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On July 1, 2007 Southern Dominion contracted with the Virginia Department of
Health to establish a Birthing Center in the Emporia/Greensville area. The
Birthing Center will be staffed by Certified Nurse Midwives, an OB/GYN
Physician, and a Pediatrician who will work in collaboration with Physicians in
Emporia and Franklin, as well as with specialist Physicians at Virginia
Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond, VA.
What is a Birth Center? A Birth Center is a homelike facility that provides family-centered care for healthy women before, during, and after normal pregnancy, labor and birth. It exists within a healthcare system and is designed in the wellness model of pregnancy and birth. They guiding principles of birth centers are prevention of disease and complication, safety, appropriated medical intervention, and cost effectiveness. Women report high satisfaction with their birth center experience. On
satisfaction surveys, almost 99% of women using the birth center would recommend
it to friends and/or return to the center for another birth. For more
information on Birth Centers you may visit the American Association of Birth
Centers at www.birthcenters.org.
Architect Frank DeStefano; Mary Turner, CEO of SDHS;
and A Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) is a Registered Nurse who has graduated from a nurse midwifery program accredited by the American College of Nurse Midwives Division of Accreditation and has passed a national certification exam. Midwifery is primary health care that emphasizes support for pregnancy and birth as a natural process. At the Emporia/Greensville birthing center, CNMs will provide gynecological and prenatal care, labor and birth care, postpartum care and newborn care. The word midwife means “with-woman” in Latin. This sums up the essence of receiving care from a midwife. A woman can expect extra time, attention and education from a midwife during appointments. And once a pregnant woman arrives at the birth center in active labor, the midwife will stay by her side. The midwife will support the woman and her partner while offering suggestions for comfort, will watch for the natural progress of labor while monitoring the health status of mother and baby, will attend to the birth of the baby and will assess the health of mother and baby after birth. Finally, before sending the new family home, the midwife will help mother and baby establish breastfeeding. Early postpartum visits take place in the woman’s home. The Emporia/Greensville Birthing Center: The Emporia/Greensville Birthing Center will be located in Emporia, Virginia in close proximity to the Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center. One side of the building will be for women receiving maternity and gynecological care, while the two birth suites will be located on the opposite side of the building. Each of the birth suites will include a Queen sized bed, a birthing pool, a shower, rocking chair, and comfortable chairs for sitting. Across the hall will be a comfortable room with a small kitchen for the women's family to use during the birth. The idea is for the women in labor and her partner to make themselves at home during labor and until they are discharged home with their new baby. The Birth Center will also contain classrooms for child birth educational classes. Project Coordinator
Building the Birth Center will be funded by grants and donations. Once it is built and open for business, by the end of 2009, the Birth Center operational costs will be self-sustaining. SDHS welcomes any donation to the construction of the Birth Center, either monetary or in-kind. Checks may be written to SDHS and mailed to P.O. Box 70 Victoria, VA 23974. For questions about the Emporia/Greensville Birth Center, please contact
Kathleen McClelland, Project Coordinator at
mcnellis@rcn.com. |
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In
2007, SDHS contracted with Kathleen McClelland to become Project Coordinator for
the Birthing Center project. Mrs. McClelland has a MS in nursing from Georgetown
University and has worked as a Nurse Midwife in the Washington, DC area and
throughout Virginia. She has also worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner in the
DC area and has a great interest in Birthing Centers, which she calls a
"holistic approach" to child birth.