Salud Expands OBGYN Team at WCH

Moms ready to deliver their babies at Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) can rest assured that expanded obstetrical care and services are now available. Salud Para La Gente (Salud) has established its Obstetrical and Gynecological Care Hospitalist Team (OB Hospitalist Team), now including Certified Nurse Midwives. While Salud has provided OBGYN care twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week in the labor and delivery unit at WCH since January 2016, this expanded service is already improving quality of care and safety.

Salud is excited to welcome three Certified Nurse Midwives to its OB Hospitalist Team. On May 9, 2017, the first baby was delivered by a Midwife at Watsonville Community Hospital in more than 25 years.

Midwives and Reducing Cesarean Section Deliveries

According to the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, a recommended key strategy to decrease cesarean sections includes developing alternative OBGYN coverage programs like Salud’s expanded OB Hospitalist Team, and including Certified Nurse Midwives on the team.

Cesarean delivery represents a potentially life-saving procedure for both mother and infant in cases of labor complications and health conditions that require early or immediate delivery. However, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in the absence of medical indications, cesarean sections risks include longer maternal recovery, neonatal respiratory problems, and potentially severe complications in subsequent deliveries.

“I am really excited and proud of our team and what we have already accomplished,” says Dr. Julia Burke, D.O. Medical Director of Salud’s OB Hospitalist Team at WCH. “As a daughter of a Certified Nurse Midwife, and growing up knowing the value of midwives, I am thrilled to have them join our team and have their help in providing the highest quality care to our community.”

“Salud is a long-standing, valued partner with our hospital,” says Audra Earle, Chief Executive Officer of Watsonville Community Hospital. “Together with the pediatric hospitalists from Stanford Health (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital) both mom and baby have access to an on-site specialized doctor for their needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No other hospital in our area is offering that level of service and support.”

Birthing mothers now have access to these highly recommended models of quality care at Watsonville Community Hospital. Salud’s new OB Hospitalist Team gives expectant mothers and families access to the highest quality of care when it matters most.

“A full-time hospital-based labor and delivery service offers better care and service for delivering mothers. Kaiser Permanente is pleased to partner with Salud Para La Gente in providing labor and delivery services at Watsonville Community Hospital for our Kaiser Permanente members,” said Calvin Gordon MD, Physician Lead for Santa Cruz County for Kaiser Permanente.

“Salud is thrilled to be able to provide these new services and such high-quality care to the expectant mothers in our community,” said Marc Pimentel, Board Chair of Salud Para La Gente.

Salud’s OB Hospitalist team includes: Drs. Julia Burke, Maria S. Granthom, Cristina Gamboa, Abraham J. Sklar, Hector P. Magaña, Jordann E. Loehr, and midwives Deborah N. Logan, Sarah H. Levitan and Shannon Johnson. Kaiser Permanente physicians who recently joined the Salud OB Hospitalist Team include Drs. Silvia Teran and D Michelle Maria Van Ooy.

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For more information about Salud Para La Gente, visit www.splg.org

For more information about Watsonville Community Hospital, visit www.watsonvillehospital.com