october is pregnancy & infant loss awareness...
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Media KitOctober is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
Approximately a million pregnancies in the United States each year end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child.
The loss of a child stays with parents, friends, and family members forever, but it can be challenging for others to truly understand the emotional and physical impact. Events across the country take place each October and help people to better empathize and support parents on their journey to hope.
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members and work to prevent causes of these problems. [1]
ONE IN FOUR PREGNANCIES ENDS IN A LOSS.Miscarriage. Stillbirth. Infant Loss. Sadly, these are deeply painful experiences that many families face daily, but they receive little attention. It may be hard to talk about, but the more open we are, the better we can serve bereaved parents.
Miscarriage is the most common type of pregnancy loss, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Studies reveal that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage. When fetal death occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called stillbirth. These tragic deaths occur in about 1 in 160 pregnancies.
According to a 20011 National Vital Statistics Report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pregnancy-related deaths in the United States steadily increased from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to a high of 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2009 and 2011.
Millions of mothers and fathers do not know where to turn for grieving support after losing a child. Bereaved families long for ways to honor their deceased babies and October is nationally-recognized as Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month.
While child loss may be a more common occurrence than people think, there are still far too many families that face the devastating moments alone, desperate for support before, during or after the loss of a baby. Who is there to help? Who is there to offer support?
[1]: Proclamation 5890 -- Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, 1988, http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/102588b.htm
402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301 • www.nationalshare.org • 636-947-6164
Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support
Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support is a national nonprofit that serves those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life. In October, we will host an Open House at our national office, several Lunch and Learn programs for County Health Departments, Wave of Light Remembrance Service, and our annual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope in St. Louis, MO, along with several chapter walks across the nation.
More than 20,000 families around the world are served each year by Share. The national Share staff works diligently to provide free bereavement resources and materials to every individual in need.
Here are just a few examples of our services:
1) Share is the first point of contact for those experiencing pregnancy or infant loss. We receive 10,800 phone calls for support and referrals annually.
2) Share distributes more than 5,000 free resource packets a year to bereaved parents around the world.
3) Share provides partnering hospitals with grief resource packets in mother/baby units, emergency rooms and outpatient surgery centers.
4) Share serves nearly 20,000 individuals a year through support group programs in more than 75 chapters and is dedicated to setting standards for these aftercare programs.
5) Share maintains an interactive website that generates more than 1,400 visits a week and which provides a newsletter, blog, message boards and chat rooms on various grief and loss issues.
Anyone can support Share by donating via the website at http://www.nationalshare.org, by volunteering their time at events, and by offering Share’s services to friends or family members who have suffered a loss.
SHARE SOCIAL MEDIAWebsite: www.nationalshare.orgwww.facebook.com (Search Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support)
Twitter: @Share1977
PRESS CONTACTDebra Cochran, BSN, MA, Executive Director402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO [email protected]
#October15#PregnancyInfantLossAwareness#LetsTalkAboutLoss
October 15- Wave of Light
402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301 • www.nationalshare.org • 636-947-6164
October 15 is referred to as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. The Wave of Light ceremony on October 15 begins at 7 p.m. worldwide, in all time zones, and is a time when candles are lit to honor and remember the babies that were lost too soon. The candles are to be lit and kept burning for an hour, which creates the Wave of Light over the entire world for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance.
Honoring October’s Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month, our National Share Office is planning events throughout the month, which you are welcome and invited to attend. Below is a list of the events and locations.
National Office Share EventsOpen House - National Share Office September 22, 2015; 8-10AM National Office - 402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO http://nationalshare.org/open-house/
Lunch & Learn - National Share OfficeProviding Support After the Loss of a Baby October 1, 2015 or October 14, 2015 (same content at both)11am - 1:30PMSt. Louis County Health Department 6121 N Hanley Rd, St. Louis, MO 63134http://nationalshare.org/lunch-learn/
Wave of Light Ceremony- National Share OfficeOctober 15, 2015; 6PM National Office - 402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO http://nationalshare.org/wave-of-light/
National Share Walk of Remembrance & Hope October 17, 2015; 10AM Frontier Park, 500 S Riverside Dr, St Charles, MO 63301Annual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope http://nationalshare.org/walk/
Share Anderson Hospital, Fairview Heights, IL October 3, 2015 Lake View Memorial Gardens, Fairview Heights, IL Annual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg, PA October 3, 2015 Mifflinburg Community Park, Mifflinburg, PA Walk & Balloon Release
Detroit Share, Detroit, MI October 4, 2015 Heritage Park, Taylor, MIAnnual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Share-Quad Cities, Moline, IL October 4, 2015 Prospect Park, Moline, ILAnnual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, CanadaOctober 15, 2015 W.J.JONES & SON Funeral Home Wave of Light Ceremony
New Mexico Share – AlbuquerqueOctober 17, 2015Tiguex ParkAnnual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Share Parents of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT October 17, 2015 International Peace Gardens, Salt Lake City, UTAnnual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Utah Share Walk to Remember – Layton, UTOctober 10, 2015Location: Layton City Park, Ed Kenley Amphitheater
Share of Green Bay Pregnancy & Infant Loss Program, Green Bay, WIOctober 17, 2015Location: Wildlife Sanctuary, Green Bay, WI
Share Chapter, New Brunswick, NJ October 18, 2015Duke Island Park, Bridgewater, NJ12th Annual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope
Share Chapter, Monroe, LA October 31, 2015Monroe, LAShare Walk for Remembrance & Hope
#LetsTalkAboutLoss: October Awareness Events
Walks & Events Across the Nation
402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301 • www.nationalshare.org • 636-947-6164
Message of Hope from a Bereaved Parent...
One of my favorite photos in our house is also one of the saddest. It’s a picture of my wife Julia and I and our daughter Caroline, who was stillborn on December 12, 2006. Visitors remark that it is a lovely photograph of us and one of our daughters – Elise or Natalie – but then we explain we had another child and, unfortunately, we never got to know her.
Losing a child, at any age, is a tragedy. It sets your life on a different path and you are left to figure out what to do and how to do it. It’s especially acute when you experience a pregnancy loss or infant death because the physical and emotional impact is often misunderstood. Thankfully, there are people who do understand and can help.
Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support, Inc. makes a positive difference every day in the lives of bereaved parents, grandparents, friends and family members. We came to know Share in our time of greatest need and were lifted up by the compassion, the wisdom and welcoming nature of its volunteers.
When Caroline was stillborn at 28 weeks, we were living in France, thousands of miles away from friends and family, struggling with a language we weren’t familiar with and a loss we could not comprehend. Thanks to Share and its website, we connected with people who had been through what we were going through. They provided us important information about child loss that we couldn’t get anywhere else. They let us cry. They understood our grief. They offered helpful ways to keep Caroline’s memory alive. They shared.
I do not know what would have happened without Share in our life, and that’s why we do what we can to ensure no one walks this tough road alone.
- Brian Henry, bereaved parent and Share Board Member
For stories from other bereaved parents, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOiB0nyZT5c
Share Chapters.... over 75 chapters nationwide
402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301 • www.nationalshare.org • 636-947-6164
PRESS CONTACTDebra Cochran, BSN, MA
Executive DirectorShare Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc.402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301