1. Memorandum:
To: Andi Segal (Family Birthing Center Unit Manager), Brian Larger (Hospital CEO),
Josh Harmney (Hospital CFO), Medical Staff Services, and Community Services
From: Trisda Field, Family Birthing Center Unit Supervisor
Date: August 5, 2012
Subject: Research Proposal - Bereavement Services
Introduction
This memo is a proposal to request time and funding to research how we at St. Charles Medical
Center’s Family Birthing Center can provide our patients the best Bereavement services
available in the area, if not the Pacific Northwest. I will be suggesting a number of special
services to our patients who lose their infants before, during, or shortly after labor and delivery.
These special services will allow our patients, their families, and caretakers a healthy and
holistic approach to healing and getting through the grief process positively, with a greater
outlook on life and more hope for the future. I will present my findings in a research report to the
members of hospital staff listed above on September 1, 2012.
Orientation,Backgroundand Qualifications
Having worked in the Family Birthing Center for a number of years I have seen an
untold number of families suffer the unexplainable and unbearable loss of their child
either before, during or shortly after birth. I have seen the toll it can take on families,
staff, and the community as a whole. It wasn’t until February 2011, when I lost my own
son, Justice, at 16 weeks gestation (stillborn), that I fully understood the true
ramifications of such a loss. As a Family Birthing Center (FBC) employee, I knew what
to expect from a caregiver’s perspective, but had NO idea what it was like for the
patient. I soon began realizing that the services we offer our patients who suffer such a
loss are a bare minimum and began researching what other hospitals and birthing
centers are utilizing to provide their patients with optimal bereavement services.
Through the minimal research I have conducted on my own, I have found a number of
sub-services that we can offer at a little to no costs to the FBC unit. I believe the most
significant service we can offer our patients would be the trained ear of a Clinical
psychologist who specializes in grief and trauma.
Findings,Conclusions,and Benefits

2. The grieving process for new parents is often misunderstood and underappreciated by
many who have not experienced it firsthand in some manner. Many people believe that
the parents need to just “get over the loss” and “move on” and are uncomfortable when
trying to find a way to interact with the parents. Therefore, most people do not
understand how vitally important it is to provide adequate support, encouragement and
services to assist in the long and tedious grieving process. This is one reason that the
hospital should offer excellent bereavement services. Services that are not just limited
to just the grieving parents.
By acknowledging and providing our patients with bereavement services above and
beyond what we currently provide, we are able to better help them along the long and
tedious grief process. By offering services that educate medical staff, hospital staff,
extended friends and family members and eventually the community as a whole, we can
bring awareness and sensitivity to the anguish grieving parents experience on a daily
basis for days, weeks, months and even years after losing their babies. By extending
these services to the families’ friends and caregivers, we are acknowledging that the
loss of an infant has a wide impact beyond that of the parents. We are able to help our
staff and community members with a holistic and wholesome place where they can go
to speak about and share their experiences with infant loss grief in a non-judgemental
environment.
The changes I am suggesting and would like to further research offer our patients and
community a wide variety of healing opportunities that other hospitals in the Pacific
Northwest region and/or country have implemented with great success. A few of the
opportunities I am suggesting are above and beyond what other hospitals are doing,
however, I feel these options are a step in the right direction in providing our patients
and community the utmost psychological advantages in healing while dealing with the
grief and trauma of losing an infant.
Scope and Research Methods
For this report, I will use the following tactics to get the research needed will include :
1. Obtain statistical information regarding the number of fetal deaths reported
annually the March of Dimes on their website www.marchofdimes.com.
2. Provide information regarding stillbirth certificates used by other hospitals around
the country.
3. Provide information about Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and Angel Teddy Bear
about services these Non-Profit Organizations offer for patients who suffer the
loss of an infant on a voluntary/donation basis.

3. 4. Obtain and provide information about Clinical Psychologists, their educational
training requirements, and typical annual salary as a hospital staff member from
www.psychology.com.
5. Write, edit, and deliver preliminary and final drafts of this report.
Costs
I believe that for this report, I will need no more than 20 hours of research time to find all
the information needed. At my current wage of $15.00 an hour, it will cost the FBC unit
and the hospital as a whole $300.00 gross income. I believe this number is minimal for
quality research to provide our unit and our patients the best bereavement services
possible.
TentativeReportOutline
A. Introduction
1. Introduce and discuss why bereavement services are needed
2. Discuss the limited bereavement services offered
3. Discuss the need for advancing bereavement services
B. Bereavement Services and the Benefits of Each Service Offered
1. Discuss the need for Stillborn Certificates
2. Discuss the need for tangible mementos (i.e. photography, teddy bears, etc.)
3. Discuss the need for psychological services
4. Discuss the need for an annual memorial walk
C. Costs
1. Discuss the costs of all services mentioned above
2. Discuss the ways to raise funds to help supplement the costs to the unit/hospital
for services offered
D. Conclusions
1. Summarize the benefits of services
2. Discuss how each service can be implanted effectively and in a timely manner
TentativeWorks Cited

4. Diaz, Margaret. “When a baby dies: how you can comfort and support grieving
parents.” The American Journal of Nursing. 95.11. Nov. 1995. 54-56. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
Lewin, Tamar. “A Move for Birth Certificates for Stillborn Babies.” NYTimes.com.
The New York Times. 22 May, 2007. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/us/22stillbirth.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
March of Dimes. March of Dimes. MOD, 2012. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/loss_stillbirth.html
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. NILMDTS, 2012. Web.
13 Aug. 2012. https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/medical/introduction-to-program/
The Angel Teddy Bear Foundation. The Angel Teddy Bear Foundation. 2005. Web. 13
Aug. 2012. http://www.angelteddybears.org/