Help needed for bereaved parents at OUH
09/10/2018
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A Bereavement Service team at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is urging people to support fundraising to help make lasting memories for families who have lost a baby.
The Ashfield Suite, based at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, helps care for women and their families when they have lost a baby late in pregnancy or shortly after giving birth.
The Ashfield Fund, part of Oxford Hospitals Charity, supports the bereavement suites, by funding specialist counselling for families, and providing items such as hand and feet castings.
As a result, parents are able to spend a little more time with their baby and create lasting and tangible memories.
But money is still needed to help buy bereavement items, which is why the team is appealing for the public's help as part of Baby Loss Awareness Week, 9-15 October 2018.
As well as helping to make memory items for parents, donations also help to make the bereavement suites more homely and comfortable for families at a difficult time.
Launched in November 2017, the JustGiving page has raised £3,631- or 48 percent - of the £7,500 target.
Paula Gallacher, Bereavement Specialist Midwife at the Trust, said: "It is just so amazing and humbling to see the bereaved parents that have made so many fantastic donations to our JustGiving page to enable us to continue this valued service.
"We know that offering this extra support can help families hugely during this extremely difficult time and we are most grateful for your support."
The Level 7 bereavement team has a close working relationship with Oxfordshire Sands charity, which provides the unit with memory boxes, which are greatly valued by bereaved parents.
The service also signposts families to baby loss counselling charity Petals, which provides free specialist counselling services for women and their partners following the loss of a baby.
A documentary, Child of Mine, filmed at UCLH in London and the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, will be launched at cinemas this week.
The film follows three couples through their experience of baby loss and the journey they face afterwards. The screening in Oxford will take place on 10 October 2018 at 6.30pm at the Ultimate Picture Palace. It will also be broadcast on Channel 4 on 18 October 2018.
You can donate to the Oxford Hospitals Charity fundraising appeal here.
Bereavement services following late miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death
Pictured: from left, Christine Gardner, Level 7 Ward Clerk; Paula Gallacher, Bereavement Specialist Midwife; Karen Milward, Senior Housekeeper for Level 7; Jane Upham, Clinical Midwifery Manager for Maternity Inpatients, Bereavement and Recruitment; Fran Thurrell and Finola Harris, Bereavement Midwives and Abbie Taylor, Maternity Support Worker.