About

Our Story

When Cristian Ortiz and Crystal Rivera’s daughter, Valentina, was born still in December of 2021, they were devastated and shocked. They never missed a prenatal appointment and had multiple ultrasounds. They were told by their OB/GYN that their baby was healthy and thriving. After the stillbirth, the official cause of death was listed as umbilical cord strangulation, but Valentina’s low birth weight made Cris and Crystal question that diagnosis.

They paid for an independent autopsy by a licensed prenatal pathologist and discovered that the actual cause was Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), a serious but treatable condition if diagnosed early enough in a pregnancy.

Our Work

According to the CDC, stillbirth affects about 1 in 175 births, and each year about 21,000 babies are stillborn in the United States. That’s more than the number claimed by preterm birth, sudden infant death syndrome, car accidents, drowning, guns, flu, fire, poison and listeria combined. Research has shown that more than 25% of these stillbirths are preventable, and 47% at term (read more).

When pregnancies end in stillbirth, grieving parents are often steered away from seeking answers by medical providers and scared away by the costs involved, but it is crucial for parents to pursue autopsies to determine the cause of death, improve care for other patients, and inform treatment for the parents’ future pregnancies.

It is also crucial for patients to have access to mental health services after such a traumatic event.

We will pay for perinatal autopsies of stillborn babies, work to raise awareness of the issues surrounding stillbirth, and advocate to make stillbirth evaluations and mental health services standard in cases of stillbirth. All autopsy results will be shared with institutions that are doing research into the causes of stillbirths.

Our Team

Cristian Ortiz, Founder

Cristian is the proud father of Valentina, born still on 12/8/21. Cristian is a Software as a Service (SaaS) sales professional who built his career in fintech and is currently working in the faith-based nonprofit sector. Cristian has no living children and is committed to lowering the preventable stillbirth rate in the U.S. and the world.

Board of Directors

Karen J. Gibbins, MD, MSCI

Dr. Gibbins is an Associate Professor, Outpatient Clinic Director in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Associate Division Director in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. Dr. Gibbins completed medical school at Case Western Reserve University, followed by an OB/GYN residency at Women & Infants Hospital/Brown University and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the University of Utah. Her mission is to reduce the number of preventable stillbirths and improve care for parents of stillborn babies through research, advocacy, and patient-centered clinical care. She is the mother of two living children and one stillborn son, Sebastian.

Jesús M. Marín Avilés, MD

Dr. Marín is the Medical Director of the Hospice and Palliative Service Veterans Affairs Hospital in San Juan, P.R. He completed medical school at University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, and completed a residency in Family Medicine, where received a Behavioral Sciences Rotation Award, an Inpatient Rotation Award and was Chief Resident.

James Bush, Anais Rodriguez-Bush and Elise Bush (Honorary)

James Bush, Anias Bush-Rodgriguez and Elise Bush-Rogriguez

Christmas morning 2021 was one of the happiest days of our lives, finding out that we were pregnant with our daughter Elise. We never could have imagined that 38 weeks later we would be sitting in a dimly lit hospital room holding her beautiful but still body. All our hopes and dreams of a future for Elise had suddenly been replaced with hard decisions that we were forced to make with very few resources available to us. With organizations like Valentina’s Voice, we hope to increase stillbirth awareness and empower grieving parents to make the choices that are best for them and their babies without the burdens of financial stress.

Crystal Rivera-Velez and Valentina Ortiz-Rivera (Honorary)

Ms. Crystal Rivera-Velez, Valentina’s mother, and Board Chairwoman of Valentina’s Voice, also works as an HR professional for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Crystal was born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, where Valentina was born still on 12/8/21. Crystal’s mission is to bring awareness to the stillbirth epidemic and support and help parents who may not have the means to find answers they so desperately want. Crystal has no living children.

Valentina’s Voice
[email protected]
(929) 312-7000
P.O. Box 130
322 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10101

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