Family who lost their baby donates a cuddle cot to Timmins hospital to give other families more time to grieve

Sheelah Carbonneau and Justin McCarthy of Timmins had precious few moments with their son Felix.

He died two years ago, just hours after he was born.

"There's nothing else more important than time," Carbonneau said. 

"For example, I never dressed him in the clothes that I brought him to bring him home from the hospital. And I think I would have liked to have had him in that outfit."

She later found out about a device called a cuddle cot.  It's a cooling system for an infant who has died to be placed into and it preserves the infant's body for up to 24 hours so families can have an extra day to say goodbye.

"I just thought of it immediately as an opportunity to give families time," said Carbonneau. 

"Especially after the trauma of childbirth, and then the emotions of welcoming your child and then saying goodbye to your child, there's nothing like having a little bit of time to process and to be able to decide how you want to say goodbye and how you want to honour your baby."

Carbonneau reached out to the Timmins and District Hospital Foundation and asked if the hospital was interested in having a cuddle cot, and staff said they would love to have one but it wasn't currently listed as a priority item.

She decided to buy one for $3,000 and give it to the hospital.

"We're very fortunate to have it," said Alexander Langevin, manager of the maternal child program at Timmins and District Hospital. 

Langevin said the hospital had been reviewing different processes and options for grieving families in recent years and acknowledged a cuddle cot would be a useful device to have. 

He confirmed that due to other equipment needs at the hospital, the cuddle cot was not a top priority item, however, they are grateful to have one now.

"The cuddle cot really fit the bill for everything we required," said Langevin.

"Not hoping to use it, but we understand the reality that it will happen and at least that way we could comfort those families who may experience this in the future."

Other hospitals in the northeast have already added cuddle cots in recent years, including Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay.