Ciudad Juarez.- Losing a baby at any stage of pregnancy, or after birth, is a grief that must be treated psychologically.
To support families going through a situation of this type, the Mi Angelito Estrella Support Group (GAMAE) AC accompanies parents in their grief and provides advice to health personnel so that they know how the issue should be addressed.
Columba Paola Benítez Morales, psychologist and founder of the association, said that it is important to provide empathetic treatment and explained that gestational death occurs when the fetus is more than 22 weeks in its mother’s womb, perinatal death occurs when it reaches 28 weeks and even after birth and surpassing the first week of life.
Finally, when the baby is born but has problems during the following 28 days and dies, what is known as neonatal death occurs.
Benítez Morales said that the family has the right to have the baby’s remains returned to them regardless of the gestational age, and that the baby has the right to have a funeral if the parents so wish.
“When they go through this, very few people know how to act, or respect this grief in the aspect that since there is no longer a baby, or there is no womb, people do not have the sensitivity to understand the pain of a mother losing a baby that was not born,” she commented.
She said that the association works to inform, raise awareness, and support grieving families, provide legal advice and influence public policies, as well as give talks to staff at health institutions on how to apply protocols, and offer workshops in maquiladora companies.
“There is already a lot of movement on the subject in Chihuahua, more is known about the topic and about the options that may exist; we have had contact with health personnel to raise awareness and give them options when they have a case, and families are a little more informed about what they can do in the event of a gestational, perinatal or neonatal loss,” explained the interviewee.
So far this year, around 200 people have received support in grief, legal advice and workshops, said the interviewee.
“There is still much to be done, not only to inform but also to apply the protocols, and not just to apply them but to make them a reality in the laws of Chihuahua,” she said. (Verónica Domínguez)
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