Each year, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Special Care Nursery (SCN) at Mercy Hospital for Women care for about 1,600 babies who are born premature or sick.
Sadly, about 20 of these precious babies lose their fight for life, despite the dedication and round-the-clock care of the NICU and SCN teams.
Mercy Health Foundation were recently approached by a team of nurses working in the NICU and SCN who wanted to do something to offer solace and support to the families grieving the loss of their baby.
Neonatal Services Equipment Nurse, Meg Salmetti, asked the Foundation to fund memory boxes.
“A ‘memory box’ helps families who have suffered the overwhelming loss of their baby to create precious memories by providing a place to keep items such as hand and foot prints or a lock of hair”, says Meg.
Research shows that the way people are treated by health professionals when they endure a loss can significantly influence the way they will experience the grieving process.
“It is extremely important that every family that experiences a loss in our nursery is given the love and comfort they deserve. We believe a key element of this care is the provision of special memory boxes to the grieving families,” says Meg.
“The box and its contents reinforce the fact that their baby existed and that he or she is loved and remembered. These boxes become very personal possessions for the family to carry out of the hospital and to hold the precious memories of their baby”.
Many of the staff in the NICU and SCN volunteer their time to sew and craft these memory boxes, which contain a grief card, a glass bottle to keep a lock of hair, butterfly seeds for the families to plant at home, a candle, teddy and two fabric hearts — one to be placed with the baby and one to be kept by the parents.
If you would like to support the Mercy Health NICU and SCN staff to create more memory boxes, please donate online today!
Last reviewed September 15, 2022.