about WiSSP

Catherine A Reiser, M.S.

Conference update
We have been invited to participate in the 10th National Perinatal Bereavement Conference, "Beautiful Sunrises, Bittersweet Sunsets". Dr. Pauli will present a workshop titled "Etiologic Evaluation of the Stillborn" and will be a member of a Medical Update Panel. The conference, open to medical professionals and bereaved parents, will be held October 17-19 in Scottsdale, Arizona. For registration information you can contact Suzanne Helzer, RNC, or Marilyn Dunn, RN, at 602-835-3460.

Computer sites
For those of you who like to ‘surf the net’ there are several web sites that may be of interest. They include:

sidsnet@q.continuum.net
(a bibliography of resources for those people touched by SIDS, pregnancy loss, stillbirth or neonatal death)

netta@suburbia.apana.org.au
(the home page of SANDS, a support organization in Australia; while some information—e.g. legal requirements for disposition—is specific to Australia, the page is otherwise well organized and useful)

Don’t forget, while WiSSP does not yet have a home page, we are available by e-mail. Please contact us with any questions or comments:

pauli@waisman.wisc.edu
reiser@waisman.wisc.edu

In this issue
Chromosome abnormalities are identified in about 5% of all stillborn infants. Thus, cytogenetic analysis is an important component of a complete evaluation following such a loss. We often have many questions about this portion of the assessment, and so the In Depth articles of this and the next issue of WiSSPers will be devoted to the subject of chromosome studies following stillbirth.

Recent questions to WiSSP about chromosome analysis will be answered in this month’s RSVP section.

We are pleased to also include in this issue a Guest Corner article from Joann O’Leary. Joann is part of a very successful Pregnancy After Loss support program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minnesota. Meet Joann in Personal Portraits and learn more about her interesting and exciting work.