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Do IT this week: Layering
Children's Hospital's Jane Nichols nurtured others until her last day
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Friday, May 30, 2008
For nearly a quarter of a century, Jane Nichols helped countless area families cope with the death of a child.
Ms. Nichols, the longtime head of bereavement services for Akron Children's Hospital, died on Saturday after a long illness. She was 67.
In 1978, Ms. Nichols became a national pioneer in bereavement services when she launched a program for bereaved parents at Akron Children's Hospital.
The program is believed to have been among the first of its kind nationwide.
Until she retired in 2002, Ms. Nichols devoted her life to caring for grieving families ''all hours of the day or night,'' said Dr. Gary Benfield, the former director of the division of neonatology at Akron Children's.
''As a result, I think there are thousands of families in Northeast Ohio and scattered around this country who have fond memories of Jane's devotion to their children and to them when they needed it most,'' Benfield said.
Ms. Nichols got her start in bereavement services in the 1960s, when she and her former husband ran a funeral home in a Cleveland suburb.
Along the way, Ms. Nichols befriended others in the fledgling movement to help people with death and dying and wrote a chapter in a book on the topic.
Benfield happened to be reading that book while seated next to one of Ms. Nichols' friends on a plane. The friend encouraged Benfield to contact Ms. Nichols, who agreed to work at Children's shortly afterward.
''One of the most incredible things to me about Jane's career was her dogged persistence in supporting these parents and being there for them and their children,'' Benfield said.
In 1982, Ms. Nichols started an annual holiday remembrance service that is attended by hundreds of families who lost children to illness or injury.
Ms. Nichols acknowledged that she often cried along with grieving parents and shared their sadness. But she was quick to dismiss the notion that her job was depressing.
''I didn't ask to come into their lives,'' she said in an interview in 2002. ''But if I'm in their lives, they ought to have the best care possible. That's rewarding. People deserve that.''
Ms. Nichols spoke fondly about the families she met and cherished the many cards and letters she received, often years after she helped them with a loss, said her daughter, Bethany Criscione of Chagrin Falls.
''She got as much back from almost all of those people as she gave to them,'' Criscione said. ''It was a wonderful avenue of human spirit between Mom and the people she came in contact with.''
Even as her death became imminent, Ms. Nichols spent much of her time preparing her loved ones, Criscione said.
''She nurtured people until the day she died,'' Criscione said. ''She sat with my daughter and talked with her about what happens after Grandma dies and what Nichole may or may not be feeling. She was like that with everyone. I think she just had an innate sense to know. Mom's way is to talk about it, to face it head on.''
Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. today at Stroud-Lawrence Funeral Home, 95 S. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Federated Church, 76 Bell St., Chagrin Falls.
Memorials may be made to the Colin Carr Fund for bereavement services at Akron Children's Hospital, care of the Development Department, 1 Perkins Square, Akron, OH 44308; or the Hospice House of Western Reserve, 300 E. 185th St., Cleveland, OH 44119.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
For nearly a quarter of a century, Jane Nichols helped countless area families cope with the death of a child.
Get the full article here.
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