OKEECHOBEE — Having a child brings the greatest joy to a parent, Okeechobee County Commissioner Frank DeCarlo said at the Sept. 27 meeting of the Okeechobee County Commission. “What could be worse than to lose one?”

At the meeting, the commissioners issued a proclamation for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

In 1988, President Ronald Regan proclaimed October Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. This national observance offers communities the opportunity to increase understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies. In the United States, one out of every five pregnancies ends in miscarriage and one in every 160 pregnancies end in stillbirth. These numbers do not include infant death from preterm labor, diagnosis of life-limiting conditions, or SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

Andrea Medelin of Okeechobee Healthy Start said they are part of a fetal and infant mortality review commission.

They review any losses up to the first years of life and identify which of these losses might have been preventable.

Every month there are at least one or two that could have been preventable if that family member or caregiver had been educated about due diligence, she explained.

On Oct. 15 from 6 to 7 p.m., Okeechobee Healthy Start will host a candlelight service to honor those who lost a pregnancy or infant. Medelin said it will be a safe space for healing and remembrance.