Center for Life
Many Center for Life moms choose to participate in the innovative “Centering Pregnancy Program” that takes patients out of the waiting room and into small groups where they learn from a nurse midwife and from each other – sharing their lives and forming personal bonds that last well beyond their health care experience. This is the only program of its kind in the Washington metropolitan area.
Rosa Umana developed gestational diabetes during her pregnancy and was referred by a neighboring clinic to the Center for Life where the doctors are experts in caring for high-risk mothers. Rosa was given a special diet to follow and received insulin. She was given a glucose monitor, testing strips and was trained how to monitor her blood sugar levels. Because she was shown how to manage her condition, Rosa was able to deliver a healthy baby boy. “My baby and I would have been lost without Providence Hospital,” says Rosa.
Moms & Babies Health
The Families We Support
An increasing number of pregnant women come to Providence each year, many of whom are uninsured or underinsured, seeking a safe and loving refuge for themselves and their babies.
Women like Salvadora Guzman, a 25-year-old mother with no medical home. When Salvadora became pregnant, she didn’t know where to go. Friends told her about Providence Hospital and she came asking for help. At Providence, she received care from the hospital’s dedicated nurse-midwives and delivered a beautiful baby boy. “I am so grateful to the staff that cared for me,” she says. “I have a healthy son because of Providence Hospital.”
Last year nearly 2,500 babies were born at Providence. Many of the women who deliver at Providence come through the hospital’s Center for Life, a program that has provided first-rate prenatal care to women from all walks of life, regardless of their financial or citizenship status, for the past 32 years. No one is ever turned away and every woman is lovingly supported throughout her pregnancy.
Our nursery
Providence delivered over 1,000 more babies this year than it did just a few years ago and will soon be delivering over 3,000 babies yearly. Yet the hospital’s Maternal and Infant Health Unit is the same size as when it was built over 50 years ago. The Unit is simply too small to accommodate the current number of patients, let alone the predicted growth. Expansion must begin now and must continue for the next several years in order to be ready for other mothers and babies in need.
Maternal & Infant Health Unit Renovation
The Providence Health Foundation Board has launched a $7 million dollar campaign to renovate and expand Providence’s Maternal and Infant Health Unit.
Over the past 149 years Providence Hospital has helped thousands of women and their babies, but Providence Hospital and the Daughters of Charity have not done this alone. Financial support from our loyal donors has helped make Providence Hospital accessible for so many people.
Providence Hospital has been wonderfully blessed to have generous philanthropic support in the past. We deeply appreciate the community’s help to create healthcare resources for the poor. We are asking you to join us by making a commitment to support this important project.