Personal Portraits

Cathi Lammert, R.N., serves as the National Executive Director of SHARE-Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc. In this position Cathi is able to combine her personal experience as a bereaved parent with her education and professional experience as a nurse. As Director of the National SHARE Office, Cathi is a consultant on issues relating to perinatal loss, a resource person for nearly 120 SHARE groups, and the administrator of the National Office.

There has been a strong education and awareness component to Cathi’s commitment to working with bereaved families. She has conducted numerous perinatal loss workshops for professionals, clergy and the bereaved. She contributes articles and regular features to the National SHARE newsletter, and edits Caring Notes, a newsletter for caregivers. Cathi is also co-editor of a new publication, set to be released this summer, Angelic Presence. . .Short Stories of Solace and Hope After the Loss of a Baby. Cathi has recently lent her expertise to WiSSP as a reviewer of our new brochures ‘Helping When the Least Expected Happens’ and ‘When Your Baby is Stillborn’.

Cathi and her husband, Chuck, pictured together, co-facilitate a local SHARE group. Their son Christopher lived four days and died December 4, 1982, due to hydrops fetalis from complications of Rh incompatibility. Christopher gave them many gifts to share with others. He is survived by his brother Shaun, 22 and sisters Heather, 20, Megan, 17, and Shannon, 13.

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Fran Rybarik, R.N., M.P.H., is Director of Bereavement Services/RTS, a position she has held since 1993, following completion of her M.P.H. degree in Community Health Education at the University of Wisconsin—La Crosse. Prior to this position, Fran used her Nursing degree, from Alverno College, in a number of different capacities including lecturer for UW—La Crosse, paramedical examiner, telephone counselor and as a public health nurse.

Fran has participated as a presenter for many local, regional, and national conferences. In 1996 she spoke at both the National Association for Death Education and Counseling Conference in Pittsburgh and the National Perinatal Bereavement Conference in Scottsdale, and she is one of six keynote speakers at this year’s National Perinatal Bereavement Conference ‘The Circle of Compassion’ in St. Louis ( see WiSSPers Vol. 4 No. 1, About WiSSP-Announcements). Her energies are also channeled into writing, with her most recent publications including articles on "Early Pregnancy Loss" for Midwifery Today 41, (Spring), and "Conversations with Colleagues: Documenting a Neonate’s Death," AWHONN Lifelines 1(2). In addition, Fran has had articles published in The Journal of Family Violence, a women’s health issue in which she became interested while pursuing her graduate studies. Fran has also shared her expertise with WiSSP this year as a reviewer for our newly published brochures.

Fran and her husband of 27 years, David, who is an engineer for Dairyland Power, make their home in La Crosse. They have two sons — Brian, age 22, is a recent UW-Madison graduate in Political Science and Women’s Studies, and Scott, 24, is a graduate of UW-La Crosse in Recreation Management; the family also includes a welcome addition, Scott’s wife, Tara.

An avid reader when time allows, Fran especially enjoys historical novels and murder mysteries with a medical or legal bent.