When most people hear the words patient safety, they think of checklists, infection control, and clinical procedures. But as the ECRI white paper Patient Safety: A Moral Imperative and Smart Business Strategy makes clear, true safety goes far beyond physical outcomes — it’s about trust, equity, and emotional well-being.

That’s exactly where Aaliyah in Action fits in.

I founded Aaliyah in Action after the stillbirth of my daughter. In those early days post loss I quickly realized that while hospitals focus heavily on physical recovery, there was no standardized system for supporting the emotional and mental health needs of families after loss. Families are sent home to navigate unimaginable grief on their own. That gap in care isn’t just a moral issue — it’s a patient safety issue.

ECRI’s report emphasizes that “the human and financial costs of preventable harm remain unacceptably high” and that hospitals must create cultures where compassion and equity are embedded into every level of care. It highlights that supporting the emotional safety of patients and families isn’t optional — it’s essential.

At Aaliyah in Action, that’s the work we do every day. We provide tangible, compassionate bereavement support through self-care packages and virtual healing resources designed to help families begin their grief journey with dignity and care. By providing packages to more than 70 hospitals nationwide — from large systems like Johns Hopkins to community-based hospitals — we help care teams fill a gap that has long gone unaddressed.

Each package we deliver is more than a package; it’s a safety intervention. It acknowledges the trauma of loss, offers a bridge to emotional recovery, and helps patients feel seen by their care team. That human connection reduces isolation, fosters trust in the healthcare system, and can even improve long-term engagement in postpartum mental health care.

The ECRI paper also speaks to the business case for patient safety — that compassion-driven care ultimately reduces costs by improving outcomes and preventing future harm. Our work directly supports that principle. When hospitals integrate our bereavement support into their postpartum or perinatal care pathways, they strengthen their reputation for equity, reduce staff moral distress, and enhance patient satisfaction scores — all while doing what’s morally right.

But perhaps most importantly, this work gives healthcare providers a framework for how to respond to loss. Many clinicians have shared with us that before partnering with Aaliyah in Action, they felt unsure of what to say or do after a family experiences a stillbirth or neonatal death. Now, they have a tangible way to offer care that’s both compassionate and culturally responsive.

Grief is not a quality improvement metric, but it should be.

Because when a family loses their baby, the system often loses them too.

By treating emotional safety as a key component of patient safety, we can change that. We can build hospital cultures that respond to loss not with silence or discomfort, but with humanity, equity, and care.

At Aaliyah in Action, we’re proud to be part of that movement — one package, one partnership, one family at a time.

XO,

Liz, Aaliyah’s Mom