RedBird Time

As a bereaved parent and clinician educator, it was a gift to participate in the American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 annual conference last week in Orlando. Kelly McManimon and I co-presented our poster for the Section on Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and won a 2024 Abstract award!!

For those of you not familiar with clinician conferences - it is rare for family advocates to present at such a significant conference as the AAP. Even rarer for parents to author the abstract, be selected to present, design the poster, and win an award!

This is only possible because pediatric palliative care physician Dr. Naomi Goloff opened the door seven years ago to Kelly and I, and neonatologist Dr. Johannah Scheurer continues to champion full integration of bereaved parents in research and clinician education.

Kelly and I partner with the University of Minnesota's Department of Pediatrics and M Simulation Center for an innovative workshop teaching end of life skills to pediatric fellows. Last fall we designed a unique approach to expanding our bereaved parent faculty by integrating trauma informed care principles into their onboarding training.

Our children, Levi and Charlotte, brought us into community with pediatric clinicians. It is an honor continuing to bring their lives forward through this work, while improving care for families.

Friends have been saying for years, "You need to publish a book." In the most curious of ways, it has happened!

To the surprise of it all, it isn't a book about Levi's story. And unsurprising to the Lord, it could only come about because of Levi, a child with DeafBlindness, and his Interveners.

The Intervener Grief Education Guide focuses on seven kinds of grief, specific implications Interveners experience, and provides reflective prompts for deeper personal insights.

To my knowledge, this is the first time Interveners have had access to an in-depth grief resource.

I had the honor of supporting Community Interveners last week and debuting this new book for them. Transformative is an understatement of what happened. I am curious to discover who will be the next group of Interveners I have the honor of supporting?

(and which book I'll publish next!)

Children's Grief Awareness Day is this coming Thursday. As much as we adults struggle to talk about grief, it is important to learn about the questions children ask as they grieve.

'Why did he Leve Me?' 5 things grieving children want to know about the death of a loved one Children experience grief much more commonly than most of us think. This is what they want to know.