A weekend retreat for parents and siblings of children who have died. Interview by Samantha Libby Sodickson.

Abstract

Many families who experience the loss of a child also lose the supportive relationships they have had with the health care providers who cared for their child throughout the course of his or her illness. The creation of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Children’s Hospital Bereavement Weekend Retreat was fueled by Robin Kramer’s conviction that bereavement care for families is a responsibility of the health care professionals who treated the child and with whom the child’s family has already developed a relationship. The retreat, which occurs in an outdoor setting over the course of a weekend, creates an opportunity for families of pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplant patients who died to reconnect with staff members who cared for the deceased child and to join with other bereaved families in remembering these children. The weekend contains a series of grief and bereavement workshops for parents and siblings, presentations by experts, and a memorial service. A unique feature of this program is the pairing of outside bereavement counselors with UCSF staff to co-lead support groups for parents and groups for siblings of the deceased children. The first retreat was held in 1994 and the fifth will take place in June 2002. In the following interview, Robin Kramer M.S., R.N., P.N.P. speaks with former Innovations Staff Editor Samantha Libby Sodickson about how the model for the retreat has changed over time, and how she feels health care professionals can better serve the needs of families who have lost a child. This interview is excerpted from the thematic issue, “On Grief and Bereavement,” Volume 3, Number 3, 2001 of the online journal Innovations in End-of-Life Care at ,www.edc.org/lastacts/.. IMPETUS FOR THE BEREAVEMENT RETREAT