On October 1, at the beginning of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, the U.S. Pregnancy After Loss Network hosted its first-ever USPAL Network Learning Day. This day engaged a broad range of partners to share experiences, ideas and perspectives that will improve our care for patients experiencing pregnancy after loss.
We were joined by Network members and prospective members, researchers, clinicians, nurses, social workers, non-profit and community leaders, and maternal health advocates. Sessions included clinic highlights from our members, spotlights on training and peer support, and discussions on how best to advance our shared goals.
“From opening the first Rainbow Clinic for pregnancy after loss in the United States to seeing the creation of a nationwide U.S. Pregnancy After Loss Network is truly a dream come true,” said Mount Sinai’s Dr. Joanne Stone, MD, MS, one of the five founders of the USPAL Network. “Caring for families after the heartbreak of pregnancy loss, providing compassionate, expert care in a supportive environment, while connecting patients with others who understand their journey has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. The USPAL Network gives us the opportunity to bring this model of care to families across the country and to ensure that no one has to navigate a pregnancy after loss alone.”
Opportunities to collaborate across locations and areas of expertise are rare. USPAL Network Learning Day encouraged participants with a wide breadth of lived and professional experience to examine how we can best support mothers during pregnancy after loss, a time that is filled with both hope and anxiety.
“It is a profound responsibility to care for a mother who is pregnant after she has experienced a loss, and we are always looking to improve how we support that mother and that family,” said Dr. Hayley Miller, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco’s Pregnancy After Loss Clinic. “As part of the USPAL Network, we’re able to learn from our peers and raise the level of care we provide our patients.”
Clinics across the USPAL Network will continue to share data and best practices as they care for patients. Learn more about the Network at www.USPALNetwork.org.
About the U.S. Pregnancy After Loss Network
The USPAL Network is a national partnership dedicated to improving care, research, and outcomes for families with a history of pregnancy loss in the United States. Through its network of clinics, the USPAL Network connects families to trusted resources and expert pregnancy-after-loss clinical care while sharing data and best practices for managing high-risk pregnancy. Learn more at www.USPALNetwork.org.