Bereavement Support

In a time where a family is dealing with a loss of a child, it’s important to create an environment of comfort.

AdventHealth Foundation Central Florida received gifts from Jane’s Room Foundation, Brasfield Gorrie, HuntonBrady, and CI Group to create that space of respite known as Jane’s Room.

This space will serve an average of 60 grieving parents and families annually as well as our team members who need to process, pray and find peace after a loss of a patient.

Butterflies from this artwork display are given to families to symbolize the beautiful spirit that continues on and will be remembered forever.

To continue to care for our families in their most vulnerable time, we invite you to make a gift to provide the resources and support needed during their grieving process.

Make a Donation

During the grieving process, you will experience a range of feelings, thoughts and behaviors. If you can define, acknowledge, and express these experiences, you may find it easier to accept your responses and understand the grieving process. Grief reactions may include:

• Anger
• Breakdown of normal patterns of conduct or inability to return to normal activity
• Depression
• Emotional release
• Guilt
• Hostility
• Integrated grief
• Panic and preoccupation with the image of the deceased (infant loss)
• Physical symptoms
• Shock and numbness

All the emotions, thoughts and behaviors associated with grief are normal reactions to a tragic situation. However, mothers and fathers may experience and/or express them in very different ways. For example, a mother may appear devastated, cry most of the time and express feelings of not being able to go on. A father — who may be equally distraught — may believe he needs to appear strong. He may go back to work soon after the loss in an effort to function normally.

These differences can cause a great deal of conflict between mothers and fathers. It is important that you communicate with each other to avoid misunderstandings. What one sees as an uncaring attitude could really be an attempt to shield and protect the partner by covering true emotions. Being honest about your feelings and sharing them with your partner is very helpful during this time. Accepting one another's feelings, even if you do not feel the same way, can help you heal together.

You can expect a wide range of reactions from those who are close to you. Some will be able to listen, understand and empathize. Others may try to limit their conversations with you. This is because many people are unable to deal with the thought of loss or death and may think they are protecting you from your grief by not talking to you about your baby. They are not trying to avoid you; it is the topic they don’t want to confront.

There are those who might seem somewhat unsympathetic because they do not understand the strength of the bonds you have developed with your baby. Some will be understanding for a few days or weeks, expecting you to “get over it” in that amount of time. Some may even make comments that seem insensitive and cruel.

As time goes by, those who offered you strength in the beginning may come around less frequently as they get involved again in their own activities. Do not hesitate to ask them for the attention you need. It’s likely they don’t realize you still need them. In time, you will learn what to expect from people, and you will develop ways of responding that work best for you.

Although a parent's initial instinct may be to protect or shelter children from sadness, most professionals agree that it’s better to be open and honest with them about death. Seeing adults cry will not be harmful to a child. It may even be comforting for the child to know that adults have the same feelings he or she has.

While this is difficult, allowing your sadness to show and sharing these feelings with your children can be a meaningful experience for all. It’s important that children know about the death as soon as possible. It’s best to try to use concrete, easy-to-understand words about death and try to avoid using expressions that may be confusing to children such as “God took the baby to heaven because he needed the baby more than we did.” If you don’t know how or why someone died, it’s appropriate to tell children that you don’t know.