PENSACOLA, Fla. —Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola is significantly increasing access to care for women and babies through renovations and the launching of a midwife program. The work to expand labor and delivery, mother-baby care, high-risk pregnancy care and gynecologic surgery has started and is expected to be completed in early 2020.
New private birthing suites under construction have been specifically designated for low-risk births performed by certified nurse midwives, which are being hired by Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart. These four new rooms bring labor and delivery to 20 beds on the hospital’s second floor. With this addition, the Maternity and Women’s Center will offer three rooms with tubs to be used in labor, as well as a selection of birthing balls, bars and other comfort aids. The midwives, coupled with specially trained obstetric nurses, will focus on methods of pain control including massage, breathing techniques, position maneuvers and aromatherapy.
“Our team has taken many steps to bring the highest level of safety to mothers and babies in Northwest Florida, as the area’s only OB Emergency Care Center, the region’s only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the only local hospital with an onsite obstetrician 24/7,” said Lisa Gardner, vice president of patient care services for the Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart. “The addition of this midwife program means that women in our community who choose to have a natural, low-intervention birth can also have the peace of mind that comes with having specialized doctors and nurses prepared for emergency care just down the hallway.”
The Pensacola campus will also grow the Regional Perinatal Center from 16 to 25 beds. As the only inpatient high-risk pregnancy center in Northwest Florida, Ascension Sacred Heart’s maternal-fetal medicine doctors treat and manage various medical complications of pregnancy, including diabetes, hypertension, pre-eclampsia and preterm labor.
A new 15-bed unit on the hospital’s third floor will be available for gynecologic surgery, high-risk pregnancy or postpartum patients, a significant jump for the hospital’s current 38-bed mother-baby unit.
Delivering more than 4,000 babies each year, Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola is the most preferred childbirth facility in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Ascension Sacred Heart offers Northwest Florida’s only facilities to be designated as Baby-Friendly, an award which recognizes a facility’s breastfeeding support and family-centered approach to maternity care. To learn more, schedule a tour or register for a childbirth class, visit sacredheartbaby.com.
About Ascension Sacred Heart
In Florida, Ascension operates Ascension Sacred Heart based in Pensacola and Ascension St. Vincent’s based in Jacksonville. Together, Ascension Florida operates seven hospitals and more than 100 other sites of care, and employs more than 11,000 associates. Across the region, Ascension Sacred Heart and Ascension St. Vincent’s have served North Florida communities for more than 145 years. In fiscal year 2019, they provided nearly $180 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty. Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care. As one of the leading non-profit and Catholic health systems in the U.S., Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension includes approximately 150,000 associates and 40,000 aligned providers. The national health system operates more than 2,600 sites of care – including 150 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities – in 20 states and the District of Columbia. For more information on Ascension Sacred Heart, visit healthcare.ascension.org.
