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New grief center opens in Homestead
Saturday, May 05, 2001 By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A new organization is aiming to make it easier for people who have lost loved ones to find the support they might need to work through their grief.
The nonprofit Good Grief Center for Bereavement Support gathered hospice and hospital representatives, funeral directors, school officials and others at Carnegie Library of Homestead yesterday to discuss ideas for a new service to start within months for Allegheny County residents.
Using donated office space under renovation on the second floor of the library, the Good Grief Center will be a resource collecting information on all of the support and counseling programs offered by religious institutions, hospices, funeral homes and other organizations in the area, said the center's executive director, Lulu Orr.
Once renovations are complete and the office is staffed on a daily basis, Orr said the center will help people affected by death find the right support group or other help, depending on their geographic location and needs.
It will also offer some initial peer counseling for people with immediate needs to discuss their grief, and provide books, brochures and other information as a library within a library.
She said the Good Grief Center will be different from existing services which serve a specific grieving population -- such as children, parents, widows and widowers -- or which help clients of a specific institution. It will try to be more of an initial clearinghouse so people know what's available.
"We will be a resource to anyone and everyone that's grieving," Orr said. "It's not in any way competition with anyone. There are many services already, but they're sporadic and spread out ... through hospices, churches, funeral homes and others. Many people don't know how to access those."
Mark Simpson, a resource specialist in senior health services for The Western Pennsylvania Hospital, agreed that plenty of avenues exist to help people overcome deaths, but it's hard for the hospital's social workers, clergy or other staff to know just where to refer them currently.
"It'll be nice to know you can send them to someone who has the information," he said.
The center, formed late last year by a board of volunteers, obtained $25,000 in donations to begin renovations and hire Orr as its only paid worker. A fund-raising effort is under way to raise $240,000 from foundations and others to cover anticipated first-year expenses.
Maryanne Fello, a board member and director of Forbes Hospice, said that because counseling for grieving individuals is best done in groups of 10 or smaller, it probably means more than 100 such groups are on a schedule of monthly or more frequent meetings around the county.
"We know the demographics -- a lot of the community is in the age range where they have loss and need the services," said Bonnie Harvey, chief executive officer of the Carnegie Library of Homestead, which is providing space that had gone unused for years.
Anyone wanting more information about the center or wanting to volunteer or provide other support may reach Orr at 412-780-9000.
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