Photo: From L to R Gifford RN’s Chelsea Liese and Ellen Fox, Katie Erwin- Co-Founder of Scarlet’s Mission. Courtesy photo.
Vermont Business Magazine Katie Irwin and Jim McGonigal don’t want any parent to go through what they did more than six years ago. Their daughter Scarlet Suzy McGonigal was stillborn and the Woodbridge, CT couple didn’t have the proper amount of time to spend with her and process their grief.
Following that experience, Katie and Jim created Scarlet’s Mission, donating CuddleCots to various hospitals, including Gifford Medical Center.
“Gifford is very sweet,” Irwin said. “You can feel the empathy here, which is how it should be.”
A warm room can deteriorate a stillborn baby’s condition quickly. The CuddleCot system cools the baby allowing families to spend more time with their baby, where every minute counts.
“We are absolutely honored and very appreciative,” Gifford Director of Women’s Health, Bonnie Hervieux-Woodbury said. “This will be a huge gift to families, parents, and grandparents. We hope the opportunity to use the CuddleCot is few and far between, but in those instances, we will put it to good use.”
Fundraising for Scarlet’s Mission is mostly done through social media. The first CuddleCot was donated about three years ago. Seven CuddleCots have been presented since, with six of them going to Vermont hospitals.
“Vermont has very compassionate health care,” Irwin said. “To be able to help the parents and to keep my daughter's spirit and name alive is extremely important. I’m very grateful to Gifford for accepting this.”
“Our goal is to support families in our birthing center and this is another way to do that,” Hervieux-Woodbury said. “We don’t want to put time frames on when it’s okay for parents to say goodbye.”
For more information on Scarlet’s Mission, click here.
For more information on the CuddleCot, click here.
Reminder during COVID-19: All Gifford clinics are open. We must continue to provide care and treat members of our community so that medical conditions do not escalate. If a patient does not have a mask upon arrival for an appointment, Gifford will provide one. For more information about COVID-19 and answers to frequently asked questions, visit giffordhealthcare.org/coronavirus-covid-19, cdc.gov or healthvermont.gov.