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Local hospital provides burial services for infants in Angel Babies program

1,202 views · Published 23 June 2016 · 2:12 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: East Idaho News · 2016 · News & Politics

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REXBURG -- STAND UP: I’m Natalia Hepworth in Archer where a private cemetery has donated a grave site to Madison Memorial Hospital’s Angel Babies program. 

VO: This free service provides parents a place to bury their infant who has passed on during the early stages of pregnancy. 

SOT: “The ones that would qualify for this are mothers that have given birth to an infant that’s less than 20 weeks gestation, that (could be defined) as a miscarriage,” registered nurse Jill Clawson says. 

VO: Registered Nurse, and head of the Angel Babies program Jill Clawson says prior to this service the unfortunate alternative for some parents would be for nurses to dispose of the infant. 

SOT: “The safest way now is (having) these babies delivered intact. In the olden days you never saw the remains. Now you have this brand new baby that’s perfect. Even though they weigh under a pound they have all those things that normal babies have. When the mom’s see this, it’s so hard to just dispose of that to a laboratory or crematory,” Clawson said. 

VO: Thanks to Sutton Cemetery which is privately owned the hospital has a space to properly bury infants. Clawson says Hunter's Idaho Falls Monument gifted a headstone that was placed before Memorial Day. 

SOT: “We’re so fortunate to live in this community and have something like this in our community. We’re fortunate to have a (privately) owned cemetery,” Clawson said.

VO: Clawson says out of the 1,500 babies delivered per year at the hospital, 20 to 30 pass away.

SOT: “Where it’s a college community, our numbers are increasing, our numbers of deliveries are increasing. With that comes more stillborns and miscarriages. We will be seeing these things more, we’ll be more familiar with them and be able to help patients through the grieving process,”  Clawson says. 

VO: Director of compliance Nolan Bybee says the hospital isn’t required to have this service for grieving parents but administration is willing to go the extra mile.
SOT: “The laws (or hospital regulations) don’t go as far as comforting people. The hospital is willing to cross that barrier. We’re going to step forward and do what we feel is right,” Bybee said.

VO: In Rexburg, I’m Natalia Hepworth EastIdahoNews.com

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