Giving Grieving Parents the Gift of Time
To support a grieving parent – what can you do?
It’s hard to know the right words to say. It’s difficult to know what to do. When parents are mourning the loss of a stillborn or infant – there is at least one thing that will give them time to spend with their baby – before they have to say goodbye.
It’s called a CuddleCot. It’s a specialized bassinet equipped with a cooling mat. It gives grieving parents the opportunity to spend more time with their baby in the hospital room.
Bernadette and Ryan Wise know the unimaginable pain of losing a baby. They also know the unforgettable moments that a CuddleCot can provide. When they lost their newborn baby, Natalia Marie in May of 2017 – they were able to still give her a first bath. She was able to be Baptized. Two precious milestones – all made possible with this technology.
That’s why they have made it their mission to make sure hospitals across the state have access to a CuddleCot.
This month, at OhioHealth Marion General Hospital, the Wise family gifted a brand-new CuddleCot through Ashlie’s Embrace and the Natalia Marie Foundation. Marion General has a CuddleCot – but needed a new one to replace the older model.
“Thank you to Ashlie’s Embrace and to OhioHealth for this opportunity to give this gift of time,” said Bernadette Wise. “Time is a precious thing. When you only have a little bit of it—it means the world to people like me.”
“The CuddleCot is more than a donation – it’s a compassionate resource that allows families the chance to hold, to rock, to say hello, and to say goodbye to their own,” said Charity Coffman, director of nursing, emergency services, critical care, and women’s health at Marion General Hospital. “This time can be an essential step to healing and it’s something that can never be taken away once given.”
For Bernadette Wise – the donation at Marion General Hospital is a full-circle moment. She went to Marion Technical College and completed a few rounds of clinicals at the hospital.
“It was neat to have that connection,” Wise said. “I’m glad the CuddleCot is here for families experiencing loss to help them on the journey they have to go through.”
Through the Natalia Marie Foundation – the Wise family created Arrows for Angels.
“We provide urn packages to families who, like us, suffer the loss of their baby,” Wise explained. “We believe that every family deserves to bring their baby home in something beautiful.”
To learn more about the Natalia Marie Foundation please visit: Mission — Arrows for Angels — The Natalia Marie Foundation.
To learn more about Ashlie’s Embrace please visit: Ashlie’s Embrace - Providing CuddleCots™ to U.S. hospitals & medical centers.
And to learn more about maternal and fetal medicine at OhioHealth Marion General Hospital please visit: Maternal Fetal Medicine | Marion General Hospital | OhioHealth Physician Group.
