Roper St. Francis Healthcare learned on Monday it continued its success with re-accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for the Nurse Residency Program. [Read more…]
RSFH earns re-accreditation for Nurse Residency Program
May 25, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital named among America’s Best Maternity Hospitals
May 18, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital has been named among America’s Best Maternity Hospitals 2022 by Newsweek and data firm Statista. [Read more…]
Celebrating BSSF’s Magnet Hospital Designation anniversary
April 21, 2022 by Leave a Comment
We are celebrating the anniversary of Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital earning its third consecutive Magnet designation that was achieved in April 2020. Magnet designation is a national recognition that serves as the gold standard for nursing practice. [Read more…]
Former patient returns to BSSF to donate blankets
April 11, 2022 by 1 Comment
Kristen Wright-Matthews was five months pregnant when she lost her baby in 2013.
Her son, C.J., was 5 years old and took the tragedy exceptionally hard. To help C.J. cope with the loss, Kristen and her husband decided to start a charitable project called Blankies 4 My Buddies.
Since then, 14-year-old C.J. and his little brother Kollin, 6, lead much of the charity’s work by delivering small tokens of comfort to children and families dealing with devastating situations, including illness, homelessness, grief and loss.
Blankies 4 My Buddies brought handmade blankets from donors and those he and other youth made through his #GiveLikeCJ blanket box project. It’s an extra dose of comfort for children facing challenges.
The family recently returned to Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital for the second year in a row do deliver 75 blankets and Copies of C.J.’s new book, “And Then There was One.”
“It is important for us to come home to Charleston because we started our family here,” Kristen Wright Matthews said. “We experienced the highest pinnacle of happiness with the birth of C.J. and our lowest moment when we lost our daughter.”
The nonprofit has received national attention from multiple media outlets. (See stories here and here.)
C.J. Matthews was recently named a 2022 Prudential Emerging Visionary, recognizing young people ages 14-18 whose fresh perspectives and innovative solutions address the pressing financial and societal challenges in their communities. The program is an evolution of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, the country’s most extensive youth recognition program, which for 26 years honored more than 150,000 outstanding youth volunteers.
For more information about Blankies 4 My Buddies visit: www.blankies4mybuddies.org or www.goodgriefbooks.net
Public invited to tour renovated labor and delivery unit at BSSF
March 8, 2022 by 1 Comment
The public is invited to tour Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital’s newly renovated labor and delivery unit and level II nursery. [Read more…]
New CenteringPregnancy program improves health of moms, babies
March 2, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Roper St. Francis Healthcare is launching a new prenatal care initiative to improve the health of pregnant moms and babies.
The foundation of this effort, CenteringPregnancy, is gathering a small group of expectant mothers with OB/GYN practitioners who engage in their care and patients learn from one another. The mothers will have 10 prenatal gatherings lasting between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, giving women more time with their physicians. By providing access to innovative, patient-centered care, OB/GYN practitioners can help reduce infant and maternal morbidity and mortality rates and improve long-term health outcomes for mother and baby. Preventing preterm and low birth weight deliveries lowers the risks for life-threatening health problems and developmental delays.
“We’re trying different tactics to improve education and make it easier for patients to get what they need,” said Dr. Eleanor Oakman, director of women’s services for Roper St. Francis Physician Partners, who helped launch the initiative. “This is about making things as accessible as possible. Our moms can see that everyone is going through the same thing, and this normalizes what happens in pregnancy.”
Centering aims to decrease disparities in birthing outcomes in high-risk groups of patients and increase rates of breastfeeding and the wellbeing of moms, and it’s been proven successful with 20 years of research. Mothers engage in their care by taking their own weight and blood pressure and recording their own health data, and they also have private time with their physician for a belly check.
In 2021, Dr. Oakman, partnered with nursing leader Laura MacMillan, director of women’s services, to initiate CenteringPregnancy at RSFH with support from a $69,100 grant funded by the Mission Outreach Program at Bon Secours Mercy Foundation. Now the Centering team is busy recruiting the first group session to start March 23. A group of eight to 12 patients will begin in-person meetings in new pristine spaces dedicated to the Centering program at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital and Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital.
Dr. Oakman
“I think as a provider were all excited to have more time with our patients,” Oakman said.
The sessions begin around 16-20 weeks of pregnancy. At first, moms come in once a month. When they reach the third trimester, they come in once every two weeks until 36 weeks. They go back to individual care for the last four weeks of pregnancy.
Guest speakers will address moms during the sessions on topics such as labor, epidurals, breast feeding, post-partum depression and caring for the baby. Some sessions will be delivered in Spanish.
Centering groups include women of different ages, races, and socio-economic backgrounds, but those demographic differences diminish in importance as they share the common experience of pregnancy, birth, and family care.
“Moms are learning from one another and we’re facilitating that learning,” Oakman said. “The moms who wouldn’t normally ask an important question will get their answer. We’re empowering them to think about these things before they get to delivery.”
Editor’s Note: Two drop-in events were recently held at the Centering spaces at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital and RSF Berkeley Hospital.
Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital celebrates 25th anniversary, “that family feel”
January 24, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Even before doors swung open to patients, that sense of camaraderie and family was forming at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital. [Read more…]
