Singing River Health System launching new ‘Team Birth’ program

A new initiative here in South Mississippi is going to make childbirth less of a hassle for expecting patients.

‘Your birth, your story, your team:’ Singing River Health System has now launched its new initiative called ‘Team Birth’ which is helping patients feel empowered, safe, and supported. Nurse Manager Meagan Heidelberg said, “Today we are having our kickoff for the March of Dimes Team Birth which is a very important initiative that we are doing to improve safer deliveries.  We’re the only hospital in Mississippi that is actually doing this, so both facilities, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula is getting this opportunity to promote our community and our women in our community for safer outcomes.”

Part of Team Birth’s mission is to elevate the voices of the patients who give birth at Singing River. Clinical Implementation Specialist Abby Slattery said, “Team Birth has shown to improve dignity and autonomy for patients, improve safety and outcomes. So we’re hoping here in Southern Mississippi, the Singing River Hospital System will see the exact same benefits.”

Heidelberg said, “We don’t want to just treat everybody the same. We want to treat everybody to meet their needs and we want continuity; we want consistency so every patient gets the same outcome. It’s been proven statistically that women don’t feel heard, and so we want women to know that we are there for them. We want them to be heard.”

With the Team Birth initiative now in place, Abby Slattery from Ariadne Labs says the program will improve maternal health outcomes. “This project is a simple way to increase communication and transparency between patients and the people that care for them. And it is a culture change and a shift in the movement towards empowering people giving birth, reducing disparities in maternal care, and improving outcomes.”