North-east miscarriage support charity MISS reaches out
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A NORTH-EAST charity is aiming to widen awareness in Moray of the support it offers women and their partners in the wake of early pregnancy loss.
MISS (Miscarriage Information Support Service), the north-east's only early pregnancy loss charity, provides emotional support to people who have gone through miscarriage, as well as providing lovingly made-up boxes of items for patients at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.
Founded in March 2017 by Aberdeenshire-based Abi Clarke (31), the charity covers all of north-east Scotland and is now extending its reach into the Highlands, Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Fife.
Abi set up the group after encountering a lack of local support following her own miscarriage in 2015.
The charity's 18 volunteers offer support for both women and men through online and face-to-face groups and one-to-one sessions, and a phone service which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Currently, due to the pandemic, support groups and one-to-one sessions are being held via Zoom or by phone.
MISS provides the maternity hospital with memory boxes, comfort packs for patients staying overnight at hospital, and next pregnancy bags.
Since the first Covid-19 lockdown in March last year, it has also been sending out support packs through the post to those dealing with early pregnancy loss. Some 300 packs have been distributed to people throughout Grampian so far.
Abi said: "At Aberdeen Maternity Hospital alone there are around 80 to 90 losses every month.
"We are here to provide support, show people that they are not alone and offer ways to remember their babies.
"For the last six months we have also been working with Raigmore Hospital to raise awareness. We are going to be providing memory boxes to them and have plans to start up an online group in the Inverness area."
Some 60 memory boxes go to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital each month to be handed out by midwives. Put together by the volunteers and costing around £15 each to make up, the boxes include scan cards, flower seeds, a knitted heart, a card from the team and information on additional support to cope with loss.
The comfort packs include self-care items for patients who find themselves in an unplanned overnight hospital stay, and who may have had to undergo surgery. These are filled with items to make such a stay more comfortable, such as toiletries, T-shirts and hair bobbles.
The charity relies on local funding pots, donations and fundraisers to carry out its work, and has been successful in securing National Lottery funding as well as from the Aberdeen-based Lord Provost's Charitable Trust Hardship Fund.
MISS will be holding an online fundraising event with Elgin Escape later this month. For details click here.
Since 2017 MISS has grown to almost 2500 members.
For more information on MISS visit the website www.miscarriageinfosuppservice.co.uk
