Childbirth Center at St. Joseph Hospital
The Childbirth Center at St. Joseph Hospital offers quality patient care
and family-centered maternity services for Moms-to-be and their families,
as well as specialized safety features and the only Level II Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit on the north coast.
Personalized Care
Caring for a tiny human being for nine months is exciting, exhausting and
exhilarating. The experience will change your life - and the lives of
everyone around you - in wonderful, unforgettable ways. And we look forward
to sharing this very special time with you. At St. Joseph Hospital, we
know that pregnancy can bring loved ones together in beautiful new ways.
That’s why we offer family-centered maternity services. You can
share the birth of your baby with a labor partner, and with other special
people in your life, if your Physician or Midwife approves. Your entire
family can participate in the educational process if you wish. We also
make a special effort to prepare you for all aspects of having a baby.
We believe it’s important for you to know the experience will affect
you physically, socially, and emotionally.
Breastfeeding Care Line Debuts
St. Joseph Hospital’s Childbirth Center now has a hotline for mothers
in need of breastfeeding help. Presented by SJH Lactation Services, the
hotline (445-8121, ext. 7536) is a phone service women can call with any
questions or concerns about breastfeeding. All calls are returned within
24 hours from the time they are received by the St. Joseph Hospital lactation team.
Delivery Choices
Choice is nothing new at St. Joseph Hospital, where we’ve dedicated
an entire floor of our new patient care wing solely to offering women
a full range of birthing options. You can labor, deliver, recover and
stay in one of our cozy, homelike rooms called an LDRP, with friends and
family by your side. With the help of your Physician or Midwife you can
decide how you want to deliver your baby, the environment in which you
want to give birth, how much you want your family and friends to participate
in the experience, and how you want to care for your baby after delivery.
You can select any one of a variety of medications to alleviate the discomforts
of labor, including anesthesia, or choose to deliver without medication.
Laborist Program
St. Joseph Hospital partners with local Laborists - Obstetricians and Certified
Nurse-Midwives who work in Labor and Delivery - from the Center for Women's
health care and Eureka OB-GYN Associates. One of them is at the hospital
24 hours a day to examine patients, evaluate the progress of labor, react
to laboratory abnormalities, and provide a safe delivery. If an emergency
with your or your baby occurs, the Laborist is already on the scene, ready
to respond with lifesaving intervention. Laborists are also available
at the hospital whenever a patient or family member has a question regarding care.
Click here to learn more about the Laborist Program.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
St. Joseph Hospital is pleased to offer our patients the only Level II
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on the north coast. You can take comfort
in knowing that we offer special care for premature or sick infants. The
NICU is staffed by a team of highly trained nurses, technicians and therapists,
and a neonatologist is available for phone consultation 24 hours a day.
Chances are you won’t need these services. But as many women have
told us, it’s just reassuring to know they’re available if
the need arises.
Quality Staff and Services
Whatever options you choose from the many available alternatives, you can
count on the caring support of the nurses and staff in The Childbirth
Center. They think of themselves as facilitators who are privileged participants
in your family’s birth experience. And they believe strongly in
personalized care. So whether your birth plan includes anesthesia such
as an epidural, analgesic - or prepared childbirth without medication
- our nurses will encourage you, support you, and help you. It makes all
the difference in the world.
Security Features
Both the maternity and pediatrics departments have specialized security
equipment and procedures.
Pediatric Services
We aim to provide the best services in health care services for the children
of Humboldt County. The hospital has a highly trained nursing staff, as
well as specialized security equipment and procedures. Our Emergency Room
is a designated Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics (EDAP). This
designation means that the St. Joseph Hospital ER has specialized policies,
equipment, and standards for providing and monitoring emergency pediatric care.
Excellence in Lactation Care Services
The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®)
and International Lactation Consultant Association® (ILCA®) have
recognized Star Siegfried, RN, IBCLC, from St. Joseph Hospital for excellence
in lactation care.
The St. Joseph Hospital Childbirth Center has received the IBCLC Care Award
in recognition for staffing Star Siegfried who holds the certification
and for providing a lactation program that is available five to seven
days a week. In addition, both the Childbirth Center at St. Joseph Hospital
Eureka and New Beginnings at Redwood Memorial Hospital have demonstrated
they have provided breastfeeding training for nursing staff that care
for new families, and have both recently completed activities that help
protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.
IBLCE certificants focus on preventive care, and continue that assistance
after the baby is born by helping mothers overcome breastfeeding challenges,
providing accurate information, and continuing to support them as their
baby grows.
There are currently more than 27,450 IBCLC professionals in 101 countries
worldwide that are certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant
Examiners® (www.iblce.org), a program independently accredited by the National Commission for Certifying
Agencies (NCCA).
For more information about the IBCLC Care Award program, contact IBLCE at
award@iblce.org.