In Ireland, in August, the health minister works for its citizens.
Despite the invasion of tourists and the holiday climate, the “National Standards for Bereavement Care following Pregnancy Loss and Perinatal Death” was published on 10 August.
the new national guidelines for the support of perinatal bereavement (both before and after birth).
These guidelines will be adopted by all 19 Irish birth centers, which will have to equip themselves with a specialized team capable of providing the right psychological and relational support to the
families and operators involved.
The purpose of the document is “to guarantee the availability of a counseling and clinical service to offer support to women and their families in all situations of pregnancy loss, from early loss to perinatal death, including situations in which there is a fetal pathology incompatible with life, “explained the minister, Simon Harris.
“Most importantly, all of these families need to know that, regardless of the nature of the loss, appropriate support will be available, if and when required” he added.
“Most importantly, all these families need to know that, regardless of the nature of the loss, appropriate support will be available if and when required,” added the health minister. The guidelines were developed on the basis of the testimonies and stories told by parents and bereaved families and thanks to the skills of expert operators, gathered in a joint working group. The working group focused on parents and families, without neglecting the important aspect of supporting the staff involved in the care. To each, his type of support and his specific care, according to needs and role. The model of care envisaged in the document takes into account and respects the cultural, ethnic, secular and religious differences of parents and families.
The document also provides for a specific assistance path for each type of loss, highlighting the need to structure adequate interventions for stillbirth, for the termination of pregnancy due to pathology, and for the accompaniment of the newborn with a pathology incompatible with life. (on the model of perinatal hospices and neonatal palliative care). The Minister also admitted that he knows that Ireland is lagging behind in the care of bereaved families, of which there are around 18,000 in Ireland every year, and believes that this document could be a new start for improving citizens’ care globally. Already this statement has moved my strings as a healthcare professional, as a bereaved parent and as a citizen. I wanted to be Irish, to be able to shake hands with this health minister and his well-assorted working group.
Then I downloaded and read the 80 pages of guidelines.
And I cried.
For the relief of reading that a state writes in its guidelines what I say, write and teach. I am, we are on the right path, even if we are light years away here.
Then for the abandonment that Italian parents must continue to suffer from the institutions.
For the anger of realizing that alone, without ministers of common sense and good culture, regional councilors of common sense and good culture, directors of hospitals and adequate primary care, we cannot change things in time to offer the Italian parents that they will face perinatal bereavement in the next few years optimal care.
Things alone don’t change. In our country they don’t change even if you want to change them with all of yourself. We are an immobile country where those who suffer are left at the mercy of chance, and the efforts of a small group of professionals and volunteers who perhaps today would like to be born in Ireland, to have the feeling that someone cares about what they know, about what what they do, what they have to tell.
Being a bereaved parent in Ireland today makes you think that paying taxes makes sense and that institutions really care about the citizen’s well-being.
Being a bereaved parent in Ireland today means seeing that one can seat operators and parents who are genuinely interested in doing good well.
Being a bereaved parent in Italy (or mother and child worker) makes you think it’s a lottery: sometimes it’s okay, sometimes it’s not. Yet, we lack nothing: international literature is there. Translations into Italian and national works, too. The sky as well.
What we lack here is perhaps the civic sense. The desire to really change things. And a little bit of blue.
