Re: Angel cradles being introduced into area hospitals.
Three years ago, your paper published my letter to the editor expressing a need for “Angel’s Cradle” in our local hospitals, hoping that it might prove to be a viable alternative to infanticide or child abandonment cases that were not uncommon news stories. My letter explained the first such program that had just opened at the St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver in May, 2010. Mothers in distress were given the option of leaving their newborn infants in a safe, secure designated area of the hospital, while being assured of anonymity and no fear of prosecution for having done so.
After all this time, imagine my surprise and delight to learn that such a program is now being introduced at the Grey Nuns’ and Misericordia hospitals! Edmonton is only the second city in Canada to boast this proactive initiative. Hopefully, others will follow suit. Congratulations to Covenant Health for their insight and leadership, and to all who recognize that an idea is just an idle thought unless it is adopted by someone and relentlessly guided from conception to fruition. It is said that it takes an entire village to raise a child – perhaps it also takes many hands to save one. How fitting that the wee angels gently placed into those cradles one day will be discovered, loved and nurtured by special angels too!
Carol Dickson, St. Albert
