NEWS RELEASE
HOSPICE ORILLIA
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October marks Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
On Oct. 2, the community is invited to join the North Simcoe Muskoka Hospice Palliative Care Network along with Hospice Orillia for the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Outreach of North Simcoe Muskoka (PILO NSM) information open house at Hawk Ridge Golf and Country Club.
A committee made up of individuals with lived or professional experience with pregnancy and infant loss has created the PILO NSM program to bring the community together to create a safe and supportive network of resources for families who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss.
One committee member, Peggy, has lived experience of her own. Twenty-nine years ago, Peggy and her husband had a full-term stillborn baby boy. They named their son Pierre Harris Lund.
Peggy talks about the importance of providing compassionate support for those losses that often go unacknowledged or undisclosed. The loss of Pierre caused a tremendous amount of deep grief for their family.
“We had a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter at home and there was no known specialized support in our community,” she explains. “Life went on. I never forgot Pierre and I still think about him every day.”
“I got so busy, especially after the addition of twins, that I didn’t allow myself to feel the grief that I should have after having losing Pierre,” she admits. “The general avoidance and lack of acknowledgement of our loss by others made it even more difficult to grieve.”
Learning from her own personal experience, Peggy is a firm believer that “sometimes you just need a little understanding.”
“I really feel that I can be helpful to someone who has suffered the loss of a baby,” says Peggy, “and I want to be there for them just like I wish someone was there for us.”
“The goal is to help create a safe place for those in the community who have experienced a loss like Peggy and her family has,” said Amanda Tevelde, Communications and Fundraising Coordinator for Hospice Orillia. “Along with other members of the community, we want to focus on providing families the support they need to be able to grieve and to help people understand that its ok to talk about pregnancy and infant loss.”
“When you lose a child, either during pregnancy or at infancy, you lose much more than many people know. You lose the future that you had planned for that child, the first steps, the first words, the first day of school or when they move into their first place on their own,” added Tevelde.
“Together, with the other members of the PILO NSM committee, we will work to close the gap on the services that are available to families and individuals who have suffered the loss of a child. We are looking forward to sharing more information at our open house on Oct. 2," Tevelde added.
Whether you have experienced a loss or would like to find out how you can support the PILO NSM program, you are invited to attend the Information Open House on Oct. 2 at Hawk Ridge Golf and Country Club at 7 p.m.
The evening is being provided at no charge and light refreshments will be served. To RSVP for the event please email [email protected] or call 705-325-0505, ext. 107.
Hospice Orillia is very excited to offer this kind of specialized support to our community and to provide a safe, supportive environment for those who have experienced this type of loss.
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