Tyler, Texas (March 20, 2026) — For most women, the hospital experience surrounding the birth of a child is a joyous occasion, but for those who experience fetal demise, it can be heartbreaking. To help families experiencing such a loss, UT Health Tyler has partnered with Mothers of Held Angels (MOHA), a Houston-based nonprofit offering bereavement care that starts in the hospital and continues far beyond.
“We believe that healing starts in the hospital, it starts from the moment you find out your baby does not have a heartbeat. We believe that you deserve, as a family of loss, the best care possible,” said MOHA cofounder Brittany Kemp. “For the families of loss, this is the only time they get to be with their child. Whether those are precious hours or days, we want that time in the hospital to be filled with love and compassion.”
In addition to offering bereavement training for hospital staff, the group provides comfort boxes to grieving families in the hospital including “Day of Loss Resources” explaining what to expect in those initial days and ways to make memories with their babies. They also provide a cooling blanket bereavement device to extend the amount of time a family has with their baby to make memories.
Alexa Andreasen, RN, who works in UT Health Tyler’s Family Birthplace, said as the hospital’s volume of deliveries has steadily increased in recent years, she felt called to improve the support offered for families experiencing fetal demise, which led her to MOHA. With the support of UT Health Tyler leadership, Andreasen worked for months with MOHA representatives, learning more about what the organization offered and how it could help East Texans. In October, UT Health Tyler was approved by the MOHA board to be the first satellite campus outside of the Houston area.
“By partnering with Mothers of Held Angels, we extend bereavement care beyond the bedside and into the community, fostering long-term healing, resilience and a culture of empathy for families carrying the profound loss of their babies,” Andreasen said. “Their presence will strengthen community awareness around perinatal loss, reduce isolation for bereaved families and help normalize conversations about grief that are often left unspoken.”
Andreasen said families experiencing fetal loss often are navigating shock, grief and trauma simultaneously. The hospital environment, if not handled thoughtfully, can unintentionally compound that pain.
“I have witnessed firsthand the profound impact that compassionate, intentional bereavement care can have when a family is facing the loss of their baby. Quality bereavement care is not an ‘extra’ or a luxury, it is an essential component of safe, ethical and patient-centered maternity care,” she said. “Simple but meaningful actions — such as clear and gentle communication, privacy, memory-making opportunities, respectful language and emotional support — can make a lasting difference in how families remember one of the worst days of their lives.”
MOHA’s framework provides a standardized approach to care, giving UT Health Tyler caregivers the training and guidance they need to respond appropriately and compassionately to fetal loss. Hospital team members have been able to put their training to use since the program went live in January.
“When we come and partner with the hospital, we have so many extra resources. We teach them that you are boots on the ground,” said Kemp, whose own experience with child loss led her to cofound MOHA. “Bereavement does not happen every day and losses don’t happen every day, so we need to give these nurses the tools to respond appropriately when it does.”
MOHA’s goal is to offer every family experiencing fetal loss the Angel Experience, which provides a family time with their baby, an Angel Box to provide tools in the hospital to help create healthy memories for bereaved families and a MOHA Angel Ambassador, someone who also has experienced infant loss who serves as a support system in the short and long term.
“That Angel Ambassador is a face of, ‘You are going to survive this,’” Kemp said. “An ambassador is going to meet that mom where she is at that moment, it’s someone in the universe cheering that family on.”
Marcie Tunstall, Director of Nursing, Women, Infants & Children’s Services at UT Health Tyler, said partnering with MOHA allows caregivers to elevate the standard of bereavement care they provide to families experiencing the unimaginable loss of a baby.
“Our caregivers now have the tools, training and confidence to respond with the compassion, sensitivity and clinical excellence these families deserve,” Tunstall said. “This partnership ensures no family walks through their grief alone and that their experience is met with dignity, support and heartfelt care at every step.”
To learn more about MOHA, visit https://www.mohanetwork.org.