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Delivering babies close to home

Support building to create birthing center in underserved Northern Neck

Date published: 2/4/2007

BY FRANK DELANO

Northern Neck women gave birth to 490 babies in 2005. But, according to state health statistics, only six of those occurred on the rural peninsula.

The region has been without obstetrical care since 2004, when a Kilmarnock hospital closed its labor and delivery rooms.

Since then, most expectant mothers have traveled many miles to have their babies at hospitals in Fredericksburg, Richmond, Williamsburg and Newport News.

But the distance to delivery may diminish if plans develop to open a midwife-staffed birth center at Kilmarnock in 2008.

Backers of the center outlined their plans last week at a Kilmarnock meeting. They said the proposed facility could improve access to prenatal and obstetrical care in the medically deficient region.

It would also give healthy moms expecting normal deliveries a safe, cheaper and homier alternative to hospital maternity wards.

"Pregnancy and birth are not diseases. If we can be with a woman throughout her pregnancy, labor and delivery, we can teach her how to take care of herself and her baby," said mid- wife advocate Juliana van Olphen-Fehr.

Van Olphen-Fehr is coordinator of a graduate program in nurse-midwifery at Shenandoah University in Winchester. She served on a state panel convened in 2004 to address vanishing obstetrical care in the Northern Neck and other rural areas.

Now she is advising the Family Maternity Center of the Northern Neck Inc. and a similar group based in Emporia. Both groups received $75,000 in state funds last year to help them develop birthing centers that might serve as models for other regions.

Shirley C. Dodson-McAdoo, coordinator of the Northern Neck center, said the two projects hope to receive an additional $150,000 in state planning grants this year. The Kilmarnock center also will seek funding from foundations and other donors, she said.

In addition, leaders of the Kilmarnock and Emporia projects have asked the General Assembly for $1 million to build their facilities and cover start-up costs.

"If someone is healthy and wants a natural-birth experience, they'll be able to have it here rather than driving 60 to 80 miles away," Dodson-McAdoo said.

And probably save money in the process.

Key points about a birthing center being proposed for Kilmarnock: Will be staffed by two certified nurse-midwives, two registered nurses and a board-certified obstetrician. Will provide health screening, care and edu cation to all women. Will handle only low-risk deliveries; high-risk pregnancies will be referred to VCU Medical Center in Richmond. Will provide equipped birthing rooms for delivery and emergency care, if needed. Emergency childbirth cases will be sent to VCU Medical Center via helicopter or special ambulance.

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Date published: 2/4/2007