The Medical Center, Navicent Health (MCNH) has received its eighth consecutive “Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus” Quality Achievement Award, an annual award presented by the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association (AHA) for excellence in stroke care.  In addition, MCNH has also been named to AHA’s “Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite Plus” for the second consecutive year. The awards recognize the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

MCNH earned the “Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus” Quality Achievement Award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

MCNH additionally received the association’s “Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite Plus” designation. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“The Medical Center, Navicent Health’s is dedicated to deliver advanced stroke care to patients quickly and safely. Our stroke team works diligently to provide timely, proven care for our patients, and continues to raise the standard of excellence as we treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols. The tools and resources provided by the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Initiative help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes,” said Tom Oliver, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for MCNH.   

These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

“We are pleased to recognize The Medical Center, Navicent Health for their commitment to stroke care. Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

According to AHA, stroke is the fifth leading causes of death and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average,someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.  

According to AHA, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

“The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and an aging population. The Medical Center, Navicent Health remains focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing evidence-based guidelines, including Get With The Guidelines–Stroke,” said Denise Goings, RN, MSN, SCRN, Stroke Coordinator for MCNH.  

In the attached photo –Navicent Health’s stroke team continues to exceed national benchmarks for quality care, ensuring those who trust Navicent Health when facing a stroke receive the highest caliber of treatment, from emergency services to neurological care to rehabilitation.

About Get With The Guidelines^®

Get With The Guidelines^® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.

About Navicent Health
Navicent Health was incorporated on November 17, 1994, as a nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is to coordinate The Medical Center, Navicent Health and other affiliated entities in their mission of providing a comprehensive continuum of high quality, reasonably priced healthcare services to the region. Navicent Health has 970 beds for medical, surgical, rehabilitation and hospice purposes. The health system includes The Medical Center, Navicent Health, a nationally recognized tertiary teaching hospital; Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, Navicent Health, the region’s only dedicated pediatric hospital; Navicent Health Baldwin and Medical Center of Peach County, Navicent Health, both rural hospitals; Rehabilitation Hospital, Navicent Health, the region’s oldest and most experienced rehabilitation provider; Pine Pointe, Navicent Health, which provides palliative and hospice care in homes and in its facility; Carlyle Place, Navicent Health, the area’s first continuing care retirement community;  Navicent Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Navicent Health; as well as diagnostic and home care services. For more information, please visit www.navicenthealth.org.

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Vizient MidSouth and Vizient Gulf States are now

Vizient Southern States. They announced their intention to combine operations on

April 10, 2018, and finalized the close of the agreement on June 30, 2018.

William P. Senneff will serve as the new company’s president and CEO. James R. Davis,

president and CEO of University Health Care System in Augusta, Georgia, will serve as

the Vizient Southern States’ chair of the board of directors and William (Bud) Barrow,

CEO of Beauregard Memorial Hospital in DeRidder, Louisiana, will serve as the board’s

vice chair.

Members of the company’s executive committee include Carol H. Burrell, president

and CEO of Northeast Georgia Health System in Gainesville, Georgia, Lester Diamond,

president of St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Charles A.

Peck, president and CEO of Piedmont Athens Regional in Athens, Georgia, and Larry

Graham, CEO, Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In addition,

Carol Burrell will also serve as the board chair of Phoenix Health Care Management

Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Vizient Southern States.

Vizient Southern States members will benefit from combined resources that will

provide them further opportunities to network and collaborate on insights that help

drive excellent service and care to the patients and communities they serve. The

new company also will continue to offer members programs and services available

through Vizient, Inc., the largest member-driven health care performance

improvement company in the country.

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About Vizient Southern States

Vizient Southern States is a membership alliance for not-for-profit health care providers

that exists to ensure their members deliver cost-effective care by connecting them with

the knowledge, solutions and expertise that accelerate performance. Learn more at

www.vizientsouthernstates.com or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/2773921

and on Twitter @VizientSouthern.

Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s (NGMC) Cancer Services has earned Three-Year Accreditation with Gold-Level Commendation – the highest level of accreditation possible – from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

“We’re extremely proud of this elite recognition,” says Charles Nash, III, MD, medical director of NGMC’s Cancer Services and medical oncologist with Longstreet Clinic. “Receiving this level of accreditation truly illustrates our organization’s commitment to our community and patients – and proves that patients don’t have to travel outside of northeast Georgia for top-quality cancer care.”

