Star Legacy Community Spotlight Interview
How was Star Legacy founded?
Lindsey Wimmer and her family started the organization after her son was stillborn. The mission of Star Legacy is to prevent stillbirth. The organization is centered around 5 pillars: Research, Awareness, Education, Advocacy, and Family Support. As of now, there are 20 chapters headquartered in Minnesota.
What support can people expect?
There are multiple support groups for various groups: pregnancy loss, grieving dads, grieving grandparents, grieving children, Spanish-speaking grieving parent group, pregnancy after a loss support group, support line for anyone, a peer support group with volunteer peer companions, etc. Star Legacy also does extensive work under their 5 pillars. For research, the organization is working with Ariadne labs for prevention of stillbirth. Star Legacy also has a Stillbirth summit, where they “bring researchers together for new findings of stillbirth prevention.” They are also a huge advocate for every family to get a stillbirth certificate.
How has awareness changed over time and how has that affected Star Legacy’s initiative?
Ms. Wimmer states that “even within the healthcare settings, people are encouraged to forget the still-born baby. This is not a healthy way to grieve. It doesn’t give the family the opportunity to deal with emotions.” Now, the healthcare industry and society are better at eliminating the stigma around stillbirth.
What changes did Star Legacy have to implement to adapt to Covid-19?
Star Legacy had to move all their materials online. The Stillbirth summit is scheduled virtually in June. All of the support programs are now online and are mostly going to stay online. For the future, Star Legacy is looking to adopt a hybrid model for education.
How can MPO/MNPQC help Star Legacy with its mission?
Star Legacy would love engagement from different organizations. They want more updated data and would like to meet with families as early as possible. For the Pregnancy Research Project, Star Legacy would like to recruit anyone for this program.
What is the best way people are able to contact Star Legacy?
– Website, email, phone, and personal email.
For more information, please visit Star Legacy’s website:
https://starlegacyfoundation.org/
Interviewed by:
Kavya Karthic
Yoolee Yi
MPO Interns