Health care providers get bereavement training

  The trauma that follows losing a loved one varies from person to person. However, the loss of a child, specifically the loss of a newborn is something that is both unexpected and tragic.

"It's not your typical loss. It's unexpected and no one really knows how to handle it," said Sharon Owens, executive director of Healthy Start, a local coalition that offers medical and social services to pregnant women.  

Lea O'Neill with Florida SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) wants parents to understand that their grief is normal and that grief counseling services are available.

"It's a taboo subject," she said. "No one wants to talk about a baby dying."

She said she would like to see more  services accessible at hospitals.

To train and assist members of the local medical community, Healthy Start sponsored a two-day bereavement training workshop at Gulf Coast Community College on June 25 and 26. The workshop was designed to enhance the understanding of prenatal loss, stillbirth and newborn death and its effects on parents and other family members.

Class members learned how to effectively communicate, to offer continued support and  to sensitively listen to grieving parents.

The course was particularly helpful for Bridget Reyes, a registered nurse at Bay Medical who works in labor and delivery. Reyes said  in the 11 years she's worked in delivery, she was never offered specific training for bereavement.

"I still think about some of those families sometimes," Reyes said of patients who have lost newborns. "It's just so sad because I know what a happy time it is supposed to be, but you just try to make the best out of the situation."

Reyes said she expects the course to help her in caring for families at the hospital.

When a mother goes into a hospital planning to have a baby and comes home without a baby, it is a very shocking experience, said Owens.

Often the first responses from those working in the immediate medical environment around a mother and father who have experienced a loss influence their grief and their future family planning.

"The way we react as medical professionals can leave a lasting scar," said Gail Johnson, an ER nurse at Gulf Coast Medical Center. "As a nurse, this is a field in which we have the least amount of guidance and education, but this is the one thing that takes the most out of us."

Grief, said Johnson, is something we will all deal with sooner or later.

"The big problem is that we don't allow people to grieve."