Carol McMurrich, EdM, leads participants in an exploration of successful, compassionate bereavement care.

Participants in this course will understand best caregiving practices for when a baby dies and the specifics regarding why these practices can be important to each individual family. Participants will explore how to present options to parents which empower them to become active participants in their own loss experience, rather than victims of circumstance. Participants will also practice ways to assess and acknowledge a family’s social and cultural background and how they can use this information to help to make meaning with the family at the time of loss. Lastly, nurses will gather skills for debrief and self-care so that they can learn from, and not be negatively affected by, caring for the bereaved. This program will contain a parent panel, so that participants can learn from those who have experienced this type of loss themselves.

DATE: Tuesday, September 30th 2025

LOCATION: Saint Vincent Hospital, 123 Summer Street, Worcester MA 01608. 5 North Conference Room.

TIME: 10-2:30. Arrival time 9:45, with 30 minute break for lunch (BYO, or buy on site!)

COST: $80

ACCREDITATION: This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by American Nurses Association Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nurses who attend and participate in the entire course will be awarded 4 contact hours.

This program has been approved for 3.5 Social Work Continuing Education hours for relicensure, in accordance with 258 CMR. NASW-MA Chapter CE Approving Program, Authorization Number D 92593.

ABOUT THE EDUCATOR: Carol McMurrich, EdM, who lost her own first daughter at birth, is the executive director of Empty Arms Bereavement Support, which has been providing support to families in Western Massachusetts at the bedside and in monthly support groups since 2007. As an educator, McMurrich has been teaching at hospitals across New England for 15 years. Her theories and methods are based on her extensive training with Share, Pregnancy and Infant Loss, Inc, her work with the Perinatal Loss and Infant Death Alliance, her educational background in sociology and psychology, and her eighteen years of work with hundreds of bereaved families across Western Massachusetts and beyond.

Accompanying Parents When a Baby Dies; AM Session at St. Vincent's Hospital

Carol McMurrich, EdM, leads participants in an exploration of successful, compassionate bereavement care.