Sitting at a table covered with floor plans and watercolor architectural sketches, Charlotte Ipsan, the newly appointed president of the future Norton Women’s Hospital and Kosair Children’s Hospital – St. Matthew’s, discussed the transformation she is overseeing with the enthusiasm of someone describing an upcoming beach vacation.
In describing the list of public suggestions for the new hospital, she stood and held her arms out as wide as they would stretch, to show the amount. The spreadsheet includes comments and suggestions from the public and, according to Ipsan, they have been able to incorporate almost 90 percent of them, a fact she is particularly proud of.
“People have a choice,” said Ipsan. “They truly are our customers. People used to just go where their doctors told them to, but that just isn’t the case any longer.”
According to Ipsan, the hospital, which is currently Norton Suburban Hospital, is already 80 percent female. The Norton Healthcare website states that Norton Suburban Hospital delivers around 6,000 babies each year, more than any other hospital in the state. So when Norton Healthcare approved a women and children’s center for the system, it was a natural fit.
The transition is currently being unveiled in a step-by-step manner. The addition of amenities, such as complimentary valet parking for all guests and on-call spa services, began this summer. Block by block, the rooms are being converted, until the entire 373-bed facility is entirely comprised of private rooms. The rooms will include televisions equipped with the Get Well Network, which allows a patient to do everything from ordering food to surfing the Internet to selecting a meditation screen for a more Zen environment. There are plans for an organic garden on the property, as well as incorporating more farm-to-table options in the cafeteria.
By the time the project is complete, in the spring of 2014, there will be many renovations and modernizations, including a brand new adult intensive care unit; dedicated, inpatient units for treating migraines and eating disorders; and a breast health center. The addition of a new tower will provide a home for a neonatal intensive care unit and an oncology center with a solarium to provide much needed natural light to long-term patients.
The changes happening at the hospital are not all cosmetic. One place where that becomes obvious is the labor and delivery unit. While a few minor changes are being made to the entrance, the rooms are already private, so no conversion is necessary. Many of the changes are about practice.
“It’s about providing choices,” said Ipsan. “No one wants to be told what to do.”
Ipsan wants to make women feel like they can get the birth they want at Norton Women’s Hospital. Portable laboring tubs will be made available. A housewide telemetry system has already been installed and will allow women to move about freely during labor, while still having their vitals monitored. Bedside registration went into effect on July 1, much to the relief of intensely laboring mothers who have more important things on their minds than thinking about their insurance carriers.
A neonatal nurse practitioner by trade, Ipsan is well versed and up to date on the best practices for newborns, such as letting the baby stay in the room with the mother as much as possible, instead of the nursery, and Kangaroo Care, when the mother and the new baby cuddle with no cloth in between them in order to regulate body temperature. She wants her staff to support these policies too.
“I have made it clear that if anyone isn’t on board, they just don’t belong here anymore,” said Ipsan.
One of the more ambitious undertakings Ipsan has begun is the process of achieving a Baby Friendly designation.
“The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding,” reads the Baby-Friendly USA website. Baby-Friendly USA is in charge of Baby Friendly accreditation for United States hospitals.
The Baby Friendly designation essentially comes down to breastfeeding and the level of support that is given to mothers, and their partners, to be knowledgeable and hopefully successful at it.
Achieving this designation requires a two to three year process, wherein the hospital must comply to 10 specifications, including providing all pregnant women with the benefits of breastfeeding and providing infants with no food or drink, other than breast milk, unless medically indicated. If this is achieved, Norton Women’s Hospital will be the first in the state to obtain the designation.
“It promotes a culture of lactation, while supporting a mother’s choice,” said Ipsan.
Ipsan is even investigating the possibility of bringing certified nurse midwives to the hospital. Currently, women in Louisville seeking a more natural birth, with a lower chance of ending in a cesarean section, have to travel to Indiana or Frankfort for this service.
This is where Nicole Zirnheld Aldridge, a certified doula with Doulas of North America, believes they could really make an impact in the birth culture of the city. Aldridge has been a doula for seven years and has attended 105 births in that time. Most of her clients are looking for a more informed birth in which they are empowered to make choices for themselves, as opposed to a doctor calling all the shots. Of her clients who have chosen to have a midwife, over half have gone to Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The rest have either birthed at home or traveled to another city in Kentucky.
“I’m glad that [Norton Suburban Hospital] has made so many changes in the right direction,” said Aldridge. “However, most of it comes down to the practitioners.”
Having a staff of certified nurse midwives with a regular practice at the hospital would also combat another problem Aldridge has found at Norton Suburban Hospital: The nurses don’t have enough experience attending natural births.
“They are wonderful, compassionate nurses,” said Aldridge. “But they need additional training to support a mom without interventions. It’s difficult to come out of that comfort zone.”
Only time will tell if the staff and providers rise to meet the public’s expectations, as well as Ipsan’s. The real barometer will be with the patients.
Despite its new name and focus on women and children as patients, men are certainly not being turned away at the door.
“Men want nice things too,” said Ipsan with a laugh. “We will certainly keep treating our male patients. Women and children are just our specialization now.”
According to the United States Department of Labor, women make 80 percent of the healthcare decisions in a household. So Ipsan expects them to bring their families back to the hospital to experience the same level of care they received.
“As women, we always take care of everyone else, but not ourselves,” said Ipsan.
Ipsan and her team think it’s time the women of Louisville changed that.
-Sarah Jones Rust
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