Health & Fitness
Franciscan Health lauded by Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative
Family Birth Center at Olympia Fields hospital earns two awards for patient-centered care
Franciscan Health Family Birth Center in Olympia Fields recently received two awards from the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative for its patient-centered care.
The Family Birth Center received the Leader Award for Birth Equity and the Quality Improvement Excellence Award for Promoting Vaginal Birth in 2022.
Joan Culver, director of patient care services at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, said the Family Birth Center was lauded for its efforts to promote universal screenings and address racial and social inequities to ensure women of color have optimal births. Family Birth Center staff receive training to help remove implicit bias from pre-natal care through delivery and post-partum care.
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“We know non-Hispanic Black women are more likely to have pregnancy-related complications and we want to eliminate that as much as possible,” Culver said.
Lactation Consultant Kathryn Ragland was recently invited to speak at the U.S. Breastfeeding Coalition National Conference in Bethesda, Md. Her presentation – entitled Partnering to Promote Continuity of Care in the First Food Fields: A Blueprint for Communities to improve the local Breastfeeding Landscape in their Black, Indigenous and Other people of Color (BIPOC) Communities – highlighted the Family Birth Center’s efforts.
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The Family Birth Center was also recognized by the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative for working to reduce Cesarean sections in first-time mothers.
“We want to be able to give every mom the opportunity for a vaginal delivery whenever possible,” Culver said. “Cesarean sections are surgeries and we want to do the best we can to prevent that from happening so future births don’t require additional surgery.”
Culver said the Center specially trains staff to help with positions and other techniques to increase patient comfort and advance labor.
“I am so proud of all that this team continues to accomplish and the care they have continuously provided to all of our patients,” Culver said.
More information about the Olympia Fields Franciscan Health Family Birth Center, including a virtual tour, is available onlineor by phone at (708) 852-2600.
