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Holy Name Medical Center is partnering with a nonprofit to support families coping with a pregnancy or infant loss, the Teaneck health care provider announced March 18. 

Griffin Cares Foundation, based in Tenafly, connects families with peer support from those who share similar experiences. Its programs are created by parents who have faced trauma, such as stillbirth, infant death or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). 

“By combining our in-patient bereavement expertise with the valuable resources and support services offered by Griffin Cares Foundation, we can better meet the diverse needs of bereaved patients,” Cedar Wang, vice president, Nursing Operations, Holy Name, said in a statement.  

Wang added that families can access Griffin Cares’ resources for weeks, months or even years after their loss. Holy Name’s current bereavement programs include spiritual/grief counseling, support groups and follow-up counseling for one year, as well as referrals to community resources.

“Our partnership with Griffin Cares will ensure that families that experience a pregnancy loss will receive the best of follow up support once they are discharged from our care at Holy Name,” Julie Lazar-Reskakis, Holy Name’s certified perinatal bereavement specialist, told NJBIZ in an email. “Griffin Cares provides 1:1 peer support, group support and a community of other families to help navigate life after loss. They have the ability to pair peer mentors with parents who have had similar losses with a dedicated and well trained team.”

Lazar-Reskakis added that Holy Name will partner with Griffin Cares for events, including Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in October and additional offerings.

Lessening the burden

Pamela and Paul Caine, founders of Griffin Cares, launched the organization after their son Griffin Matthew died at 13 days old in 1996, according to their website.  

Griffin Cares offers resources such as peer support groups, mentors, medical information and research. The organization even has ideas for helping families honor their loved ones.

Lazar-Reskakis noted that “[w]hile families can find Griffin Cares via their website, we don’t want to give them another task of finding local and well established resources on their own. Families are already overwhelmed with grief. Providing this transition from bereavement care at Holy Name to bereavement care at Griffin Cares can lessen that burden.”

The new partnership furthers Holy Name’s mission of “enhancing the patient experience through life’s most difficult and challenging moments.”

In October 2023, the health care provider reopened its renovated Villa Marie Claire residential hospice facility in Saddle River. At time time, it described the location as “a sanctuary-like setting that combines state-of-the-art medical facilities with functional home-like living spaces, allowing patients to fully celebrate life with family and friends.”