Rebecca DiPiazza thought she knew St. Vincent’s. After all, she was project director for a St. Vincent’s Foundation-initiated breast cancer survivor program. She serves as Foundation Junior Board chair. She and her husband, Trey Hamer, included the Foundation in their wills and funded NICU cameras. DiPiazza, a cancer survivor, knows the Foundation’s influence extends through programs “unlike anything else you see in Birmingham.”
But as this family pursued the open adoption of their second child, Lucia, they learned much more.
“From the beginning, we were intimately involved with Lucia’s birth mom. I went to every doctor’s appointment. But a month before delivery she had her Monogram Maternity appointment with St. Vincent’s Women and Children’s Services, and Director Madonna Nichols brought an in-person Spanish translator. That changed the trajectory of our lives.” For four hours the translator ensured Lucia’s birth mother understood all options, including keeping her child. She helped her not only formulate her own birth plan, but her long-term plan for herself and her baby.
“We never, ever wanted her to feel coerced, but because of the language barrier she didn’t know she had these options,” DiPiazza says. “The coordination of her care and the respect shown to her in such a vulnerable and traumatic time was just unbelievable to witness.”
Lucia’s birth mom elected to proceed with an open adoption and continuing contact with Lucia’s adoptive family. She also wanted DiPiazza with her throughout labor, delivery, and recovery. That process taught DiPiazza even more about St. Vincent’s mission dedication.
“Absolutely everyone treated her with so much dignity and respect. Lucia was in the NICU for 48 hours, so we visited her there, and it was the same. People prayed with her. They showed her the love of Jesus.”
Now this family wants to ensure every mother has in-person Monogram Maternity translation access, rather than translation via iPad. Will you help fund this program? Call 205-558-3850.