WATSONVILLE — Salud Para La Gente has expanded obstetrical care and services at Watsonville Community Hospital.
Salud, which has provided OBGYN care 24/7 in the labor and delivery unit at the hospital since January 2016, has established its Obstetrical and Gynecological Care Hospitalist Team, now including three Certified Nurse Midwives.
On May 9, the first baby was delivered by a midwife at Watsonville Community Hospital in more than 25 years, according to Salud.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal to reduce cesarean sections per hospital at 23.9 percent in low-risk births by 2020. In 2015 the rate of cesarean sections performed in low-risk births in California hospitals ranged from 11 percent to 77 percent.
According to the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, a recommended way to decrease cesarean sections includes developing alternative OBGYN coverage programs like Salud’s expanded OB Hospitalist Team, and including Certified Nurse Midwives on the team.
“I am really excited and proud of our team and what we have already accomplished,” said Dr. Julia Burke, D.O. medical director of Salud’s OB Hospitalist Team at WCH. “As a daughter of a Certified Nurse Midwife, and growing up knowing the value of midwives, I am thrilled to have them join our team and have their help in providing the highest quality care to our community.”
“Salud is a long-standing, valued partner with our hospital,” said Audra Earle, chief executive officer of Watsonville Community Hospital. “Together with the pediatric hospitalists from Stanford Health (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital) both mom and baby have access to an on-site specialized doctor for their needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No other hospital in our area is offering that level of service and support.”
Salud’s OB Hospitalist team includes: Drs. Julia Burke, Maria S. Granthom, Cristina Gamboa, Abraham J. Sklar, Hector P. Magaña, Jordann E. Loehr, and midwives Deborah N. Logan, Sarah H. Levitan and Shannon Johnson. Kaiser Permanente physicians who recently joined the Salud OB Hospitalist Team include Drs. Silvia Teran and D Michelle Maria Van Ooy.
