Since 2015, Run with the Docs—a 5K run and a one-mile walk—has raised over $350,000 to support Virtua’s Perinatal Bereavement and Palliative Care Program, which provides support and care to families experiencing pregnancy or infant loss. The program helps to ensure that families who experience loss have access to a multidisciplinary range of services that provide comfort and support during an exceedingly challenging time.

More than 700 participants composing 43 teams of runners are expected to attend this year’s event, which is always an emotional reunion for patients, families, clinicians, and caregivers.

“We are so grateful for the support the community has offered for this cause,” says Ann Coyle, RNC-NIC (registered nurse certified in Neonatal Intensive Care), manager of the perinatal bereavement program. “The money raised provides grieving patients and their families the necessary support they need as they navigate a devastating and emotional journey.”

The 10th annual event was held on Sunday, June 9, 2024, at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.

Thanks to the generous Run with the Docs participants, sponsors, and donors, the Perinatal Bereavement and Palliative Care Program provides essential and supportive services to grieving families. These services include:

• Providing education and training for health care teams who work directly with families experiencing loss.
• Offering financial assistance to help ease the burden of burial costs.
• Providing books and resources on grief for parents and children.
• Presenting the biennial Perinatal Bereavement and Palliative Care conference, which provides education to health care workers in the U.S. and Canada.
• Assisting families with the purchase of a plaque in memory of their little one in Virtua’s Angel Garden outside Virtua Voorhees Hospital.
• Serving as a resource for all families in our region, whether they are patients at Virtua or another health system.

An additional provision this year is the Respectful Disposition Program for babies miscarried at Virtua Voorhees and Virtua Mount Holly Hospitals. Parents of children miscarried under 20 weeks are offered entombment in a mausoleum at a cemetery in Mount Laurel. This service is also offered to the parents of babies who miscarried over 20 weeks if the family cannot bring themselves to make funeral arrangements. The service is free, and services will be held quarterly to commemorate these babies and their families. Families can be assured that their child’s remains are safe and well cared for in a place where they can visit if they choose.

For information on Virtua’s support services for pregnancy and infant loss, please visit https://www.virtua.org/services/pregnancy-and-infant-loss-support.