We think that all babies and all moms need the best possible start.

Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s really provides the highest level of care in the region. And I think if you meld or marry that to a real-patient centered focus, we have something really special.

I think that that’s what the Women & Infants program is going to bring: excellence in medical care – no question; on the forefront of advances of medical care – no question, but at the same time in taking a holistic approach to both the mother, the baby and the entire family.

Our new Women & Infants Center builds upon a thirty-year history of corporation and collaboration between baby doctors, like me, and obstetricians who take care of pregnant women where we know how to make decisions that are good for the baby, good for the mom and good for the outcomes of both.

And why we’ve had wonderful resources up until now this is an opportunity that we’ve had to build a brand new space.

Our labor and delivery, where we’re going to be delivering all of our patients is actually going to be physically attached to the Children’s hospital and to where the babies are going to be taken care of and that’s really important. It’s important because it’s a quicker transition of care for a baby and mom is going to be right next door. I think myself as a healthcare consumer, I want to be at a place that is ready for anything. And I think that if you can get that ‘ready for anything’ in a great environment with the focus on the patient, to me it’s the best of all worlds.

We’ve had the opportunity for a long time to take care of high-risk moms, but to build a facility that promotes the health of both low-risk and high-risk moms, that is really been completely unique.

We also have strategies in place so that rapidly, physicians or hospitals that have questions can immediately talk to a senior physician here to be sure that advice is available and if necessary we can provide whatever help the referring hospital or physician needs. But most importantly we will give access to moms. Moms know that babies don’t come with directions and that pregnancy can sometimes be confusing. And so when moms need advice, we want to help them and we will have websites and individuals ready to go to make sure that they know everything they need and want to know about their pregnancy, their fetus, and their baby.

This has been a long road and we’re very excited. And you know, it’s not the physical facilities, certainly the physical facilities are important and they are very impressive, but really what I’m most excited about is this integration of all aspects of care.

We are truly excited about this advance for every mom, for every family, for every baby and for all our community.