Perinatal Palliative Care (Advanced Illness Management)
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Perinatal Advanced Illness Management (AIM) Team supports families as they cope with the challenges of expecting a newborn with a complex illness.
Our goal is to provide compassionate and expert care starting from the time of life-limiting or complex fetal diagnosis and continuing through birth and beyond.
We focus on getting to know you as a family, providing time and space for you to process emotions and to share your beliefs, values, and needs.
As we learn about your hopes and desires for care of your child, we work with you to create a care plan that will guide the medical team at the time of your baby’s birth.
Our Team
We are a multidisciplinary team who partners with your maternal healthcare team to provide support, counseling, care coordination, and expert communication as you make medical care decisions and plan time with your baby.
Abby Orkis, MSW, LSW
Palliative Care Social Worker
Becky Corbitt, RN, MSN, CNL
Fetal Center Nurse Coordinator
Elizabeth Swartz
Fetal Center Nurse Coordinator
Kristine Creviston
Child Life Specialist
Cindy Jensen
Lactation Consultant
Andrea Alfonso
Breastfeeding Peer Advisor
Eliza Wertenberger
Fetal Center Chaplain
Lelia Emery
Music Therapist
How We Support You
Every family facing a complex prenatal diagnosis comes to us with their own values and hopes. We are honored to be a part of your journey and your child’s life. We offer an additional supportive service, meant to partner with your existing primary team and specialists to optimize care for both the baby and family.
Depending on care plans created with each individual family, we partner with additional pediatric specialists to ensure continuity of supportive care in the setting of unique or complex fetal and neonatal care needs. These partners can include the delivery hospital Newborn Medicine and Labor and Delivery teams, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Pediatric Palliative Care (Advanced Illness Management) Team, Home-based Palliative Care and Hospice Programs, and/or specialists within the NICU or CTICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
- Learn about your family and your baby
- Ensure clear understanding of medical information and expectations for your child
- Be a source of support, a sounding board, and a resource for you
- Help you to share goals of care—your wishes for how care will be delivered to you and your baby
- Partner with you and your delivery hospital team to create a multidisciplinary care plan
- Continue to support you and your family
- Be an expert resource for the delivery hospital team working to meet your goals of care
- Assist in coordination of care and communication with other medical specialists and support resources that will be involved in your baby’s life
- Continue to support you and assist in connecting you to care and resources that your family needs
- Remember your journey and your child’s important life
A Member of the Ohio Fetal Medicine Collaborative
The Ohio Fetal Medicine Collaborative (OFMC) is a group of care providers and hospitals committed to achieving optimal outcomes for high-risk expectant mothers and their babies with suspected fetal diagnoses.
For more information about OFMC, visit OhioFetalMedicine.org.
