Tobey Hospital is the recipient of the March 2011 MotherBaby Summit Award for excellence in skin-to-skin care for mothers and babies after cesarean section. Awards are presented on a monthly basis to hospitals that excel in standards for mother baby care.

            “Congratulations to Tobey Hospital. As you have gone to extraordinary measures to optimize mother-baby care, this is much deserved recognition. Your efforts serve as a role model for other facilities in the state,” said Barbara L. Philipp, MD, FAAP, FABM, Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and Conference Committee Co-Chair for the MotherBaby Summit.

            The MotherBaby Summit is an annual meeting of Massachusetts maternity facilities supported by grant funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Transforming Birth Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The goal of the summit is to share information about optimal mother-baby practices and to create more transparent data and knowledge between states.

            In addition to the annual summit, hospitals are recognized by the coalition on a monthly basis. The MotherBaby Summit began in 2009. The upcoming Summit will be held in April for all maternity facilities in Massachusetts. In addition, special guests this year are maternity leaders from Rhode Island and West Virginia.  

            “Placing the baby on the mother’s chest after birth is important for breastfeeding success and bonding and well-being of the child and mother. This can be a challenge for mothers who have delivered by cesarean section and are under anesthesia. We have made it a top priority for our mothers and babies to share this important experience and we are grateful for the recognition,” said Mary Ellen Boisvert, Manager of Maternal Health Services at Tobey Hospital.

            “By sharing the successes and struggles of maternity facilities, we hope to inspire change that will lead to better mother-baby practices,” Philipp said.

            More information on MotherBaby Summit can be found at www.motherbabysummit.com.

About Southcoast Health System & Southcoast Hospitals Group

Southcoast Health System is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes the three hospitals that make up Southcoast Hospitals Group — Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Southcoast provides advanced clinical services, such as open heart surgery, angioplasty and heart rhythm services, comprehensive cancer care, neurosurgery, weight loss surgery, orthopedic surgery and advanced imaging services. Southcoast is a not-for-profit charitable organization that depends on the support of the community to provide services.

More information is available online at www.southcoast.org.  Connect to Southcoast at www.southcoast.org/connect/