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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2015)
A10 Hood River News, Wednesday, April 8, 2015 Baby blanket drive supports hospital’s perinatal loss program BY TRISHA WALKER News staff writer Cameron Teems, RNC-OB, Family Birth Center nurse at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, is orga- nizing a special collection of baby blankets April 13-17. Special, because the blan- kets will be given to parents who have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death as a memorial keepsake. The drive is a collaboration between the Sweet Pea Project (sweetpeaproject.org), which collects baby blankets to give to grieving parents, and Prov- idence Hood River Memorial Hospital’s Family Birth Cen- ter — and is the first time PHRMH has collected blan- kets for this purpose. Teems has, however, worked with the Sweet Pea Project in the past, receiving blankets for the hospital’s perinatal loss program. Previ- ously, the Sweet Pea Project collected blankets nationwide to send to hospitals across the country, but has recently changed its focus to collecting blankets at a local level. As explained on the pro- ject’s website, “Newly be- reaved parents will receive blankets donated by their neighbors. We hope this will help foster a sense of commu- nity for the bereaved, and there. “However, we will offer hearts break for you because offer connections during blankets to families in our they have also experienced those awfully isolating first community who have suffered the death of their precious a loss elsewhere and perhaps baby,” said Teems. “Donating weeks of grief.” For PHRMH, it’s another did not receive any type of blankets, or anything else, in way to care for patients deal- keepsakes or memorial items honor of the baby lost, in hopes of helping someone to help them remember their ing with loss. else, can be very healing “Most of our support mate- baby,” she and part of recovery rials for our inpatients from the grief. are pur- “The process of going chased in to the hospital and through giving birth to a child t h e you do not get to take Founda- home is so difficult,” t i o n , said Teems. “You are wh e r e overcome with a mix they have of emotions, but most a special often are just in a fund that state of shock and was set up numbness. specifically “As nurses, it is for perina- upon us to provide tal loss by a as many opportuni- family that isha Walker ties as we can for experienced Photo by Tr y s Famil l’ the families to hold their own a it sp o H morial ir e e M th and spend time loss,” Teems f R o E rt IV R s pa CE HOOD blankets a with their baby, said. “Howev- y N y il E b a m ID b Fa V w , O e B R n P RNC-O ecting ll s, o c and create keep- m er, there are e is r Te r- te n pa ero Cen many organiza- Birth gram. Cam kets will be given to or sakes for them to ro p ss lo l the blan take home. As tions, like the perinata ge, stillbirth nurse, said h miscarria g u ro the patient, you Sweet Pea Pro- Birth Center th y b a b a st . epsake are not always ject, that create ents who have lo e k l a ri o m s a me a th aware of how important it ways for families a e d l onata is, yet, to have each and every said. who have lost a ne Each donated blanket will keepsake and photo that was baby to reach out to others going through the have a small note attached ex- taken.” That perspective comes plaining its purpose: “That it same thing.” Because the blankets will was carefully chosen and do- with time. “As you go through be collected at the hospital, nated through the Sweet Pea the grieving process, each and most will go to inpatients Project by families whose every little thing becomes a connection to your baby,” said Teems. “Having a blanket, something tangible to hold on to, that was wrapped around your baby is so meaningful and will forever be something that helps you feel close to the memory of your baby that died.” The drive is for new blan- kets only because, The Sweet Pea Project says, “We want each special blanket to belong to one child and nobody else.” Blankets can be of any size — “Babies can be very small to a full-term newborn size,” said Teems — and made from flan- nel, fleece, cotton or other sim- ilar material. “Handmade blankets are welcome but we request no knitted or crocheted blankets because the fibers can disturb the baby’s delicate skin, caus- ing tears and abrasions,” she said. Teems has a special connec- tion with the blanket drive, both as a nurse and as a moth- er who has lost a child. “As a nurse, who has also been a patient and suffered the loss of a baby, I know how important it is to have these keepsakes,” said Teems. “As time passes, my memories fade, but I still have these items that help me to cope with losing him. My keep- sakes have become treasures that help keep the memory of him close.” To donate, bring a new baby blanket to Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital be- tween April 13 and 17 — there will be a large collection bar- rel in the main entrance. Par- ents who have not received a tangible keepsake of a lost child can email Teems at Cameron.Teems@providence. org for more information on obtaining a blanket of their own. SUPPORT GROUP MEETS MONTHLY Teems has started and fa- cilitates the Columbia Gorge Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support Group, monthly at River of Life Assembly; the next meeting will take place April 7 from 6-7 p.m. and will f e a t u r e s p e a ke r Pa t r i c i a Varga, founder of Women with Wings Foundation, who will discuss the Create to Heal program. The support group is for women, age 18 and