Welcome Dr. Broughton to the Fertility Community of the Pacific NW!
Hi! This is Natalie Willits – acupuncturist and herbalist at Acupuncture Northwest & Associates' Seattle clinic. In an effort to introduce our patients to all Seattle has to offer, I’ve been interviewing important members of the city’s health and fertility community for our newsletter and blog. We love our patients at ANW and want them to have access to the vibrant community that is constantly growing around us.
This past month I had the chance to sit down with one of Seattle’s newest Reproductive Endocrinologists, Dr. Darcy Broughton. Dr. Broughton joined the team at Pacific Northwest Fertility & IVF Specialists (PNWF), and is fitting in seamlessly all while bringing her own strengths and passion to the job. As a Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Broughton provides an evaluation and diagnosis of fertility, counsel to patients on their reproductive and family building options (including utilizing donor egg and sperm), and facilitates treatments such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
I was excited to learn Dr. Broughton is a Pacific Northwesterner at heart, growing up in Bremerton, WA before moving to the East coast for her undergraduate and doctoral degrees. As such, she loves being back and partaking in Seattle’s unique and diverse fertility community – including getting to know the local acupuncturists!
Dr. Broughton was exposed to acupuncture while completing residency at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Here she saw her patients benefit from integrative medicine treatments, such as acupuncture, in conjunction to her Western medicine therapies. At the time she hoped her future practice would integrate the two, and now she couldn’t be happier in Seattle where integration is a key part of many patients’ health goals.
During residency, Dr. Broughton worked extensively with patients on contraceptive counseling, abortion care, and women’s reproductive rights. When she decided to continue on with a Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology, Dr. Broughton says some of her friends questioned how she could switch from contraceptive care to implementing fertility treatments? In her mind, however, they were two sides of the same coin: both include helping women and couples plan for the type of family they want and giving them the tools to do it.
Dr. Broughton very clearly cares about giving her patients a voice. I loved her emphasis on helping women and couples come up with a vision for what they want their family to look like. How does parenthood fit into their lives right now, and what does building a family look like in the years ahead? How does their reproductive and overall health affect these present and future goals? Conversations such as these help women and couples play a part in what can be a difficult and overwhelming time.
After my conversation with her I can confidently say she is one more person in our community who is dedicated to fighting the stigma against infertility, and helping those who are affected by it. Thank you Dr. Broughton for sharing your story with me!