The RTS Bereavement Services Memorial Garden is located on Oak Lane in front of the Childcare Center. This special garden is dedicated to the memory of babies who have died in pregnancy and infancy. A heart shaped border and teardrop encircle a Bradford Pear tree.  A Walk To Remember memorial service is conducted each October and parents plant tulip bulbs in the center of the heart and teardrop.  A tulip shaped bulb marker with each baby's name marks the spot of each bulb.  Two concrete benches provide a quiet place of reflection. Parents have shared that this garden and the spring tulips are comforting affirmations.

Additional RTS Bereavement Services information:
The RTS Bereavement Support Group meets monthly on the third Tuesday, 7:30 pm, in the private dining room of Virginia Baptist Hospital.  This is a self-help group where parents find support as they share hurts and healing in their grief journeys.

Books are available for loan on pregnancy and infant loss and grief.  Peer support contacts are offered.  Parents who have completed a grief training program volunteer to make telephone and written contact to newly bereaved parents.  Additionally, telephone and written follow-up contacts are provided by the program coordinator.

Bereaved parents may add an 8x8 inch finished quilt square to our memorial quilt in memory of their baby/babies.  The quilts are displayed in the Bereavement office behind the Birth Center and annually at the Walk to Remember.  They also are displayed at educational fairs.

The Walk to Remember takes place in the month of October, which is national Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. Parents across the nation participate in symbolic walks and memorial services during this month.  The local Walk to Remember event this year will be conducted on Saturday, October 25 at 2 pm.  The event begins with a memorial service in Virginia Baptist Hospital's Craddock Auditorium.  Parents share reflections, poetry, and music during this special time of remembrance.  This is followed by a symbolic walk on the streets surrounding Virginia Baptist Hospital and concludes with tulip bulb planting in the memorial garden on Oak Lane.

Poem for Mother's Day:

A mother's love is something
than no one can explain.
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain.
It is endless and unselfish,
enduring come what may.
Nothing can destroy it
or take that love away.

Mother's Day 2008
We at RTS Bereavement Services recognize that the observances of Mother's Day and Father's Day each year can be painful for bereaved parents. Please call if we can help by listening, 200-4642.

For more information, contact Evelyn Harker, RN, at (434) 200-4568.