Local service helps distraught parents cope after miscarriage

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Losing a child is a horror that no loving parents, grandparents, family-friends or relatives should ever have to endure.

The burden you feel when you lose child, no matter what stage of development—whether it be during any of the trimesters, or soon after birth—can be unbearable at times.

One of our every four or five pregnancies ends in a miscarriage.

After experiencing a miscarriage, you might feel lost, upset, horrified or even at-fault.

The bereaving to follow will haunt you for some time; however, one local service is here to let you, or someone you know that’s suffering through this, that you’re not alone.

“People are beginning to talk about [miscarriages] more than they were 20 years ago,” said Sue Hoopengarner with Union Hospital’s RTS Bereavement Services. “20 years ago, it was ‘too bad’, ‘better luck next time’, ‘move on with your life’ and it’s not viewed, at all like that, by parents.”

Hoopengarner repeated many times, parents feel guilty about not being able to protect their child.

At Union Hospital, Hoopengarner oversees the RTS Bereavement Services Program, which helps parents with the loss of a baby during pregnancy or after the child is born.

The service also has a support group, which meets once a month, where anyone who’s dealt with the loss of a child can attend.

• UNION HOSPITAL BEREAVEMENT SERVICES | Click here to view what they offer

Hoopengarner said the best thing you can do, if you know someone going through this loss, is to let them know you’re there for them, and to listen.

If you’re in need of the RTS Bereavement Services, you may call Sue Hoopengarner at (812) 238-4978.