HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (May 2, 2017) — CHI St Vincent Hot Springs announced today that the Katherine C. Anthony Charitable Trust has made a $500,000 donation to the development of its Mother Baby Unit. 

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs’ Mother Baby Unit is creating a new model of care for mothers and their new babies. The new care model will keep babies in the room with their mothers from the moment they are born. This along with a newly remodeled unit will position the hospital system as a leader in the market by improving care provided to patients, as well as enhancing the functional and esthetic appearance of this area.

Tony Houston, President CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, said, “We’re so grateful for this generous donation by the Katherine C. Anthony Charitable Trust. As a long-time champion of the health ministry Katherine generously supported the Hot Springs community through many healthcare initiatives including funding the creation of the Cooper-Anthony Child Advocacy Center. This gift will allow our ministry to adjust our model of care for mothers and their children in a way that has a lasting effect.”

Dr. Clint Henson, Obstetrics/Gynecology Physician, said, “The benefits of this type of care model are numerous. Keeping moms and babies together is so important that many professional organizations have made recommendations promoting ‘rooming in’ and opposing routine separation of mothers and babies after birth.”

“Rooming in,” the main model of care in the new Mother Baby unit, has numerous benefits including:
Babies cry less and are easier to calm
Moms get more rest
Ability to respond to baby's feeding cues
Make more breast milk faster
Ability to ensure the care the mother desires for baby is delivered (e.g. no pacifiers, bottles, tests, etc.)
Increased bonding between mother and infant.

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs is the only Level II trauma center in Southwest Arkansas, and as such serves patients from Mena, to Texarkana, to El Dorado and all points in between. Its primary service area includes Garland, Clark, Hot Spring, Howard, Montgomery, Ouachita and Pike counties in south central Arkansas.  CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs is a full service integrated health delivery network and provides families with one-stop medical care for their acute, outpatient, hospital inpatient, and preventive health needs. In 1991, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs created, what was then a state-of-the-art maternal/child unit, accommodating approximately 500 births per year. It soon became evident that many women arrived having little or no prenatal care and with few supports and little knowledge of how to help their new baby develop and thrive. Thus, in 1995, the Pregnancy Clinic, the first of its kind in Arkansas, was created serving primarily Medicaid mothers which comprise 60% of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs’s 950 annual births. The collaboration has resulted in improved maternal and fetal outcomes and has made the CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Women’s Clinic the largest Labor and Delivery Group serving the area and South Arkansas.