The Director of Homestyle Midwifery at St. Luke’s
View
Statement of
Kenneth Barnes, M.D. before the San Francisco Health Commission, November 13,
2007
Prop Q Testimony on the
CPMC Proposed Changes to the St. Luke’s NICU
San Francisco Public Health
Commission December 4, 2007
My name is Yeshi Neumann. I
am the Director of Homestyle Midwifery. All of Homestyle Midwifery births take
place in the hospital. Last year we attended about 200 of the 1300 births that
took place at St Luke's hospital. Many of our clients are working families who
have private insurance --insurance which allows them choose the hospital in
which they will give birth. These families chose to come to St Luke’s because it
offers the midwifery model of care AND a NICU.
Central to the midwifery
model of care is the belief in the supreme importance of keeping a mother and
baby together, immediately after birth and in the hours, days and weeks that
follow the birth.
Every study that exists
demonstrates that the union of the newborn baby with its mother is crucial for
its future health when the baby is healthy and even more crucial when the baby
has any difficulty and requires supplemental care in the nursery. Being together
is vital for successful Breast-feeding, which is key to the physical health of
the baby, and being together is vital for bonding which is key for the short and
long-term psychological and social health of both mother and baby.
The proposed changes in
the nursery at St Luke from a NICU to a special care nursery are a downgrade in
the LEVEL of services that will be provided. What our community needs is an
UPGRADE in the QUALITY of these services so that the nursery is special in fact
and not just in name. We need a nursery and an inpatient pediatric unit at St
Luke’s which is fiercely committed to the principle of babies staying with their
mothers. This requires that the wonderful nurses we have be trained in
the skills to make that possible.
We need a nursery where
babies who have problems can stay in their mother’s arms and those mothers can
get the support they need in their community's arms. We need not only to
guarantee our families safety in their birth - because our nurses have skills of
resuscitation -but we need to guarantee them that if there is a problem with
their baby- that they will be able to be together with their baby while the baby
gets the ongoing care it needs.
Only if that bond between
mother and baby at the beginning of the baby's life is treated as sacred and
inviolable will families who have the choice continue to choose to birth at St.
Luke's, and we as care providers will be proud to practice in a setting that
provides care we truly believe is first rate, safe and the kind of care that all
families deserve.
--
Yeshi Neumann
Certified Nurse Midwife
Homestyle Midwifery
www.homestylemidwifery.com
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