Pre-Conference Workshops
Thursday October 16
Three workshops will be offered on Thursday. Take advantage of these sessions in an extended workshop format.

Full Day    8:00 am - 4:30 pm

RTS Coordinator Training
Madonna Daley, M.S., R.N. and Alana Roush, R.N.C.

Pre-requisite: two-day RTS Bereavement Training
In this one-day workshop, you’ll learn the skills necessary to implement an interdisciplinary perinatal program. You’ll learn how to use Bereavement Services resources to train staff members within your hospital and maintain perinatal bereavement care as a “standard of care.” You’ll also receive the RTS Coordinator’s manual.

With 27 years as a Critical Care nurse working in the capacity of mentor, preceptor, educator, and manager, Madonna Daley is passionate about end-of-life care. Active in the hospital's bereavement committee, her commitment to compassion and respect for the dying and those experiencing a loss continues with her role as educator for Bereavement Services in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Alana Roush has recently retired as Coordinator of the Perinatal Bereavement Program for TriHealth in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has been a trained Bereavement Services/RTS provider since 1985 and is a member of their National Faculty. Alana was Chair of the 2000 NPBC conference and Co-Chair of the 2004 conference. Alana is the past President of PLIDA, Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Alliance.

Half Day Morning    8:30am - 12:00pm

Guided Participation in Perinatal Bereavement: An Interactive Workshop
Rana Limbo, PhD, RN, CNS-BC

Perinatal bereavement professionals encounter situations daily with co-workers, other team members, and patients/family members that involve teaching, learning, and sometimes, conflict. As an experienced perinatal bereavement professional, you look for ways to share your knowledge and skills. Focusing primarily on working with other professionals, this workshop introduces participants to Guided Participation, an innovative approach to teaching and learning. The workshop is based on videotaped scenarios, is interactive, and will involve small- and large-group discussion and practice.

Rana Limbo is the Director of Bereavement Services, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, La Crosse, Wisconsin. As a Co-Founder of the national component of RTS, Rana has been involved in perinatal bereavement care and education for over 25 years. She is co-author with Sara Wheeler of When a Baby Dies: A Handbook for Healing and Helping. As a researcher, Rana did groundbreaking research on miscarriage in the mid 1980s, and is currently a co-investigator of the study, “Decision Making with an Inevitable Miscarriage.” Rana helped develop and implement Guided Participation as an intervention to support caregiving competencies in mothers of infants and young children. She is an expert in the feeding and growth of very pre-term infants in the first year of life, is a principal author of position statements on Screening for Prenatal and Postpartum Depression and Childbearing Loss and Grief (publications of the Wisconsin Association of Perinatal Care), and a former psychotherapist.

Half Day Afternoon    1:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Pregnancy Following Perinatal Loss: Education and Support for Families
Dorotha Cicchinelli, BASW, LCCE, CLC, MNM and Joann O’Leary, PhD, MPH, MS.

This workshop will address the current research on pregnancy following perinatal loss and explore
supportive intervention to address parents’ fears and emotions as they prepare for the birth of a new baby. Content will focus on ways to support mothers and partners/fathers at each stage of the pregnancy, childbirth education to equip parents with the necessary emotional and physical tools for a successful labor and birth experience, meeting the needs of mothers in regard to breast-feeding, and parenting concerns in raising children.