This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it’s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It’s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 6 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.
Apple Podcasts Spotify Podcasts Stitcher Podcasts Google Podcasts
This is Infertility

Episode 215: Fighting for Firefighters: Maia Brown’s Mission to Change Infertility Support

Guest: Maia Brown, President of The Beltane Guild
Host: Dan Bulger, Progyny  

Firefighters face physical and emotional challenges at work, but what about when they’re facing challenges with fertility?

In this episode we hear from Maia Brown, a firefighter paramedic and president of The Beltane Guild, a nonprofit dedicated to firefighter reproductive health. Maia shares her deeply personal journey, from discovering diminished ovarian reserve in the middle of paramedic school, to undergoing IVF, to realizing how little support exists for firefighters facing fertility and family building challenges.

Now, through The Beltane Guild, Maia is helping fire departments nationwide create comprehensive reproductive health policies and offering grants to firefighters undergoing treatment.

She raises the question; can this job have an effect on our reproductive health? Firefighters are exposed to unique circumstances like stress, toxins, irregular sleep schedules and Maia has been partnering on groundbreaking research and resources to protect future generations of firefighters who see families in their futures.

For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and Progyny’s Education page for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.   

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7fOu6C7p-h4  

Dan Bulger

Host

Dan Bulger
Producer at Progyny

Dan has been in the healthcare industry for the past ten plus years as a multimedia content producer. Better known as ‘Video Dan’ he has interviewed numerous doctors, patients and other experts in the world of fertility. He’s also the producer for this podcast, This is Infertility and the producer behind the Progyny YouTube Channel which features interviews with dozens of the nation’s leading fertility specialists. On a personal note Dan’s parents started fostering kids when he was four years old, and he considers himself a proud older brother to over 100 foster children.

Maia Brown

Guest

Maia Brown
President of The Beltane Guild

Maia works as a Firefighter Paramedic in the state of Washington. After experiencing infertility as a firefighter and realizing how complicated treatment would be financially and emotionally, she decided to start a non-profit to help others in the same position.

The Beltane Guild has grown to a nationwide resource for research and policy writing regarding firefighter reproductive health and has also provided numerous grants to firefighter families in need.