Helping find solace after pain of stillbirth Rooms offer precious time with baby
Families experiencing the tragedy of losing a baby will now be able to spend time in a specially designed room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Former Celtic player Kris Commons and his fiancé Lisa Hague, whose baby Lola was stillborn in 2008, helped launch the refurbished family room after bereaved families raised more than £ 30,000 to support the SiMBA charity project.
The family space will provide an area for parents experiencing bereavement to spend precious time with their baby.
And the quiet room is specifically designed for families returning to the hospital to spend time with their baby or see their baby’s name in the book of remembrance. Sara Fitzsimmons, executive director of SiMBA said: “I have been a practising midwife for 22 years working for 21 of those in the NHS.
“Working with a strong team is vital to the success of any project, every member of the team pulled together knowing how vitally important rooms such as these can be.
“The difference that Family Rooms can make to a parent’s experience within the hospital is incredible, allowing precious time together that isn’t rushed.
“These rooms at the Royal Alexandra Hospital have been created with passion, using the experiences and suggestions from bereaved families and staff .
“I am so very proud to be able to unveil them to some of the families who have fundraised so hard to support this project today.”
Lisa Hague was delighted with the rooms. She said: “These rooms have exceeded my expectations.
“Kris and I have been involved from the beginning so we shouldn’t have been surprised but I can only say they are breathtaking, so tranquil. When we were speaking to other members of hospital staff they were telling us how proud they were of the rooms and that made us feel incredibly proud.”
The design of the room is based on the footprint for the family rooms unveiled by Lisa and Kris in May last year in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The family room facilities include tea/ coffee making facilities, a sofa bed so that parents can stay in the room together, a mini fridge, Bluetooth speaker, parent packs full of toiletries; while the quiet room holds books of remembrance ( with a cabinet specially designed for this purpose), a mini fridge and tea/ coffee making facilities.
Evelyn Frame, NHSGGC’s head of Midwifery said: “This is such a tragic time for these families, so anything we can do to make things a little easier for them is to be welcomed. We are very grateful for the support of SiMBA and all those who have fundraised to make this room possible. We hope the new Family Room brings some comfort to women and their families at a very difficult time in their lives and allows them to create some lasting memories.”
Talking about baby loss awareness week and her involvement in the Labour of Love documentary which was premiered on October 2 and will be shown on October 9 at 9pm on BBC Alba, Lisa said : “It was mine and Kris’s pleasure as a family to be involved in this project.
“When Lola passed away we didn’t know one other family that had been through this and now after people have seen this, we hope that any families affected can relate to at least one family and know that help and support is out there.”
Several companies including Altro and the Bell Group have kindly donated goods and time to help create the rooms.