Carle offers perinatal bereavement services to care for families impacted by pregnancy and infant loss in our community. Families’ needs during these times of loss vary greatly and can be highly specific. Our staff has special training, materials and supplies to help meet these needs throughout the loss and grieving processes. From outpatient and inpatient care to long-term support, our staff provides sensitive, holistic care to our grieving families.
We facilitate the following according to the needs of each family:
Birth planning.
Palliative care wishes.
Final arrangements.
Shining Light Infant Memorial Service
Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana and Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal host annual Shining Light Infant Memorial Services. The events are designed to be inclusive opportunities for families throughout the community to mourn and remember their lost children together. The memorials meet each participant’s needs in different ways as their grief evolves over time. The events are held on October 15 so that we may join thousands of others in the International Wave of Light, the annual worldwide lighting of candles at 7 p.m.
The 2024 events will take place at The Forum at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, and at the Chapel Garden at Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal.
For more information, or to register for the reading of names at the event in Normal, click here; and for the Urbana event, click here. Registration is not required to attend these events, it is only for the reading of names.
Carle Foundation Hospital will be streaming the Memorial online using Microsoft Teams. If you choose to attend this way, you can participate in the International Wave of Light by safely lighting a candle at home in honor of your baby. A link to the event will be available on this webpage on October 15, and a digital version of the event program will be available on this webpage for you at the time of the event. To join the virtual event on a cell phone or tablet, you will need to download the free Microsoft Teams application, tap the link for the event, and allow it to open in the application. If you are joining on a computer, you will just need to open the link in a web browser. You will not need to pay or create an account.
Shining Light Infant Memorial Garden
Families are encouraged to visit the Shining Light Infant Memorial Garden at Carle Foundation Hospital. The sunken garden is a private, beautiful, reverent place of healing for those affected by pregnancy and infant loss. The garden is an ideal place to meditate and remember the children who are forever in our hearts. It’s open to the whole community year-round and is filled with light throughout October in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
If you’d like to have a paver in the Shining Light Infant Memorial Garden engraved in honor of a lost infant, click here for more information.
For More Information
If you have questions about perinatal bereavement care, please talk to your provider, or reach out to our Perinatal Grief and Bereavement Liaison, Rachel Campbell, RNC-OB, BSN, at rachel.campbell@carle.com.
Ways to Support
Our garden, memorial service and many of our specialized materials are made possible by generous donations from the Women’s Legacy Circle and Carle Health Center for Philanthropy.
If you’d like to support the program, please see our Amazon Wish List with some supplies used to create meaningful mementos for families in the hospital.