The CoC awards accreditation with commendation to cancer programs which comply with all standards at the time of the survey (performed every three years) and receive a commendation rating for one or more standards. The bronze level is awarded to programs which receive commendation for one to three standards; the silver level is awarded to programs with commendation for four to six standards; and the gold level is awarded to programs like NGMC which earn accreditation with commendation for all seven standards.

To comply with these standards, NGMC ensures patients have access to a full range of cancer services, including state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment options in radiation, medical and surgical oncology; a multidisciplinary team approach in coordination of patient care; access to national cancer research trials; genetic counseling; and patient-focused services such as psycho-social support, patient navigation services and a survivorship care program.

Additionally, NGMC maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base – a joint program between the CoC and American Cancer Society that analyzes cancer trends and helps improve patient quality.

NGMC’s expert physicians and clinical staff care for more than 2,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year through access points in Braselton, Gainesville, Toccoa and Winder. For more information about NGMC’s nationally recognized cancer services and physicians, visit www.nghs.com/cancer or call 770-219-8815.

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Northside Hospital health care system has been recognized for having among the best hospitals in the nation for patient experience.

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, has announced the recipients of their 2018 Outstanding Patient Experience Award. Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton and Northside Hospital Forsyth in Cumming are among 10 Georgia hospitals and the only three metro Atlanta hospitals to make the list.

Healthgrades analyzed 3,478 hospitals across the United States, with 439 hospitals receiving the Outstanding Patient Experience Award, representing the top 15 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient experience.

“I am honored, but not surprised, that Northside Hospital has been recognized in this way,” said Janis Dubow, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care for Northside. “Ensuring patient safety and high quality patient care is at heart of everyone who works at Northside, in every department. We will continue to provide the safest environment and best possible care for our community.”

The Northside Hospital health care system is one of Georgia’s leading health care providers with more than 150 locations across the state, including three acute care, state-of-the-art hospitals in Atlanta, Cherokee County and Forsyth County. Northside Hospital leads the U.S. in newborn deliveries and is among the state’s top providers of cancer care and surgical services. Northside has more than 2,800 physicians and 15,000 employees who serve 3 million patient visits annually across a full range of medical services.

For more information about Healthgrades and their methodology, or to access a complete list of the award recipients, visit healthgrades.com/quality/patient-safety-patient-experience.

Northside Hospital health system CEO Robert Quattrocchi has been named a winner of the sixth annual Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, ranking no. 32 on the list of 100 top CEOs in the United States.

Mr. Quattrocchi was one of only two Georgia-based CEOs named in the rankings, which are calculated from Glassdoor’s employee reviews of more than 700,000 companies around the world.

He also was among more than a dozen health care CEOs named in the top 100, which included the leaders of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

(See the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018: glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-LST_KQ0,8.htm)

Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, released its annual report today. Among chief executives recognized by employees in the United States, Mr. Quattrocchi received an impressive 95 percent approval rating, which is based on anonymous and voluntary reviews shared by Northside Hospital employees on Glassdoor in the past 12 months.

“This recognition is possible only because of the people of Northside Hospital,” said Mr. Quattrocchi, who has been with the Atlanta-based health care system for more than 30 years. “The strength and dedication of Northside’s physicians and employees is unsurpassed – I haven’t seen anything like it in my career.”

“What they do for patients and families is remarkable. Their work has built a culture of excellence that nurtures great patient care teams,” Mr. Quattrocchi added. “Northside’s people make a huge difference every day, and it makes me very proud to be their colleague.”

As president and CEO of the Northside Hospital health system since 2004, Mr. Quattrocchi has led Northside to become one of the most respected health care organizations in the Southeast, serving 3 million patient encounters annually. In 2017, the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Mr. Quattrocchi to its list of Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs.

Mr. Quattrocchi has been a part of the senior management team at Northside Hospital since 1987. Prior to taking the helm, he served as chief operating officer and executive vice president of finance and administration, chief financial officer and director of fiscal services.

“Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year’s winners on this significant achievement,” said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. “It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, and innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work.”

About Northside Hospital (northside.com)

The Northside Hospital health care system is one of Georgia’s leading health care providers with more than 150 locations across the state, including three acute care, state-of-the-art hospitals in Atlanta, Cherokee County and Forsyth County. Northside Hospital leads the U.S. in newborn deliveries and is among the state’s top providers of cancer care and surgical services. Northside has more than 2,800 physicians and 15,000 employees who serve 3 million patient visits annually across a full range of medical services.

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St. Mary’s Health Care System today announced that it is the first hospital in Northeast Georgia to offer a leadless pacemaker for patients who have bradycardia with atrial fibrillation (a-fib).

The Micra^®Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS)is a new type of heart device, approved for Medicare reimbursement, that provides patients with the most advanced pacing technology at one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker. The first procedure at St. Mary’s was performed by Amit Shah, M.D., a cardiologist with Oconee Heart and Vascular Center, on Wednesday, June 13, in St. Mary’s Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratory.

Bradycardia is a condition characterized by a slow or irregular heart rhythm, usually fewer than 60 beats per minute. At low rates, the heart is unable to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the body during normal activity or exercise, causing dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath or fainting spells. Pacemakers are the most common way to treat bradycardia.

The Micra is comparable in size to a large vitamin pill. Dr. Amit Shah elected to use Medtronic’s Micra TPS because, unlike traditional pacemakers, the device doesnot require cardiac wires (leads) or a surgical “pocket” under the skin to deliver pacing therapy. Instead, the leadless pacemaker is small enough to be delivered through a catheter and implanted directly into the heart with small tines. It provides a safe alternative to conventional pacemakers without the complications associated with leads – all while being cosmetically invisible. The Micra TPS is also designed to automatically adjust pacing therapy based on a patient’s activity levels, enabling patients to lead an active lifestyle.

“Pacemaking is a life-saving technology that has been around for decades, but leadless pacemakers represent a paradigm shift that will change the way we implant cardiac rhythm management devices,” Dr. Shah said after the procedure. “Since these devices alleviate the need for a surgical pocket and leads, we avoid traditional complications such as pneumothorax (collapsed lung), infections, pocket hematoma, and lead fractures. These features will improve our patients’ safety and quality of life while providing equal if not superior pacemaker function.”

The Micra is implanted through a small incision in the groin. In the June 13 procedure, after creating the incision, Dr. Shah carefully threaded a catheter (a long, thin tube) through the patient’s blood vessels to the inside of his heart. With guidance from the cardiac electrophysiology laboratory’s advanced x-ray imaging system, he positioned the catheter at the right location in the patient’s heart and attached the device to the heart wall. He then tested the device to make sure it was properly attached and functioning well before removing the catheter. The entire procedure took only a few minutes, and the patient was able to go home the next day.

The Micra TPS incorporates a feature to enable retrieval of the device when possible; however, the device is designed to be left in the body.  For patients who need more than one heart device over the course of their life, Medtronic designed the miniaturized Micra TPS  with a unique feature that enables it to be permanently turned off so it can remain in the body and a new device can be implanted without risk of electrical interaction.

The Micra TPS is the first and only transcatheter pacing system to be approved for both 1.5 and 3 Tesla full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. It is also designedto allow patients to be followed by their physicians and send data remotely via the Medtronic CareLink^®Network.

The Micra TPS was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2016 and has been granted Medicare reimbursement, allowing broad patient access to the novel pacing technology. Other companies have their own proprietary technology, and their leadless pacemakers will be commercially available pending FDA approval.

About St. Mary’s

St. Mary’s Health Care System is a faith-based, not-for-profit health care ministry whose mission is to be a compassionate and transforming healing presence in the communities it serves. Part of Trinity Health, St. Mary’s puts special focus on neurosciences, cardiac care, orthopedics, general medicine, general surgery, women’s and children’s health, and care for older adults. St. Mary’s includes hospitals in Athens, Lavonia and Greensboro, as well as physician practices, a retirement community, outpatient care facilities, graduate medical education, and a region-wide home health care/hospice service. St. Mary’s is a certified chest pain center, a gold-plus hospital for stroke care, and was named Georgia’s Large Hospital of the Year in 2006, 2010 and 2015. For more information, visit St. Mary’s website at www.stmarysathens.org.

