Recognizing Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month
The month of October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month, and to mark the occasion the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury held a flag raising last week attended by members of the organization, Wave of Light.
Each year on October 15, the International Wave of Light is held on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Participants around the world light a candle at 7 pm in their time zone and leave it burning for at least an hour.
Mayor Rob Keffer and members of the council were in attendance at the flag-raising alongside Liz Moore and Sarah Khouir, co-chairs of the Wave of Light Newmarket chapter.
This year they’ve joined forces with the Bond Head Women’s Institute and will be working over the next year to build weighted teddy bears for women and families leaving the hospital with “empty arms.” This initiative seeks to help provide comfort and support to grieving families at a time of significant loss.
“As part of the Wave of Light we fundraised in 2018 and were able to provide Southlake Regional Health Centre with two CuddleCots,” said Moore. “A CuddleCot is an in-room cooling unit in hospitals that gives families a gift of time by allowing precious, irreplaceable hours, to bond, obtain precious photos, plaster moulds and for extended family to meet the baby.
A CuddleCot provides families with the gift of time to say goodbye.”