In the past year, many hospitals, including Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton, Ill., Pasco Regional Medical Center in Dade City, Fla., New Milford (Conn.) Hospital, St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Calif., and Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite, Nev., have closed their maternity units.
"I can understand the financial pressures" to close maternity units, says Kathleen Penzes, executive director of women's services at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange (Calif.). "There's not a lot of profit in labor and delivery," she says.
Anne McCune, COO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., says that changing demographics in certain areas and declining birthrates nationwide have added additional strain to maternity wards that were already operating on thin financial margins. "To run a labor and delivery unit requires tremendous overhead costs," she says. "That can be hard to justify against declining birthrates in your community."
Yet labor and maternity departments at both St. Joseph and Packard Children's have been flourishing. St. Joseph's maternity unit is on track to see 3 percent growth this year, and the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Packard Children's is part of a 150-bed, 500,000-square-foot expansion currently underway at the hospital.
The successes of both centers reveal best practices for maternity units across the country:
1. Private rooms. "If you can't guarantee private rooms, patients go elsewhere," says Ms. Penzes. On Feb. 20, the department at St. Joseph expanded to 60 private rooms, and the unit has seen a slight but steady increase in patients since then, she says.
2. Population-aware services. "We're in the heart of Silicon Valley, a vibrant community with lots of new families," says Ms. McCune. There is a high demand for specialized, state-of-the-art care options in the area, she says. The hospital's Center for Fetal and Maternal Health, which offers specialized services to promote healthy fetal development and uses advanced technology to detect abnormalities, helps to meet this demand, she says.
Ms. Penzes agrees that a focus on the specific desires of the community is key: "You need to know your community, recognize their needs and meet them." For St. Joseph, this means offering natural childbirth options to meet local demand for such services in Orange County. "You need to have offerings that reflect … the community," she says.
Looking inwards may help a struggling maternity ward: "You always have to be introspective," says Ms. McCune. "Look at the needs of community, and figure out ways to serve that community," she says.
3. Classes and programs. "The birth experience is not just the few days when you actually produce a child," says Ms. McCune. "It encompasses the nine months before and a year or so after." Packard Children's offers classes and programs during this entire time frame, from diet and exercise for expectant moms to natural childbirth to infant safety. "We provide a wide range of options" for patients to choose from, says Ms. McCune. The classes have been successful in engaging the community. Not only are the classes fun and engaging, says Ms. McCune, women often meet and become friends in the hospital's many pre- and postnatal classes and maintain the friendships long after.
4. Reach out to patients. Ms. Penzes has led her department in efforts to spread the word about the maternity unit at St. Joseph. "Two nights a month, we have a maternity open house," says Ms. Penzes, "where nurses lead a presentation that shows what's unique about St. Joseph."
Ms. Penzes also reaches out to potential patients online, "the best way to reach the younger population," she says. The website includes a virtual tour and information on the hospital's services. The maternity website gets more hits than any other department's website at St. Joseph, she says.
5. Keep the focus on the hospital's overall mission. Both maternity units align with the hospital's larger mission. "Our institutions at Stanford provide a continuum of care that begins with expectant mom and continues throughout every stage of life," says Ms. McCune, and the surrounding community expects Stanford to be a resource for all the health needs of a family, she says. A labor and delivery unit is an integral part to this mission.
For Ms. Penzes, the maternity unit allows St. Joseph staff to continue their mission of providing sacred encounters to every patient at every stage of life. The unit is also a source of hope that literally spreads throughout the rest of the hospital: "Every time a mom who has just delivered is wheeled out, she rings a chime that plays snippet of Brahm’s lullaby throughout the hospital," she says. "So fifteen or so times a day, we all get a powerful reminder of the sacred life all around."
"I can understand the financial pressures" to close maternity units, says Kathleen Penzes, executive director of women's services at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange (Calif.). "There's not a lot of profit in labor and delivery," she says.
Anne McCune, COO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., says that changing demographics in certain areas and declining birthrates nationwide have added additional strain to maternity wards that were already operating on thin financial margins. "To run a labor and delivery unit requires tremendous overhead costs," she says. "That can be hard to justify against declining birthrates in your community."
Yet labor and maternity departments at both St. Joseph and Packard Children's have been flourishing. St. Joseph's maternity unit is on track to see 3 percent growth this year, and the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Packard Children's is part of a 150-bed, 500,000-square-foot expansion currently underway at the hospital.
The successes of both centers reveal best practices for maternity units across the country:
1. Private rooms. "If you can't guarantee private rooms, patients go elsewhere," says Ms. Penzes. On Feb. 20, the department at St. Joseph expanded to 60 private rooms, and the unit has seen a slight but steady increase in patients since then, she says.
2. Population-aware services. "We're in the heart of Silicon Valley, a vibrant community with lots of new families," says Ms. McCune. There is a high demand for specialized, state-of-the-art care options in the area, she says. The hospital's Center for Fetal and Maternal Health, which offers specialized services to promote healthy fetal development and uses advanced technology to detect abnormalities, helps to meet this demand, she says.
Ms. Penzes agrees that a focus on the specific desires of the community is key: "You need to know your community, recognize their needs and meet them." For St. Joseph, this means offering natural childbirth options to meet local demand for such services in Orange County. "You need to have offerings that reflect … the community," she says.
Looking inwards may help a struggling maternity ward: "You always have to be introspective," says Ms. McCune. "Look at the needs of community, and figure out ways to serve that community," she says.
3. Classes and programs. "The birth experience is not just the few days when you actually produce a child," says Ms. McCune. "It encompasses the nine months before and a year or so after." Packard Children's offers classes and programs during this entire time frame, from diet and exercise for expectant moms to natural childbirth to infant safety. "We provide a wide range of options" for patients to choose from, says Ms. McCune. The classes have been successful in engaging the community. Not only are the classes fun and engaging, says Ms. McCune, women often meet and become friends in the hospital's many pre- and postnatal classes and maintain the friendships long after.
4. Reach out to patients. Ms. Penzes has led her department in efforts to spread the word about the maternity unit at St. Joseph. "Two nights a month, we have a maternity open house," says Ms. Penzes, "where nurses lead a presentation that shows what's unique about St. Joseph."
Ms. Penzes also reaches out to potential patients online, "the best way to reach the younger population," she says. The website includes a virtual tour and information on the hospital's services. The maternity website gets more hits than any other department's website at St. Joseph, she says.
5. Keep the focus on the hospital's overall mission. Both maternity units align with the hospital's larger mission. "Our institutions at Stanford provide a continuum of care that begins with expectant mom and continues throughout every stage of life," says Ms. McCune, and the surrounding community expects Stanford to be a resource for all the health needs of a family, she says. A labor and delivery unit is an integral part to this mission.
For Ms. Penzes, the maternity unit allows St. Joseph staff to continue their mission of providing sacred encounters to every patient at every stage of life. The unit is also a source of hope that literally spreads throughout the rest of the hospital: "Every time a mom who has just delivered is wheeled out, she rings a chime that plays snippet of Brahm’s lullaby throughout the hospital," she says. "So fifteen or so times a day, we all get a powerful reminder of the sacred life all around."