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ATLANTA— Northside Hospital Cancer Institute is among select centers in the country to offer chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy, for adult patients with certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Yescarta® is the first-ever, FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy to treat adults with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma, who have not responded to or who have relapsed after at least two other kinds of treatment. The treatment is one of several therapies available from Northside Hospital Cancer Institute’s newly launched Immunotherapy Program.

Immunotherapy works by taking immune cells, genetically modifying them to be better tumor-fighting immune cells, multiplying them to great numbers (tens of thousands), and then infusing them into the patient where they can find and attack cancer.

“At Northside Hospital, we have been doing immunotherapy for decades in the form of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, in which a donor’s bone marrow or blood is engineered and transplanted into a patient to cure aggressive blood cancers,” said Scott Solomon, medical director of Northside’s Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Matched Unrelated Donor Program andStem Cell Processing Laboratory.

Northside Hospital is nationally recognized for leukemia treatment and stem cell transplantation. For nine consecutive years, the BMT Program at Northside has exceeded expected one-year survival outcomes for allogeneic transplants and is one of only two centers in the country (the only center in the Southeast) to do that.

Such transplants represented the first definitive proof of the human immune system’s capacity to cure cancer. Now, through studying CAR T-cells, cancer researchers are developing new ways to strengthen and empower a patient’s own immune system.

“It’s really just been over the last 5-10 years that tools are becoming available where we can think about stimulating a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer,” said Dr. Solomon, who added that CAR T-cell therapy is one of the most exciting and most promising cell-based immunotherapies and is giving hope to patients who previously didn’t have it.

“We’re targeting CAR T-cell therapy now to patients who have failed multiple rounds of conventional therapy,” said Dr. Solomon. “These patients historically have had very poor outcomes, very low chances of even brief remissions and certainly no chances of a cure prior to CAR T-cell therapy. And now many of them are alive months or years after therapy.”

To date, Kite Pharma, Inc., which makes Yescarta®, has certified approximately 45 cancer centers nationwide to offer its new treatment. Northside is one of just two facilities in Georgia that has the capacity and facilities to manage the toxicity of immunotherapy agents and that is certified to offer Yescarta®.

Although CAR T-cell therapy only just became available commercially in 2017, Northside participated in novel CAR T-cell therapy clinical trials for years and has the experience to care for patients who may develop mild to severe immunological side effects. Access to state-of-the-art diagnostic testing, facilities, comprehensive patient-centered care and a highly trained team provide immunotherapy patients at Northside with exceptional quality care that results in outstanding survival outcomes and patient satisfaction.

“Northside provides high-quality care in a very personal environment, a very compassionate environment, and our patients are the beneficiary,” said Dr. Solomon. “Patients at Northside Hospital do very well; they have access to high-quality clinical trials and certainly high-quality cancer care, but it’s the compassion of the individuals who work here that make Northside a unique and special place.”

In May 2018, the hospital expanded its state-of-the-art BMT unit from 36 to 56 beds to accommodate anticipated growth of the hospital’s Immunotherapy Program.

“I think we’re just at the beginning of tapping the role of immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer,” said Dr. Solomon. “Any cancer can theoretically be targeted with immunotherapy, but there are many new drugs, agents and cell-based therapies that we have now which can target a whole array of different cancers, blood cancers and solid tumors.”

For more information about the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute Immunotherapy Program, visitnorthside.com/immunotherapy or bmtga.com.

About Northside Hospital

The Northside Hospital health care system is one of Georgia’s leading health care providers with more than 150 locations across the state, including three acute care, state-of-the-art hospitals in Atlanta, Cherokee County and Forsyth County. Northside Hospital leads the U.S. in newborn deliveries and is among the state’s top providers of cancer care and surgical services. Northside has more than 2,800 physicians and 15,000 employees who serve 3 million patient visits annually across a full range of medical services.

St. Mary’s Hospital has received the Get With The Guidelines®-Resuscitation Gold Award for implementing evidence-based quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer a cardiac arrest in the hospital.

