HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus Earns Prestigious International Recognition for Highest Standard of Maternity Care

HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), is now a designated "Baby-Friendly" birth facility recognized internationally for providing the highest standard of maternity care for mothers and babies.

The Baby-Friendly designation -- given by Baby-Friendly USA, the U.S. authority for the global Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, sponsored by the World Health Organization and UNICEF -- signifies that HealthAlliance Hospital and its Family Birth Place maternity unit on the Broadway Campus are committed to evidence-based, best-practice maternity care. It also ensures that every mother is supported with her informed choice about infant feeding.

HealthAlliance is the only Hudson Valley hospital outside Westchester County to receive such recognition.

"We are very proud of this achievement," said Robin Stevens, MSN, RNC-OB, Director of the Family Birth Place. "Expectant mothers who deliver at HealthAlliance Hospital can be confident knowing they will be offered the best possible start for their babies."

The maternity-care quality-assurance measure has a special focus on optimal care for infant feeding and mother-baby bonding.

"We practice evidence-based medicine at HealthAlliance to provide patients with the best possible care," said Dominique Delma, MD, Medical Director of the Family Birth Place. "And we know through evidence from well-designed and well-conducted research that breast-feeding and immediate mother-baby bonding are the keys to a healthy start in the life of a newborn."

The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies breast-feeding as the ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants and recognizes breast-feeding as primary in achieving optimal infant and child health, growth and development.

"All departments at HealthAlliance were involved in making the hospital Baby-Friendly," added Dr. Delma, who is also Medical Director of the OB-GYN and Specialty Care Center of Kingston, run by the Institute for Family Health. The Institute's family doctors are among the attending physicians at the Family Birth Place and were part of the multidisciplinary team contributing to HealthAlliance's rigorous preparations for Baby-Friendly status.

"We're thrilled with our successes and are gratified to receive this medically important designation from Baby-Friendly USA," Dr. Delma said.

Only 475 hospitals and birth centers in the United States, and only 25 in New York, are designated Baby-Friendly.

The designation certifies regular independent assessment of all Baby-Friendly-designated facilities, including HealthAlliance, and provides them with a framework and support to continuously improve. It also ensures that mothers themselves are heard when it comes to the experience of their care.