21 Oct 2012 The Kitchen Store plans Holiday Preview
The annual Kitchen Store Holiday Preview, a fundraising event for the Conway Regional Perinatal Bereavement program, will be held from 7 to 9 pm Thursday, Oct. 25, at The Kitchen Store, 704 Locust Ave. in Downtown Conway.
Last year the event raised more than $14,000 for the perinatal bereavement program at Conway Regional Medical Center. The Kitchen Store donates 100 percent of gross sales from the festive shopping event to the Conway Regional Health Foundation for the bereavement program.
Based out of the hospital’s Women’s Center, the bereavement program is designed to address families’ needs after the loss of an infant during pregnancy or immediately after being born. The staff provides supportive care in the hospital as well as follow-up care after loss.
A new sensitivity video – designed to help people respond in a sensitive manner when others are experiencing loss and tragedy in their lives – will be available to patrons of the event.
The video is part of a community education effort by Conway Regional Health Foundation and the University of Central Arkansas. The video was initiated and inspired by the late Mike Smyers, a former member of the Conway Regional Health Foundation Board of Directors. The video was produced by UCA and focuses on how to respond to difficult issues such as response to a job loss, divorce or a death of a loved one.
Smyers approached the Conway Regional Health Foundation about creating a sensitivity tool after a friend of his was hospitalized due to a snake bite. “His friend heard more snake bite stories than you could count,” recalls Tricia O’Connor, Mike Smyers’ daughter. She said the video is designed “to help people figure out how to relate to someone else who is suffering.”
“It is not always just a health related issue,” she said, “and it is really hard.” She credits the UCA students and faculty who helped produce the video.
A copy of the video can be downloaded at conwayregional.org.
