Brittney and David Bottoms

Brittney and David live in Marietta, GA with their two children, Drew and Eliza Grace. In December of 2014, Brittney learned that her second child, then 13 weeks along, had Trisomy 13. On May 31, 2015, John Tate Bottoms was born at WellStar Kennestone Hospital and lived for two hours after his birth.

Following John’s birth and passing, Brittney and Nurse Cathy had a vision for creating a program which would formalize the kind of support the Bottoms family received so that other families walking a similar path could have the benefit of a perinatal palliative care program including the support of a dedicated Nurse Navigator.  

In partnership with WellStar Health System, Brittney, Nurse Cathy and others worked to develop a formal program at WellStar named “Journey Through Bereavement” in honor of John Tate Bottoms.  

Given the unique nature of the Journey Through Bereavement process, and the lack of formal perinatal palliative care programs in the United States, Cathy and Brittney have been invited to speak at conferences around the country.  Awareness of the program has resulted in both patients and the health systems who support them reinforcing the need for the services of Journey Through Bereavement so that other families are provided the same opportunity to make the most of their time with their children. 

CATHY JONES, MSN, NPD-BC, RNC-OB, C-EFM

Cathy is a Clinical Practice Specialist for Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia.  She earned her bachelor’s in nursing from Liberty University and returned to her alma mater for her master’s degree in nursing education.  She is a board certified professional development specialist and holds certifications in in-patient obstetrics and electronic fetal monitoring.  Her career as a registered nurse began in a trauma ICU in 1992 and shifted to obstetrics in1994 where she found her love and has remained.  Since that time, she has functioned as a staff nurse, charge nurse, assistant nurse manager, nurse educator, legal nurse consultant and clinical practice specialist.  Cathy has served two terms as the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) Georgia Section Secretary/Treasurer and two terms as the Section Chair. She also serves as an instructor for multiple perinatal programs. One of her greatest passions as a perinatal nurse is equipping clinicians to provide quality care to perinatal palliative care patients and is most honored to provide the clinical training for the Journey Through Bereavement model.