History of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in the Worldby Sherokee Ilse, Mpls, Minnesota, USA www.wintergreenpress.com  As the one with the idea to promote this idea and select October as our Awareness Month, I was recently asked by the ISA Parent Advisory Committee to write about the history for our newsletter and to put it up on the ISA website. I agreed wholeheartedly, and then began to wonder if my memory could really recapture it accurately. Thankfully, I recently found the entire set of ‘Loving Arms’ Newsletters from the national organization I co-founded in 1983, the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Center (the Center closed its doors in 2002). The newsletters chronicled the story, and now I will share a shortened version of the history. (May I suggest that those of you who have similar missions may want to consider writing down your group’s history. You just never know when you might want to recall it only to find the memories have become fuzzy). Then I asked other components of Parent Advisory Committee to write about the history of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness activities in their countries.
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1983 - During the first year of the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Center’s (PILC) existence, plans were made to select a week in October and call it our First Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Week. I specifically chose October because the SIDS Alliance had previously made October SIDS Awareness Month, and I had hopes that one day we could work with them, learn from them, and benefit from their fine work in promoting SIDS and seeking causes and preventative strategies. (Happily, that time has arrived and they have adopted stillbirth as a serious cause helping to elevate it nationally in the legislature, in scientific circles, and elsewhere). |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 October 2008 21:49 )
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Babyloss is a UK-based resource of information and support for bereaved parents and their families who have lost a baby at any stage of pregnancy, at birth, or due to neonatal death. The organisation was established in 2000, and is run by a small team of volunteer administrators and forum moderators. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 October 2008 21:59 )
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Sands Queensland has celebrated Awareness Day for the past five years – since 2003. The first year was commemorated by the release of doves, parents saying their babies’ names and the unveiling of a new wallhanging to be used as a memory creation tool for parents. Succeeding years have seen Awareness Day celebrations include the release of butterflies and balloons and the lighting of candles. A Sands group in Townsville has also conducted “A Walk to Remember – to take the steps that they couldn’t.” The memorial services are spiritual in nature and give parents an opportunity to gather with like-minded people to remember and reflect on their experiences. More information on the website: www.sands.org.au |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 October 2008 22:11 )
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The first celebration of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in Italy took place in 2007. It was only during the annual congress of the International Stillbirth Alliance in Birmingham in October 2007 that Claudia Ravaldi and Alfredo Vannacci from CiaoLapo Onlus came aware of the existence of such a celebration. Only few days after coming back to Italy, CiaoLapo tried to inform Italian parents about the celebration, and organized a memorial ceremony in Florence. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 25 October 2008 15:18 )
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