Awareness

Awareness in the Community

• Teresa Scanlan – Miss America 2011: Protecting Your Baby Before Birth
• Picture of a Lifetime
• Nurses Grieve Too: Insights into Experiences With Perinatal Loss
• 70 Stars
• The Memory of You
• Homecoming

Partnering for Prevention

Partnering for Prevention is more than just a campaign at Star Legacy Foundation!  It describes our vision and how we approach all of our projects. Contact us or visit our store to receive a complimentary printed copy of our booklet Parenting in Pregnancy.

We believe significant progress can be made to prevent many stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and related losses.   To reach our goals, we all need to work together!  Families, health professionals, policy makers, researchers, and communities can all play a role in improving the outcomes of thousands of pregnancies.  Join us in this effort because all pregnancies deserve a happy ending!

We are happy to bring an awareness presentation to your community organization. Contact us to schedule with our speakers bureau.

What I Can Do to Partner for Prevention

• If you are pregnant, get to know your baby! Monitor his/her behavior and inform your health provider immediately with any changes or concerns.  Changes in fetal movement have been noted to be a sign of distress for unborn babies.  The best way to recognize these changes is to know your baby’s normal behavior patterns.  If you notice ANY change in their usual behavior, call your health provider or go to the hospital immediately to be evaluated.
• If you are a bereaved parent, say your baby’s name and share your baby’s story. We can reduce stigma when we help others understand our experience.  Increased awareness can help expectant families know about their risks, improve funding for research, and motivate professionals and families to be more education.  Your baby’s story can make a difference!
• If you are a health professional, have a discussion with your pregnant patients about any risks they have for poor pregnancy outcomes. This encourages them to partner with you to reduce those risks and create a plan for any complications that may arise.  Knowledge is power!.
• Listen to maternal instincts! Mothers have a unique ability to connect with their children in ways we can’t describe or understand.  They may not always be able to articulate what is wrong, but if a mother expresses concern about her baby (living or unborn) – LISTEN to her.  Mothers – don’t ignore those instincts and don’t hesitate to share any concerns.
• Attend a Star Legacy event near you! These events help raise awareness, support local families, and bring together the local community interested in pregnancy and infant loss.
• If you are a health provider, talk to your patients about monitoring fetal movement. Most expectant families do not realize this can be an indicator of baby’s well-being and are hesitant to bother their health professionals for their concerns.  Reassure them that this is important and you want/need to know about any concerns immediately.
• If you are pregnant, stop smoking. If you live with a pregnant woman, stop smoking.  Tobacco smoke exposure is one of the most modifiable of all risk factors for all poor pregnancy outcomes including miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, neonatal death.   You’ll be healthier, too!
• Support initiatives that reduce the stigma surrounding perinatal death. For example, support efforts to expand FMLA benefits to families who experience the death of a child, encourage your state to provide a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth (if not already available), support state efforts to provide a one-time dependent tax credit for families who have experienced a stillbirth, and more!
• Monitor for fetal growth restriction with more frequent ultrasounds. The UK has shown the ability to improve detection of fetal growth restriction and reduce the stillbirth rate with better measurement of appropriate growth.
• Encourage your friends and family to know their risk factors. Knowledge is power and they can work with their health provider to understand any risks including a plan to minimize them!.
• If you are pregnant, do not go to sleep on your back (especially in the last trimester). Four international studies have now shown this to increase the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes.  New Zealand has seen a decrease in their stillbirth rate after news of these findings.  Further studies are pending, but it appears to be prudent to go to sleep on your side.
• Donate to prevention efforts with your time, talents, or treasures. There are many ways to contribute or become involved with Star Legacy Foundation!
• Support programs that provide top-quality maternity care to all pregnant women regardless of race, socioeconomic status, geographic location, sexuality, insurance coverage, or any other determinant of public health.
• Host or attend an event in honor of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day (October 15th). This can be big or small, in person or virtual!  All efforts help raise awareness, support, and education.
• If you are pregnant or thinking about starting a family, talk to your health provider about any risk factors or health conditions you should address before or during pregnancy.
• Encourage local policy makers to declare stillbirth a public health crisis!
• Women who have had a previous poor pregnancy outcome should be treated by high-risk protocols in any future pregnancies.
• Encourage dads who have experienced pregnancy loss to share their stories. This is not only a maternal health issue!  It is important for health professionals, policy makers, and advocates to know how these babies affect the entire family.
• Health professionals need to request additional training and education toward stillbirth prevention and caring for families experiencing pregnancy or infant death. Most are forced to learn these skills on the job from their colleagues.  Adding these vital pieces to the curriculum for future OBs, nurses, social worker, and more can make a significant impact!
• Participate in research! Star Legacy Foundation aims to support research any way we can. For many researchers, their biggest challenge is enrolling people in their studies.  For pregnancy loss research, we often need families who have experienced a pregnancy loss or those who have had health pregnancies.  Watch the Star Legacy Foundation website and newsletter for opportunities to participate in research studies.
• If you know someone who has experienced pregnancy or infant loss, ask them about their baby(ies). Most families appreciate the opportunity to say their baby’s name and are honored that their baby has not been forgotten.
• If you are pregnant, work on maintaining a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet. Proper nutrition is beneficial to mom and baby and helps set habits you’ll want to share with your new baby as he/she gets older.  Obesity is a risk factor for pregnancy complications.  If you are overweight, talk to your doctor or midwife about your nutrition, the ideal weight gain for your pregnancy, and how to manage increased risks.
• Thank a health professional who goes out of his/her way to support families and prevent poor pregnancy outcomes! Ask how you can help or support them in their work.
• Work with Star Legacy Foundation to bring education and awareness events or activities to your local community. Our speakers can work with your local health professionals or community advocates to create a program that addresses your local needs!
• Work with our chapters in Minnesota or New York. We also have several other chapters being developed!  Contact us to learn about chapters coming to your area or how to bring a chapter to your community.  Chapters allow us to provide Star Legacy Foundation research, education, awareness, advocacy, and support programs into local communities!  You can make a difference for your neighbors and friends!
• Do your holiday shopping (or any shopping) through smile.amazon.com or igive.com – and designate Star Legacy Foundation as your preferred charity! A portion of your purchase amount will be donated to our research and education programs with no additional cost to you!
• Think about pregnancy and intra-uterine environment risk factors in addition to maternal risk factors. A healthy mother can have a baby in distress due to placental insufficiency, growth restriction, umbilical cord abnormalities, high or low amniotic fluid levels, etc.
• Consider all risk factors for poor pregnancy outcomes when identifying high-risk pregnancies. In addition to maternal conditions such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes, know if a mother has other risk factors such as minority race, obesity, low socio-economic status, first pregnancies, and more.  If a woman/pregnancy has multiple risk factors, consider monitoring and managing the pregnancy as high-risk.
• Share information and facts about pregnancy and infant loss with your health professionals, friends, neighbors, and family members. We all know someone who has been affected by these losses.  It can be an isolating experience, but we want families to know they are not alone!  End the silence and improve care so we can prevent many of these tragic deaths and support families when prevention isn’t possible.  Together, we can do better!