"" Physicians, nurses and health care professionals able to earn continuing education credits ""

(BLACK PR WIRE) – MIAMI – Continuing their commitment to improving local neonatal health care, the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade (HSCMD) will host four days of Perinatal Loss Professional Development Seminars. Sessions will provide physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors and hospital chaplains working in the field of maternal and infant health with tools to help families bereaving the death of a baby. The free classes will take place May 16-19, 2012, at Homewood Suites: 5500 Blue Lagoon Drive (N.W. 11 Street), second floor, Miami, FL 33126. In addition to earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits, required for medical professionals by Florida health care oversight boards, attendees will gain skills in talking to parents, starting support groups and meeting the needs of caregivers working with grieving families.

“The Institute of Medicine reports more children dying in the first year of life than in all other childhood years combined,” said Manuel Fermin, CEO of HSCMD. “Knowing how to care for families experiencing such a terrible loss is critical for health care staff to provide the best treatment possible. These seminars help health professionals understand and be sensitive to the needs of parents during that rough time.”

The seminars will be conducted by staff from Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support, Inc. (Share). Share is a national organization serving those whose lives are touched by the death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life. Executive Director Cathi Lammert and Program Director Rose Carlson will lead the sessions. Lammert, a registered nurse, is also a founder of the Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Alliance, and Carlson brings a decade of experience, through Share, in assisting parents and professionals with bereavement.

The Compassionate Caregiving seminar will be Wednesday, May 16, 9 a.m. – noon, and focus on developing health care staff skills. The three-day Sharing and Caring: A Perinatal Loss Seminar will focus on effectively starting family support groups, and be held Wednesday, May 16, 1 – 4:30 p.m., and Thursday and Friday, May 17 and 18, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on both days. The final seminar, Perinatal Loss: Strategies for Health Care Professionals, will be Saturday, May 19, 10 a.m. – noon, and explore grief models to help physicians care for families experiencing a loss.

All workshops are free, but seating is limited and registration is mandatory. For more information and to register, visit hscmd.org, call (305) 541-0210 or email training@hscmd.org.  

Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade serves as a community-based prenatal care agency for at-risk mothers and babies. One of the organization’s top programs, MomCare, is committed to improving birth outcomes and reducing infant mortality rates through guidance, education and care coordination for expecting mothers. In 2010, HSCMD launched the federally-funded Jasmine Project to focus on reducing racial disparities in black infant mortality and health outcomes in Miami-Dade County. It complements the state of Florida statewide Healthy Start Program that provides universal screening to all pregnant women and infants. For more information on the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade, please call (305) 541-0210 or visit hscmd.org.