Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance
UNC Medical Center is hosting a two-day event for pregnancy and infant loss awareness month on Tuesday, October 16 and Wednesday, October 17, 2018. This event will feature several activities intended to remember loved ones, honor families who have experienced this loss, and educate practitioners and community members about pregnancy and infant loss.
The Perinatal Loss Program Fund supports families who have experienced a loss during pregnancy or soon thereafter. If you are interested in making a contribution, please go to: http://go.unc.edu/PerinatalLossProgram or email Jodie Gisser, Director of Development – Women’s Health, or call Jodie at 919-843-9898.
Featured speaker
The keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Kiley Hanish, a doctor of occupational therapy and founder of Return to Zero: H.O.P.E., an organization whose mission is to transform the culture of perinatal loss through awareness, education and support. Kiley and her husband, Sean, are creators of the Emmy-nominated film Return to Zero, which is based on their personal experience of their son Norbert, who was born still. Kiley is also an advocate for maternal mental health.
Remembrance events
October 16
Lunch and Learn with Dr. Kiley Hanish
UNC Hospital employees only, RSVP required
October 16 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the UNC Lineberger Cancer Hospital Starbucks
Lunch will be provided
Employees RSVP here
Dr. Hanish will present on “Trauma-informed care: Supporting Families through Pregnancy and Infant Loss.”
Learning objectives – After this lecture, participants will be able to:
1. Review frequency and types of perinatal loss
2. Communicate a fatal diagnosis with compassion
3. Prepare parents for labor/delivery/procedure/death
4. Guide parents through the rituals associated with parenting their baby
Dedication of Jane’s Room
Open to the public
October 16 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the North Carolina Botanical Garden
Light refreshments will be provided
RSVP is encouraged
Jane’s Room Fundraiser and Private Auction
Invitation only
October 16 at 5:30 p.m. at a private residence
October 17
Jane’s Room Ribbon Cutting and Breakfast
Invitation Only
October 17 at 8:30 a.m. at the N.C. Women’s Hospital
Screening of Return to Zero, Q&A with director Dr. Kiley Hanish
Open to the public, tickets are required.
October 17 at 6 p.m. at the Varsity Theatre
Purchase tickets here
What is Jane’s Room?
Jane’s Room is the vision of the Jane B. Wellstein Foundation, an organization that helps hospitals build private spaces for parents and families who experience a loss or hardship while in the hospital. Bob and Berkley Wellstein started the foundation in memory of their daughter Jane, who was born still at 32 and ½ weeks on January 24, 2012. The Foundation works with hospitals to design Jane’s Rooms for their Labor and Delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
Jane’s Room at N.C. Women’s Hospital in the UNC Medical Center will be the 6th one in the nation, and the only one outside of the greater Chicago area.
N.C. Women’s Hospital sees approximately 350 births a month. Sadly, each year, the hospital cares for approximately 90 families who experience the loss of a baby who is between 18 weeks and full term. Jane’s Room is a quiet, private place within the hospital created in honor of those families so that they have a space in which to gather, to grieve, and to support one another.
“I think of all the times I have I have found myself escorting family members to any quiet spot that I can find so that they can have a place to grieve. We are so fortunate to bring these families to Jane’s Room where they can find provide a place of solace where these families know that they are cared for and that we thought about them even before they got to us, a place where they know that they are not alone,” said Holly Currin, labor and delivery nurse and Coordinator of Perinatal Loss at N.C. Women’s Hospital in the UNC Medical Center.