A Wonderful Thank You

June 3, 2007

On May 29, and May 30, the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative along with Virtua hospital sponsored the presentation, Emotionally Supporting the Family of a Newborn with Down syndrome, at two different Virtua locations.

The presentation goal:

Delivering or anticipating the birth of, a child with Down syndrome is an unexpected outcome for which families need and deserve our most positive efforts. This conference presented from the perspective of healthcare professionals who have experienced this life-changing event, will enable providers to provide compassionate emotional support to the families of these special children, while alleviating some of the fear that new parents of babies with Down syndrome feel.

We had roughly 100 attendees at both locations, and they were a HUGE success.

One of the local parents association here in Southern New Jersey that supports families who have a child with Down syndrome, named BUDS, or Bringing Up Down Syndrome and Nancy Iannone, mom and Down syndrome advocate, provided 100 copies of the book, Gifts for our attendees. We were able to give every attendee a free copy of the book. I overheard several people state how wonderful it was to be able to have this book, and share it with their patients. We also provided dinner, and many would get their dinner, and then sit at their table and read their book. Again it was a meaningful and informative event and we thank you for the support that made it such a well-received success.

Thank you Nancy for all of your hard work, spearheading the fundraiser that helped you with your endeavor of providing us the 100 copies of Gifts.

Thank you to everyone at BUDS who also helped with this endeavor.

The book is like having many parents there, to share their stories, yet the attendees can read them at their own pace, therefore, getting even more from the presentation.

I also have a copy on our L&D unit.

Sincerely,

Deb Dougherty RN

Virtua Memorial Hospital
Labor and Delivery
175 Madison Avenue
Mt Holly, NJ 08640