New cooling cot donated to Royal Cornwall Hospital’s maternity unit
The maternity unit at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been presented with a very special cot by the baby-loss charity, Abigail’s Footsteps.
Abi Cooling Cots give bereaved parents and families much needed extended time with their baby before saying goodbye – vital in the grieving and healing process.
This cooling cot has been very kindly donated by Hilary Grierson in memory of baby Hamish. It will be located within the Daisy (bereavement) Suite at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, enabling bereaved parents who have suffered the tragedy of stillbirth or neonatal death to spend precious moments and create special memories with their baby.
Claire Moors, Bereavement Midwife at RCHT said:
“We are so grateful to Abigail’s Footsteps for this generous donation. Having a purpose-made Abi Cooling Cot in our bereavement suite will enable bereaved parents to spend precious time with their baby and allow memories to be made.”
Abi Cooling Cot donor, Hilary Grierson, added:
“Hamish was born asleep on Thursday 3 May 2012. He was 41 weeks plus 4 days old. Since his birth, we do everything we can to keep his memory alive, to ensure his short life is remembered. We weren’t able to spend as much time with him as we wanted, because the hospital did not have a cooling cot at the time. So, in his name we have fundraised to help Abigail’s Footsteps in their quest to put as many Abi Cots in hospitals as they can. Hamish didn’t get to write his own legacy, so we want to write it for him.”
David Ward MBE, Co-Founder of Abigail’s Footsteps added:
“When we had our daughter Abigail, we only had two or three hours with her. Having to say goodbye so soon was heartbreaking and we knew we had to do something to support other grieving parents. The Abi Cooling Cot allows people to have two or three days with their baby if they wish.
Abigail’s Footsteps is committed to providing an Abi Cooling Cot to every hospital in the UK. Each special cot costs over £3,000 and thanks to the generosity of those who fundraise for us, we have been able to donate over 250 cots.”
About Abigail’s Footstep
Abigail’s Footsteps is a Medway based baby loss charity, founded by Jo and David Ward in memory of their daughter Abigail who was stillborn at 41 weeks in 2009.
Abigails Footsteps aims to improve the baby loss bereavement training that health care professionals and care staff receive and improve the quality of supportive information that families receive if their family suffers a stillbirth.
They have provided over 250 Abi Cooling Cotsto hospitals to preserve a stillborn baby until at least the day after the mother’s discharge from the hospital and work in partnership with NHS Trusts to fund sensitively designed delivery rooms located away from maternity wards.