NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health Midwifery Program Reaches Milestone with 20,000th Delivery
Jul 13, 2023
South Brooklyn Health Midwives
Brooklyn, NY
NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health today announced that it has reached a significant milestone with its 20,000th midwifery birth. Baby Girl Ali entered the world on Thursday, July 6 at 4:37 a.m., under the watchful eyes of our certified nurse-midwife — Patrina Royes, who is in the top row, second furthest from the left in above photo collage. This momentous occasion marks the hospital’s commitment to improving maternal and infant health outcomes in South Brooklyn and surrounding communities.
“Midwives have been part of South Brooklyn Health’s care delivery team since 1982, and remain an integral component in our pursuit of delivering high-quality maternity care, including the elimination of intractable racial disparities in maternal health for Black and Hispanic women,” said South Brooklyn Health Chief Executive Officer Svetlana Lipyanskaya. “Studies have shown that expanding the role of midwives could help with the maternal health crisis that continues to plague the U.S. health care system, and as such remains a cornerstone in the hospital’s clinical strategy.”
“South Brooklyn Health’s midwives work alongside our OB/GYN physicians and nurses in a collegial manner to ensure that pregnant women, new mothers, and others in need of reproductive health care receive excellent patient-centered care,” said South Brooklyn Health Chair of OB/GYN Dr. Maggie Tetrokasashvili. “They provide access to equitable health care and ensure patients and their partners are well-informed to make the health choices that are most suited to their needs.”
“As we gather to celebrate this great milestone in our hospital’s history, we express our gratitude to South Brooklyn Health for having the foresight to employ, engage and support midwives for so many years, thus ensuring top-quality care for our patients and their families,” said South Brooklyn Health Director of Midwifery Services Rochel Lieberman. “Our current roster of midwives is a mirror of the diversity of our patient population, who hail from the Caribbean, Russia, Ukraine, Panama, and across the U.S., thereby ensuring that we deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate care.”
At South Brooklyn Health, both OB/GYN physicians and midwives work collaboratively to provide care during a woman’s pregnancy and the delivery of her baby. Our OB/GYN physicians are medical doctors (MD), who specialize in women’s reproductive health, as well as pregnancy care and delivering babies; while our midwives are health care practitioners who provide a broad range of women’s health services such as annual checkups, including family planning; but pregnancy, birth and postpartum care are their main focus. Midwives have a long history of providing high-quality, high-touch care to meet both the physiological and psychosocial needs of women, especially those of historically disenfranchised communities. The credentials for midwives in New York State include certified midwife (CM), and certified nurse-midwife (CNM), and all New York State midwives are designated as licensed midwives (LM).
South Brooklyn Health currently has ten midwives on staff, who are all graduates of midwifery programs certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board and licensed by the New York State Education Department. They are licensed independent practitioners – meaning they do not require supervision by a medical doctor – and practice at the top of their license with the majority receiving advanced degrees (e.g. Master’s and Doctorate). South Brooklyn Health midwives have faculty appointments at Columbia University, S.U.N.Y. Downstate, and New York University; and precept midwifery, medical, and nursing students in our outpatient women’s health practice and Labor & Delivery (L&D) unit to share their knowledge and expertise in giving birth.
Our OB/GYN patients receive care in a modern and well-appointed women’s health practice and Labor and Delivery suite. In our new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital, we offer private, comfortable rooms for new parents and babies to bond in, because we believe an intimate, personal birthing experience is a right, not a privilege.
Patients are welcome to bring a doula along with their support team to enhance their birthing experience. And, as a Baby-Friendly designated facility, we encourage and facilitate breastfeeding, so that our youngest patients receive optimal nutrition.
In 2022, South Brooklyn Health had over 1,200 births, with midwives being responsible for nearly one-third of all births.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Bridgette Ingraham-Roberts, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, 646-937-2945
About NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health and its 371-bed Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital and Health & Wellness Institute is one of the public health system’s 10 acute care health care campuses that offers general and acute medical care to adults and children. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital offers modern trauma and emergency care, inpatient services for primary and acute care in general medicine, adult medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, medical and surgical sub-specialties, coronary care, intensive care, obstetrics and gynecology, midwifery, neonatology, critical care, rehabilitation medicine, psychiatry, and behavioral health. Its Health & Wellness Institute with over 40 ambulatory care practices provides patient and caregiver centered primary and specialty care to residents of South Brooklyn and the surrounding communities. The hospital has designations as a Certified Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Center, an Advanced Primary Stroke Center, an accredited Baby-Friendly Hospital, a U.S. News & World Reporthigh performing hospital, a SAFE Center of Excellence under the Sexual Assault Reform Act, Designated AIDS Center (DACs), and Level 2 Perinatal Center.
About NYC Health + Hospitals NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn