Each year The Compassionate Friends, the world's largest self-help bereavement organization, recognizes employers from across the United States that have shown extra sensitivity to workers who have suffered the death of a child, sibling, or grandchild. This year 30 employers were recognized including units of the United States Army and Air Force.

Thirty employers from across the United States, including units of the United States Army and Air Force, have been recognized by The Compassionate Friends for showing extra sensitivity to workers who have suffered the death of a child, sibling, or grandchild, Board President Patrick Malone has announced.
   
Generally nominated by the persons they have directly helped, these employers are receiving the 2004 Compassionate Employer Recognition for going above and beyond the normal policies of most companies in helping their employees when the death of a child occurred.
   
The criteria for Compassionate Employer Recognition include:
• Corporate policies that reflect a compassionate attitude toward bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents.
• Personal support extended by management team toward the bereaved on staff following the child’s death.
• Caring attitudes demonstrated by employer’s entire workforce.
• Flexibility in work assignments and evaluation of job performance during the stress and personal pain associated with the death of a child.
• All other acts of compassion that bereaved parents and siblings will forever remember.

Recipients of the 2004 Compassionate Employer Recognition are: Advanced Technology Services, Peoria, IL; Aetna Inc., Hartford, CT; Amherst Woodworking, Northampton, MA; Avera McKennan Health Center (Hospice), Sioux Falls, SD; Cataract Surgery Center, Berkley, MI; Columbus Grove Branch of Putnam County District Library, Ottawa, OH; Cronstrom & Trbovich PC, Scottsdale, AZ; DDI Machine Inc, Spring, TX; Emerson Chevrolet-Pontiac-Buick, Auburn, ME; FANUC America, Inc., Hoffman Estates, IL; Financial Advantage, Everett, WA; Harborside Healthcare, Inc. Dayton, OH; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Trauma Dept., Philadelphia, PA; IBM Service Education, Atlanta, GA; James N. Gray Company, Lexington, KY; Pepsico Beverages & Foods, West Sales Region, Pleasanton, CA; Phoenix Life Insurance Co., Hartford, CT; Progress Energy, Raleigh, NC; Realty Mortgage & Investment Co., Albuquerque, NM; Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, Sacramento, CA; Tanglewood Resort, Pottsboro, TX; The Chubb Corp., Warren, NJ; T-Mobile, Columbus, OH; United Community Health Center, Green Valley, AZ; United States Air Force, Tanker Airlift Command and Control, Belleville, IL; United States Army, 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort Huachuca, AZ, and Army Training and Doctrine Command, Forth Monroe, VA; University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA; Value City Department Store, Altoona, PA; Willis Knighton Medical Center, Shreveport, LA; and Women’s Wellness and Maternity Center, Madisonville, TN.

This is the fourth year for recognition of employers, with recipients jumping from three the first year, to the current 30 this year. Last year there were 45, but that was over an extended time period as nomination deadlines were revamped.

“For most newly bereaved parents, grief is not limited to their homes. It accompanies them to their workplaces, their churches, and their communities,” said TCF Board President Malone. “How those places respond has a major impact on how well and how quickly bereaved parents are able to manage their grief. Employers play an important role in the positive resolution of grief and it is gratifying to see these examples in both the public and private sector responding with compassion and understanding.”

The Compassionate Friends is an international support organization with nearly 600 chapters in the United States alone. To contact The Compassionate Friends, which has chapters in all 50 states, call toll-free 877-969-0010 or visit the national TCF Web site at www.compassionatefriends.org. Nomination forms for Compassionate Employer Recognition are on the Web site.