
Project Description:
Samaritan Healthcare’s project is a new $5 million Women and Infant Services Initiative to respond to the growing need in the community for state-of the art and higher level of care labor, delivery, neonatal and gynecological surgeries. This project will construct a regional labor and delivery unit serving more than 1,500 annual births and create an advanced nursery for higher-risk births.
Key Benefits:
- This project will create an Advanced Delivery Unit that will allow more families with complicated births and more women with critical conditions to get high quality care close to home. This will enhance maternal and infant care not only in Moses Lake, but throughout the Grand Columbia Health Alliance service area in Grant, Lincoln and Adams Counties. Only three of the seven hospitals in the GCHA have a delivery service, and Samaritan increasingly serves as the hub for more complicated pre-natal, obstetric, post-natal and surgical care.
- This project will move Samaritan’s nursery from a level one to a level two designation to better support and stabilize newborns with physiologic immaturity or who are moderately ill with problems that are expected to resolve rapidly and are not anticipated to need subspecialty neonatology services at a remote tertiary hospital. This will reduce unnecessary transport of newborns out of area, and reduce the stress families of a sick newborn experience.
- This project also includes a surgical robot for gynecological and minimally invasive surgeries. 47% of patients in the GCHA area leave the region for minimally invasive surgery, creating increased burdens of patients and hardships for support systems. This project will allow for a greater number of those patients to be seen and cared for close to home.
- Unlike many rural communities, the population of the region is growing and diversifying. Among the Grand Columbia Health Alliance’s seven public hospital members, Samaritan serves as the center of a hub and spoke delivery system that is focused on increasing quality, reducing unnecessary outmigration, supporting efficient and seamless care delivery, and that understands and supports the diversity and socioeconomics of the region. Samaritan’s Women and Infant Services Initiative is the only source of services for this level of maternity and post-natal care in the region.
Interested in learning more about the Women and Infant Services Initiative?
Contact the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation Office Today!
Title: Samaritan Healthcare Women and Infant Services Initiative
Congressional Appropriations Requested Amount: $2,500,000
Total Project Budget: $5,000,000
Bill: Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill
Agency: HHS / Health Resources and Statistics Administration / Health Facilities Construction and Equipment
Harvey Family
Michael and Fernanda Harvey are lifetime residents of the Columbia Basin. During her first pregnancy in 2018, Fernanda experienced unexpected complications which led them to seek medical care at Samaritan Hospital.
We are excited to bring you their family’s story, as it speaks to the importance of developing the regional approach and resources for women and infant healthcare services throughout the Columbia Basin.