A midwife from Airedale Hospital who supports bereaved families has been named as a finalist in the first ever MAMA (Mums And Midwives Awareness) Academy awards, celebrating the amazing work maternity professionals are doing day in day out to support families throughout their pregnancy.
The awards acknowledge the wonderful people and organisations who have contributed to MAMA’s cause as a safer pregnancy charity. Nominations came in from all over the country, featuring inspirational and heart-warming stories of maternity professionals, from midwives to obstetricians, hypnobirthing coaches to sonographers.
Bev Beaumont who is a Bereavement Support Midwife at the hospital, was named as a finalist for Specialist Midwife of the year award, for her work with the Sunbeam Support Group to offer support to bereaved families across Keighley and Craven.
The Sunbeam Support Group provides a welcoming space for anyone who has experienced the loss of a baby or young child. Parents can meet other families who are grieving for their children, talk openly about their loss, discuss coping mechanisms and eventually – learn to live again. Run by Airedale Midwives, the group offers not only a wealth of experience and advice for bereaved parents, but a substantial amount of grief-related resources too, including a lending library which allows parents to borrow books related to the topic of baby loss. Airedale Hospital also has a Sunbeam garden with a SiMBA tree of Tranquility, where parents can add leaves with the names of their children, offering them the opportunity to honour their baby in a simple, quiet way.
Bev’s nomination said:
“Bev is so professional, kind, caring and outstanding as a midwife as well as a bereavement midwife. She is one of the founders of the Sunbeam support group and has worked hard with Simba to be able to get the first tree of tranquillity in England, in a specially made Sunbeam garden for families to be able to have time to sit and reflect in a safe space.
Bev is dedicated to supporting bereaved families and also for next pregnancies. The families have so much trust in Bev as she is so approachable.
Bev gives 110% to her role and deserves recognition for all she does and continues to do. I can talk about Bev all day as she is the most loveliest person you will ever meet.”
Bev says:
“I am deeply humbled by my kind nomination and very surprised by it. The work we do in supporting bereaved families is a privilege and vital that it’s done to a very high standard. I work with a great team and am very proud of all we do in supporting our bereaved community.”
There will also be a Christmas event in the Sunbeam Garden at Airedale Hospital on 21 December from 5pm, where families can come and place a bauble on the Sunbeam Christmas tree and be together. For more information go to https://www.facebook.com/sunbeamsupportkeighley/.
