8 MDG on pregnancy, infant loss: You Are Not Alone

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Savannah Waters
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

On October 25, 1988, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the month of October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

“This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and around the world,” Reagan said. “It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects, SIDS, and other causes.”

Around the world today, organizations and communities host events to commemorate lives lost due to miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss.

The month is observed everywhere from major military installations equipped with Child Development Centers and hospitals, to locations like Kunsan, where Airmen are serving on an unaccompanied short tour without their families physically present.

Maj. Rachel Rhodes, 8th Medical Group primary care flight commander, encounters some aspects of family care at the Kunsan clinic on a regular basis. “We don’t actually deliver the babies here, but we see them up until about 24 weeks of pregnancy,” she said. “Often times, if there is a loss, it’s very early in the pregnancy.”

According to the Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support website, in the U.S. approximately one million pregnancies each year end in early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. This translates to nearly one in four pregnancies ending in loss.

“If any of our Airmen were to experience a loss, we have resources and personnel available to help with the grieving process, and whatever else they require,” Rhodes said. Losses that occur at any stage of the pregnancy process or even during a child’s early years can have a profound effect on the family.

The Behavioral Health Optimization Program, or BHOP, is a resource that integrates behavioral health personnel into primary care clinics, to provide, “the right care, at the right time, in the right place,” for situations like these. Beneficiaries with behavioral health concerns can seek care directly through their primary care manager.

“We have a mental health provider in the BHOP position here who can assist with navigating the grieving process,” Rhodes said. “Even if they aren’t necessarily grieving, we keep a close eye on those patients and offer those services after a loss occurs.”

Behavioral Health Optimization Program resources and services are available at Kunsan if a loss occurs in a family that is geographically separated as well, Rhodes said.

Online resources include organizations such as Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death, or MEND. This non-profit organization reaches out to families who have suffered the loss of a baby, and hosts a variety of support groups throughout the nation.

Another resource, Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support, is a community that can provide support for grandparents, siblings and others in the family unit. The services they provide include bedside companions, phone support, face-to-face support group meetings, resource packets, private online communities, memorial events, training for caregivers and more.

At the 8th MDG, the message for Airmen and families who may be experiencing a range of difficulties related to family life and pregnancy or infant loss is clear.

“You are not alone,” Rhodes said. “Talk about it, talk with friends, family, whoever. In these conversations, if you decide you require our services, come to us. There’s an entire medical group that is here to help you in any way we can.”

For more information on 8th MDG Infant and Pregnancy Loss resources and support, call the medical appointment desk at DSN 782-2273.

 

Other resources mentioned here can be accessed at:

https://www.mend.org/

http://nationalshare.org/