Hospitals Around The Country Are Adding “Serenity Suites” For Grieving Families & Couples
The private space gives parents a moment to breathe.
When parents receive the unwelcome news that their pregnancy is no longer viable, they’d probably rather be anywhere else other than a sterile, cold hospital room or doctor’s office.
After my own losses, I remember putting my clothes back on, walking back to the waiting room (for more blood tests), and suddenly finding myself triggered and devastated by the sight of a pregnant women. I had no space to process. I had no place to take a breath. I had no place to cry in my husband’s arms, just for a moment or two, to let out some of that heartache.
In those first few minutes after receiving devastating news, it would be nice if there were places for people to go other than the bathroom or car in the parking lot.
Some hospitals and doctor’s offices around the country are beginning to develop special, private rooms for those grieving a pregnancy loss called serenity suites.
What is a serenity suite?
Hospitals, like Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill., have added a room to their hospital this year. The charge was led by Naperville doctor Nick Love and his wife Melissa Mickey, who wanted to help provide better for other parents in a similar situation.
“We lost him in the womb, but they had to deliver him, unfortunately,” Dr. Love, a physician With Endeavor Health told NC-17.
“We were at Northwestern downtown and we were in a contact isolation room at the time and it was on postpartum (floor) so like, next door families with babies, and I just remember thinking like, there’s got to be a better thing than this.”
In the process of grieving, Dr. Love came up with the idea of a serenity suite for the hospital.
A serenity suite acts as a bereavement room where parents and families can gather in private after experiencing ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death.
“They can take a breath and take in, unfortunately, what’s happened and stay away from everyone else in the hospital and take it to themselves,” said Dr. Love.
“I’ll never forget, I got an email saying, ‘I want to build a room in his honor,’ said nurse Susan Villa, coordinator, specialty programs — perinatal bereavement, Edward-Elmhurst Health. “I want his name on that wall.”
After six years of planning and fundraising (and after years of delay due to COVID-19), Dr. Love’s vision came to life.
Part of a hallway in the south building of Edward Hospital became an entirely new room across from the NICU. Dedicated in honor of Dr Love’s son, Liam, the serenity suite opened in December 2024.
“The first time I walked up and saw my son’s name, I broke down a little bit,” said Dr. Love. “My wife and I couldn’t have been happier when that time came. It’s good to know that other people will benefit from it at their worst time.”
The room at Edward Hospital includes a journal where grieving parents can leave messages of support for others and a mural of butterflies.
Other suites around the country have other small features that make things easier, like placement away from the maternity ward, where couples might be in close contact with families celebrating their new babies.
Almost 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage ,with 80% of those miscarriages happening before the 12th week of pregnancy. That’s almost 25% of women heading to OB/GYN offices or the hospital to work through pregnancy loss, hCG level testing, and the complicated feelings that come with pregnancy loss.
Hopefully, more hospitals will follow suit with this trend to provide a space for grieving patients to have some privacy and peace during those first tough moments.
