CHI St. Vincent opens $3.5 million Anthony Childbirth Center in Hot Springs

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs opened its new Anthony Childbirth Center, which includes a family-centered labor and delivery model.

Major renovations to the Hot Springs unit include 12 private birthing suites for families and a 100% labor, delivery, postpartum and recovery (LDRP) model that keeps mother and child together from admission to discharge. The renovation project cost $3.5 million.

The new Anthony Childbirth Center occupies a private wing on the fourth floor of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs which cares for more than 1,000 births each year.

The significantly larger suites within the Anthony Childbirth Center also accommodate larger family support networks. Additional improvements include advanced patient monitoring; newborn bathing sinks with temperature controlled faucets and a radiant heating system to maintain the newborn’s body temperature during bathing; a new critical care nursery; and advanced training for nurses through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nursery Alliance.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the generous support that helped make the new Anthony Childbirth Center a reality,” said CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs President Dr. Doug Ross. “Every mother and child born here receives the highest level of care and with our move to a true LDRP model, now they gain added care, instruction and resources to help them continue to thrive long after they leave the hospital.”

“This model provides us the opportunity for hands-on education with parents while their newborn is right beside them in the room. Our nurses train parents in couplet care, safe sleep practices and everything else they need to know to care for their newborn,” said Marsha Oliver, nurse manager for Women’s Services at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. “It also provides a greater opportunity for a mother and newborn to bond in those precious early hours of life with skin-to-skin contact. Couplet care allows our nurses to educate parents on safe sleep practices and learning to read their baby’s cues, whether they’re hungry, sleepy or just need to be cuddled.”