I am so grateful for Dr. Parravicini.
Dr. Elvira Parravicini is a neonatologist who focuses on making comfort care more of an option for more families – rather than defaulting to immediate termination, which is often the medical recommendation (when not due to medical necessity, often due to expediency, ableism, and/or culturally uninformed care). Dr. Parravicini also looks at comfort care in a beautifully sociological way – not just the absence of pain for little ones, but also the companionship of human touch, or the chance for parents to meet their children alive. You can read more about her work here.
This past weekend, the University of Notre Dame honored Dr. Parravicini with the Evangelium Vitae Award. I was thrilled to be included in her award video as one of her fans and to meet her in person last weekend at the dinner during which the award was presented. (You can read more about her award here.)
I am so grateful for her work and her deliberate attention to caring for people holistically in grief – through the pain protocols she has developed, through her encouragement of doulas / social workers / chaplains on medical care teams, and more.
I hope the deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture, which hosts the event, shares her awards speech. It was absolutely beautiful. (If they do, I’ll update this post with the link.) Below please find the video in her honor.
Abby the Sociologist Doula 