More than 200,000 adults and children have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year, according to the American Heart Association. The Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation program was developed with the goal of saving lives of those who experience in-hospital cardiac arrests through consistently following the most up-to-date research-based guidelines for treatment. Guidelines include following protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care.

St. Mary’s, the flagship hospital of St. Mary’s Health Care System, received the award for meeting specific measures in treating adult in-hospital cardiac arrest patients. To qualify for the awards, hospitals must comply with the quality measures for two or more consecutive years.

“St. Mary’s is dedicated to helping our patients have the best possible outcomes,” said Montez Carter, St. Mary’s President and CEO. “Implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation program helps us accomplish this by making it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis. Receiving the gold award two years in a row demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing the best, evidence-based care possible for our patients.”

“We are pleased to recognize St. Mary’s for their commitment to following these guidelines,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “Shortening the time to effective resuscitation and maximizing post-resuscitation care is critical to patient survival.”

Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation builds on the work of the American Heart Association’s National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation originally launched in 1999. The program has collected in-hospital cardiac arrest data from more than 500 hospitals. Data from the registry and the quality program give participating hospitals feedback on their resuscitation practice and patient outcomes. In addition, the data help improve research-based guidelines for in-hospital resuscitation.

Northside Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute will offer a free screening to determine your risk for heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease, or CVD.

CVD remains the No. 1 killer of Americans, according to the American Heart Association.

There are a range of factors that raise your risk of developing CVD and having a heart attack or stroke. The more factors you have, the greater your risk. It is essential to find out your risk for CVD and make a plan to prevent it.

The free screening takes place:

When: 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 14

Free parking available.

This comprehensive screening is administered by health care professionals and will include a one-on-one consultation, risk assessment, blood pressure reading, total cholesterol (HDL, ratio of TC/HDL) as well as glucose testing and body mass index (BMI) analysis.

The screening is free, but registration is required. Call 404-851-6550 to secure your spot and schedule an appointment.

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About Northside Hospital (www.northside.com)

The Northside Hospital health care system is one of Georgia’s leading health care providers with more than 150 locations across the state, including three acute care, state-of-the-art hospitals in Atlanta, Canton and Cumming. Northside Hospital leads the U.S. in newborn deliveries and is among the state’s top providers of cancer care and surgical services. Northside has more than 2,800 physicians and 15,000 employees who serve 3 million patient visits annually across a full range of medical services.

Valdosta, Georgia –South Georgia Medical Center was recognized by the March of Dimes and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for reducing the number of early elective inductions and cesarean deliveries. The hospital recently met the criteria to qualify for this distinction, which includes achieving a rate for elective deliveries before 39 completed weeks of pregnancy of 5 percent or lower and having policies in place to prevent such deliveries.

“We are delighted to receive this commemorative banner for adhering to standards that directly benefit the health of babies in this community,” said Dr. Hank Moseley, Chief of the OB-GYN service at South Georgia Medical Center. “The last few weeks of pregnancy are extremely important for the baby’s brain and lung development, among other organs. This is a significant achievement.”

According to SGMC Neonatologist Dr. Corne Maydell, since more mothers are reaching a full term gestation of at least 39 weeks, SGMC has seen a decrease in the number of babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for problems related to being born early, which can include respiratory problems, low blood sugar, and jaundice most commonly.

Peggy Knight, Associate Unit Director of Women and Children’s Services, states “The Labor and Delivery staff works carefully with our team of providers to help offer a positive birth experience for all our families. Moms who wait until the 39 week mark do tend to have a more satisfying experience. There is also a decreased incidence of cesarean sections for moms greater than 39 weeks. We are excited to receive this recognition promoting the overall well-being of mom and baby.”

SGMC CEO Ross Berry echoed the overall sentiment, stating quality is a top priority for the organization, and applauded the leadership from physicians and staff to achieve this recognition.

Reducing early elective deliveries and improving the health of moms and babies is just one of the key focus areas of the March of Dimes and their “Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait” campaign. Even babies born just a few weeks early have higher rates of hospitalization and illness than full-term infants.

SGMC delivers approximately 2,000 babies annually. For more information about SGMC’s Birthplace, visit sgmc.org/birthplace.

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