LifePath Hospice Offers Program for Grieving Young Parents

For Lisa, there are no words to describe the sorrow she felt over the death of her newborn daughter.

“Emily left her footprints on our hearts for eternity,” said Lisa (who did not want to give her last name), regardless of the fact she learned early on in her pregnancy the baby’s life most likely would be short lived due to a congenital defect.

Admittedly it’s been a rough road for her. But with the help of Mending Tree, a program of ’s Circle of Love Center, a Tampa subsidiary of the Temple Terrace-based Chapter Health System, the bereaved mother is on the path toward healing.

Through individual and group counseling, the program’s team of specially-trained social workers and volunteers is on call to offer solace to parents whose unborn babies have been diagnosed with life-limiting disorders. The opportunity for spiritual support is also available.

The services are provided free of charge to Hillsborough County residents and their family members regardless of whether the parents plan to continue the pregnancy.

For those opting to complete the process, LifePath Hospice professionals are there to help guide mothers and fathers throughout the pregnancy as well as following the delivery of their babies. In instances where appropriate they will provide infant hospice and palliative care support.

The program, however, does not include medical or skilled nursing care.

“The Mending Tree showed us how to honor Emily’s brief time with us—simple things like how we cherish her receiving blanket and the precious photographs as our special keepsakes,” Lisa said.

Jacqueline Warner Garman, a LifePath Hospice social worker and grief specialist, heads up the support program, which began late last year due to the troubling incidences of perinatal mortality.

According to the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Vital Statistics, 66.4 percent of all infant deaths in 2010 occurred before the babies were 28 days old. The top two causes were perinatal period conditions and congenital malformations.

“At the end of 2010, we were given the green light of looking into such a program and we feel very strongly about the process because it helps parents be able to grieve and have an overall better experience,” said Warner Garman, who noted obstetricians and pediatricians are often ill equipped to deal with such issues.

The overall objective, she added, is to offer parents a future filled with hope and affirmation of better days ahead, rather than a life thwarted by ongoing feelings of deep despair.

For more information call Warner Garman at 813-357-5671 or email her at warnergarmanj@chaptershealth.org.