Transcription:

Bill Klaproth: MarinHealth has spent years planning for the launch of the new maternity facilities and program, identifying what is important to women, babies, and families. So let's learn more about this with Anne Lupus, maternity and NICU clinical nurse educator at MarinHealth.

This is the Healing Podcast brought to you by MarinHealth. I'm Bill Klaproth. Anne, thank you so much for your time. It is great to talk with you. As I mentioned, MarinHealth has spent years planning for the launch of these new maternity facilities and program, identifying what is important to women, babies and families, and assessing new procedures, facility features and technologies. So how did you and other experts help design and plan for the new maternity facilities?

Anne Lupus: I was fortunate to be at the beginning of the planning quite a few years ago, I think 2009. And it started with a core group of doctors, nurses, midwives, and other key players to look at the timelines, look at the plans that the architects had come up with and to develop a model to move into that new unit. Then we went further on, into having meetings all the way through with, we had a team called ACT 2020 that was led by our nurse leader, Karin Reese. And in that case, we started looking what specific equipment was needed, the workflows and, most importantly, the training needs for all of us to be in this new building.

Bill Klaproth: Well, it is comforting to know that people with experience like you were helping to design this new facility. So this speaks wonderfully to how well laid out this new facility is. And speaking of that, I understand that the facilities are built to help a woman give birth the way she wants, allowing for their individual preferences. So what options are available for women giving birth?

Anne Lupus: There's a lot of different options. Women focus on different types of pain management, which can be addressed in every room. Every room, she can have a natural birth using water, like in a spa-like kind of environment in the showers, which are gorgeous and spacious. Or having a patient-controlled epidural if she decides to have a medicated birth. Some women choose something called nitrous that's there in the rooms. And the rooms are large enough to accommodate moving in the room. We use things called peanuts. They're kind of these certain type of exercise balls that are made specifically for labor. And then beds also lean towards different positions, moving around in bed that women like when they're in labor.

And beyond that the views are incredible. So they can sit in a rocking chair if that's comfortable for them during their contractions and look out at the beautiful views and adjust the temperature or the lighting in the room however they want. So that's what this facility provides.

Bill Klaproth: Well, the options sound spectacular and it's so nice that a woman really can choose the birth that she wants. And should it be needed? Anne, can you tell us about the new NICU facilities?

Anne Lupus: The new NICU is still a level two NICU we're affiliated with UCSF Benioff with the same access to perinatology, neonatology that we've always had. It's just a bigger facility. Every baby and mom and parent has their own bay, we call them, where they're individualized. We used to be in one big room, which lended to support between women, but also a lack of privacy. And every room also has a view. And you think what does the baby need the view for? But the parents are there and they're spending time with their babies. So they have individual places, rockers where they can sit and be at their baby's bedside as much as they want.

It's quieter. The lighting is beautiful. It's got natural light. And it's just a more comfortable environment for everybody.

Bill Klaproth: Right. So no need to go over the bridge then to have a baby the way you want, right?

Anne Lupus: Correct. If you needed a higher level of care, that's available. But if you're within the guidelines of the babies that can deliver here, then you're in your own community near your family, close to your home, you can go feed your dog, that poor thing, you know, because there are other things in life that still go on while people are in the hospital. But that we have access to UC and sometimes the baby who may be high-risk delivers here, goes to the city, and then very commonly comes back here to what we call grow, where do they come back here and we help them learn how to breastfeed and get bigger and get ready to go home in their own community.

Bill Klaproth: So, Anne, being that you were on the ground floor of the development of this, does the new facility and program exceed your expectations?

Anne Lupus: Yes, it's beautiful. I mean, I just went to go grab something in one of the offices down the way and every single corner of the building has a view. And so you just feel, even though you're in a building, you feel as though you're outside. You can see the weather changes, that beautiful mountain that's kind of the core of Marin here. it's just that ability to feel like you're in nature, which was the focus of the building here to get that healing kind of part of nature as part of the focus here.

Bill Klaproth: Well, it sounds like the windows and the view, as you explained, are spectacular. So what features of the new maternity wing are your favorites?

Anne Lupus: I think it's the views. And soon they'll be opening up the balconies, so people will be able to go outside. They're just finishing up some finishing touches on that. And just to be able to have the natural lighting as well. If you have to be inside a building, it's nice to have natural lighting and control the temperature. They call this building actually a smart building in that it's adjustable to what we need.

Bill Klaproth: That is great. And based on your experience with so many pregnant women and new moms, do you feel the facilities and services meet the expectations of women in the area?

Anne Lupus: I think it does. I think that we have a very enlightened educated group of women here who know what they want. And I think that ability to have whatever access to the facilities that they need. But the other part that is a part of MarinHealh is that services means that the people. And to me, they come for the people. Our providers, our midwives, our nurses, our techs are really committed to our patients in having them have the experience that they want. They're working in their own community and there's that special part to be part of your community. These are the people you see at your store or your bank that you care for and even their own co-workers deliver here. So I think that's a really important part.

Bill Klaproth: I love that line, services mean the people. So then what does all of this mean to a woman who is planning her birth and how would her experience be different giving birth in the Oak Pavilion versus the previous hospital?

Anne Lupus: Well, the previous hospital, which we were very attached to, but it was built in 1952, which meant there was a lot of kind of adjusting new equipment to a facility. How many plugs in the room? That sort of thing. We didn't have certain kind of the ability to administer certain things because it wasn't built in the wall, meaning we didn't have rooms that had certain kinds of air and oxygen. It was safe, but it was just you have to do more changes within equipment. Now, you just plug it right into the wall and it's right there.

I think that we also have access to a second high-risk delivery room here that we didn't have in the old building. And one of the things that Marin provides is a service called trial of labor after cesarean. And it's important to have a second OR, a second set of team to be able to provide that safely. A lot of hospitals don't provide that because they can't. We didn't have that in the old building. We'd have to go downstairs if they needed a high risk delivery room. Here, it's right here on the unit. They're within the unit that they started on. It doesn't seem as frightening to go to a different unit if you need that high risk. People don't like to think that they need something, but women like to know it's there if they do. Does that make sense?

Bill Klaproth: Absolutely. Yeah. So speaking of that with these upgrades and changes in equipment, what does that mean then to your team? How do these new facilities and this new equipment allow them to do their best work?

Anne Lupus: Well, it takes the thinking out of it. We have a new security system called Hugs that's top of the line, making sure that our babies are safe. We have a communication system called Spectralink, where they can call the people that they need if they need assistance and that includes calling your environmental services people to help after a delivery, get the room set up for postpartum. We have something called the Banyan Bridge where for some reason another provider needs to connect remotely into the room, they can. So there's just a lot of technologies that weren't available in the other area that we have now.

Bill Klaproth: Well, this seems like such a win-win for both patients and for the staff. It seems like the coming together of a great plan to serve both of these important groups. Would you say that's right?

Anne Lupus: Oh, absolutely. I feel blessed to be able, within my career, to move into a facility like this.

Bill Klaproth: So great. Anne, thank you so much for talking to us about the new facility. This has really been informative and I know all the pregnant women in the area are just going to love this new facility. So thank you so much in spending some time with us and talking about this today. We appreciate it. Thank you again.

Anne Lupus: All right. Thank you.

Bill Klaproth: That's Anne Lupus. And to learn more, please visit my mymarinhealth.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is the Healing Podcast brought to you by MarinHealth. I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.