was really valuable. Unfortunately, the nurse left CCRM prior to the transfer, and I went back and forth between nurses which I didn't like (not always current on my situation, not quite as empathetic, forgot to call with results, etc.). I wish that I had the same nurse throughout the entire process.

Too busy. Called in the wrong meds or no meds. Didn't order the right labs. Asked me about my husband several times, when my chart said I'm single. This was other nurses than those I listed. You work with a variety of people when going through IVF.

Shanna is the BEST. I thank God for her every single day. Timely, compassionate, personal advocate - whatever you needed she delivered!

I have had three very different nurses. First: she left in 2014, but was disorganized, forgot any details about me and my history, and would call in scripts for meds I was allergic to. Katie P: Excellent. She is a good communicator, was organized (she would email me the day before I had to start or change a med), always returned calls and emails within an hour, and genuinely cared about me. Kristi: My nurse now. The only positive is that she responds to my emails very quickly. She is disorganized, doesn't remember any details about me or my history, and is not at all thoughtful or creative when she responds to my questions - if it's not a pre-written CCRM response, she doesn't know what to say.

NUrsing staff was always busy. I had one bad experience during an IUI, in which a new intern I hadn't met was allowed to insert the speculum. It took her minutes of jabbing around and hitting my cervix repeatedly, and I eventually in tears asked her to stop. Someone else was brought in, and the rest of it went smoothly, but I was so upset and in pain. No one apologized, and I was left to feel really awkward. It often felt like the nurse didn't know my name or remember what my specifics were; I was constantly having to remind them of my unusually short ovulation cycle, and it was in my chart, and yet the nurses kept giving me wrong instructions for taking medication and scheduling appointments. I also did not like that nurses would only call with medication dosage and timing instructions. They wouldn't email them. This led to a particularly bad IVF cycle (my first) in which I couldn't' remember the final dosage of HCG and couldn't find anyone who could tell me what it was in the middle of the night; the night nurse instructed me to take the wrong dosage. This was the night before my egg retrieval. They were still able to retrieve eggs, but a significant number were not mature and I still wonder if this is due to the incorrect dosage I took. Had the nurse emailed me or written instructions down, this would not have happened. As it was, she called me when I was out at the grocery store without pen/paper, and she still told me the exact times and dosages for five different medicines across a 3 day period, didn't repeat them, and hung up. I had to then try to remember exactly and write them down in my phone, and couldn't remember the final dosage. So all in all, while the staff is generally professional and competent, they could use some improvement in coordinating care.

She is on top of of everything and calls me back immediately. When she's out she makes sure I am covered. Some of the other nurses who cover for her don't seem quite as on top of it. Christina is calm, knowledgeable and authoritative which helps me trust her though I think she is better than most of the others based on when she is out.

Ms. Lyons was a very good nurse, and I loved having one nurse with whom to communicate. Other nurses not familiar with my course of treatment often did not give us accurate information; however, when there was a mix-up of our medication for trigger, the nurses worked very hard after hours to track down the right medications.

Primary nurse was ok, but especially for our first IVF round, she assumed that we were already familiar with the protocols, drugs, acronyms, procedures, etc. When you are going through this process, the last thing you want to do is figure out the basics on your own. There were several calendar mistakes made along the way where I felt that I had to double check absolutely everything. Before we began our first cycle, she would talk about the "Calendar" like it was a big magical thing, and when I got it, I was very disappointed and confused. It was a photocopied piece of paper with dates handwritten in and notes in the columns. It used terms like "LMP" which I was not familiar with. Instead of using the term "luprolide acetate" (which was what the pharmacy called it), it referred to "Lupron", which I believe is the brand name of the drug. This all sounds really nit-picky, but for someone going through infertility and uncertainty and nervousness, it would have been so much more reassuring to have everything spelled out for us in a clear, precise and unmistakable manner. Communication was difficult in that we did not have a way to directly contact our nurse - had to either leave a message via their portal or leave a message in the general nurses mailbox.

The nurses were much more attentive but still rushed through appointments

My primary point person for IVF was Erin Quinn and she was wonderful. For IUI it was a less warm and fuzzy woman named Lisa in CCRM's Denver office. The other IVF nurses were incredible; one of whom drove 40 minutes up from the suburbs on a Sunday to help me with drugs. I am embarrassed to say I cannot recall her name but I also think Erin said she left CCRM the following year anyway. But it was that type of place. Ruby who did blood draw was hilarious and amazing at find veins and the woman who staffed the U/S was equally nice. I really felt that the IVF was a supportive environment, unlike the early IUI experience.

Flo has compassion and high level of care when reviewing protocols and medications. She provides comfort and additional support through the process. It is reassuring to have a team that is cheering you on and supporting your journey as it is an arduous, emotional, and straining one.

Mel was great. Very timely in response and helped me advocate for the care I needed. She met all my needs and expectations.

Very organized and a great communicator. Definitely advocated for things that I needed. Great nurse.

Organized, easy to reach, detail oriented

They are kind, younger but energetic. I appreciate the positivity in the clinic by the nurses and staff. They are helpful but not too much. I am pretty quiet and I appreciated being left alone as well and not forced to make small talk. IVF is intense enough.

My care team was very responsive. Any question I had was promptly answered with a pleasant response. They were more than willing to send different pharmacies my medications to help with costs.