NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2008

St. Nicholas Hospital's HALO Program Receives Blankets From Junior Girl Scouts Troop

Sheboygan, Wis.--St. Nicholas Hospital's Hope After Loss Organization (HALO) received tie fleece blankets from the Junior Girl Scouts Troop #298 from Jefferson Elementary School in Sheboygan. The girls arrived in a limo to deliver the blankets.

One of the girls, Gabby Eissner, came up with the idea for the blankets while they were brainstorming about service project ideas. Eissner's grandmother was a patient at St. Nicholas Hospital and she had made a blanket for her grandmother while she was there. Troop leader, Julia Squier, contacted the Hospital to see if there was a need for blankets and was referred to Cori Salchert, RN, who is the pregnancy loss counselor for HALO.

HALO is a pregnancy loss and newborn death support program at St. Nicholas Hospital. The new program was started to support parents and their families in the Sheboygan County in whatever stage of pregnancy loss they may be going through; miscarriage, ectopic, stillbirth, or early newborn death.

Salchert thought it would be a great idea to make larger blankets for babies who have financial difficulties in their families and smaller blankets for HALO. The smaller blankets were given to mothers whose babies have died. "The blankets are something soft and warm for the mothers to hold," said Salchert. "The blanket can't replace the baby but makes the loss a little bit more bearable for the mothers by having something tangible to wrap their arms around and to know that someone else cares about their grief."

There was a newborn who was in need of a blanket while the girls were at the hospital. "It was nice that the girls were able to actually see one of the babies receive a blanket," said Squier. "Sometimes they don't always see how their efforts are received."

For more information about HALO, please contact Cori Salchert RN, Certified Pregnancy Loss Counselor at 920/451-7572.

About St. Nicholas Hospital
St. Nicholas Hospital is a non-profit hospital sponsored by the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis located at 3100 Superior Avenue, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Their mission and vision is to provide family-centered, compassionate care without regard for race, creed, or ability to pay. This is achieved through the core values of respect, care, competence, and joy.

To learn more, visit www.stnicholashospital.org .

CONTACT: Ryan Perkins
Director, Marketing
St. Nicholas Hospital
3100 Superior Avenue
Sheboygan , WI 53081
920-451-7543
rperkins@sns.hshs.org

 

News Room > Current News > News Archive