Carle BroMenn Medical Center invites community members to its annual Shining Light Infant Memorial Service and Walk to Remember on Tuesday, Oct. 15, beginning at 6 p.m. The ceremony brings parents together to honor and remember babies who have died during pregnancy or shortly after birth in a supportive environment surrounded by family, friends and others with a shared understanding of this type of loss.
“We have been coming together annually on October 15 to support families and help them honor their dearly loved and forever missed children,” Keli Sidebottom, Carle BroMenn Mother Baby Unit Supervisor shares. “We shine light on a moment of darkness as a symbol of remembrance and invite all those touched by the loss of an infant during pregnancy or shortly after birth to join us.”
Event details:
- Decoration of luminaries: 6 p.m. in the Chapel Garden on the campus of Carle BroMenn Medical Center, 1304 Franklin Ave. This is an opportunity for families to decorate luminaries in remembrance of their loved one(s).
- The Walk to Remember: 6:30 p.m. along the grounds of the Carle BroMenn campus. The path is stroller and handicap accessible.
- The Memorial Service: 7 p.m. in the Chapel Garden during which time we will participate in the International Wave of Light, the annual worldwide lighting of candles, along with thousands of others from around the world.
Those wishing to have their child’s name included in the reading of names, which will take place during the ceremony, can do so by registering for the event on the Carle Health website. Registration is not required to attend the event.
Members of the Carle BroMenn Spiritual Care and Mother Baby teams will be available throughout the evening, offering support and encouragement to participants. Spiritual Care is there for those of all faiths as well as those with no faith tradition.
Participants at the evening’s events should consider dressing in layers to accommodate the weather. Visitor parking is available near the Chapel Garden as well as in the parking garage and surface lots surrounding the hospital.
A concurrent Shining Light Infant Memorial Service is taking place in the Pollard Auditorium at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.
For information about the monthly Grief Support group at Carle BroMenn Medical Center, including meeting dates and times, visit the Carle Health website.