older, who have lost a child from miscarriage, ectopic, stillbirth or neonatal death. Bowl for Kids’ Sake raises funds, awareness Big bowlers, Little bowlers and bowlers in between made a difference at Bowl for Kids’ Sake 2015 on Satur- day, March 14. The event grossed more than $55,000, almost half of the Big Brothers Big Sisters’ annual budget. A good time was had by all as more than 300 bowlers and volunteers cele- brated in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Columbia Gorge (BBBS). Teams from The Dalles, Hood River, White Salmon and around the region collected donations in support of BBBS’s mentoring programs. Bowlers at Orchard Lanes celebrat- ed their efforts with a bowling party complete with cake, pizza and prizes. Dozens of businesses, agencies and in- dividuals participated in the annual event as sponsors and bowling teams. New teams participating in this year’s event included Key Bank of Hood River, The City of Hood River, Wasco County’s Split Ends, CGCC’s Five Star Turkey Rackers and Klickitat Lyle Against Substance Abuse Coalition. The Beneventi’s Pizza team took top fundraising honors with a total contri- bution of $8,100, followed by Hood River Construction, which raised $6,320. Tim Sweeney, owner of Hood River Construction, was the top individual fundraiser with $5,285 thanks to dona- tions from local contractors and sup- pliers. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Co- lumbia Gorge currently serves 80 chil- dren in Hood River, Wasco and west- ern Klickitat Counties matched with caring, screened and trained volun- teer mentors. ■ To find out more about Big Brothers Big Sisters, contact Justine Ziegler at 541-436-0309 or go to: www.nextdoorinc.org. Photo by Ray Perkins RAY PERKINS PHOTOGRAPHY donated time all day to get photos of every team. Ray’s favorite photo features one of four Leos teams: Cleo Koerner, left, Hannah Simons, Cayla Sacre, Elizabeth Bailey and Claire Oswald. © 2015 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 31, No. 18 ario and Maya are selling their toys at a yard sale to raise money for their local fire department. Oops! Someone dripped lemonade on the sales slips. Can you fill in the missing numbers? Each of these kids need some advice from YOU. Read each story and write down your advice. Talk about your advice with a parent. Do they agree with you? David is trying to save money to buy a new LEGO set that costs $29.00. Each Friday, he gets an allowance of $5.00 from his mom and dad. Last Sunday, he spent $8.50, which ate into his LEGO savings. Now he only has about $4.00 saved up for the LEGO set. CAUSE: TOTAL RAISED: EFFECT: David tries to save at least $3.00 every week. He spends about $2.00 when he visits the video arcade on Sunday afternoons. But sometimes he’ll spend more than he planned to trying to top his best score. ALLOWANCE GROCERY PROBLEM FASTER COUPLE ARCADE MUSIC EARNS EQUAL MONEY SCORE COST PAIN GOAL BIKE Evan collects stickers from the grocery store vending machine. Each costs 50¢. He buys one each time his family shops, which is usually three times a week. E e earns $3.00 a week pulling weeds in his neighbor’s Evan y ard, so s he spends half of his money each week on yard, st ticker and saves the rest in his piggy bank. stickers T g gr The grocery store just replaced the old sticker machine with a new one. The stickers are bigger, but they cost $1.00 each. If f he buys three, he’ll spend all his money every week. Find the words in the puzzle. Then look for each word in this week’s Kid Scoop stories and activities. E M O G N P E E E T C Y M R R R R K S A N C T E T O I O E M A N I T C B C R S O W S I S O L O E N N Maria wants a new bike that costs $75. If she saved all her money each week, she could buy the bike in about two months. But Maria downloads music from her favorite bands at $1.30 per song a couple times a week. She also buys a smoothie for $3.95 on Saturdays with her friend Katie. Sometimes they go to a movie, which costs $7.00 per ticket. Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Use the skills and strategies of the reading process to follow written directions. Math: Compute written amounts. Look through the newspaper for prices. Can you find five or more prices, that when added together equal $100? Now try to find prices in the newspaper that add up to $1,000. What’s the largest amount you can reach? Standards Link: Math: Compute sums up to 1,000. CAUSE: O N S A U E U G R E L A V F P M P O A Y L A U Q E I L A E N A R C A D E E L G S EFFECT: Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognized identical cal words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns. New and Used Maria walks and feeds her Aunt Meridith’s dog, Zinger, every day after school. Maria gets $2.00 per day for taking such good care of Zinger. Understanding cause and effect helps improve problem-solving skills. Read the stories about Evan, David and Maria. Find a cause and an effect in each story. We have done one for you. Find five items for sale in the newspaper. nd Chart the items and their prices. Can you find the same items for sale used? What is the difference in price? What are the advantages/ disadvantages of buying new vs. used? Standards Link: Research: Use the newspaper to locate My Savings Story Write about something you’d like to buy. Why do you want it? Then write about your plan to save money to buy it. CAUSE: EFFECT: Now Try This … Find an article in today’s newspaper. Identify the cause and effect. Have your parents read the article and see if they agree with the cause and effect you found. Standards Link: Research: Use the newspaper to locate information.
