Sutter Roseville Gears Up for Another Record Year for Babies

ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 15, 2009 - The Family Birth Center at Sutter Roseville Medical Center is gearing up for another record year for births after breaking the 3,000-delivery mark for the first time in its history in 2008 and recently receiving the coveted HealthGrades award for Excellence in Maternity Care, ranking it in the top 10 percent of birth centers in the nation.

The record for births and the HealthGrades designation come on the heels of the opening of a 16-bed neonatal intensive care center in September to care for the sickest of newborns; the arrival of two new obstetricians/gynecologists –- Drs. Antoinette (Toni) Khowong and Olivia Juhn; and the hiring of Sue Chambers, R.N., as the new director of women’s and children’s services at Sutter Roseville.

In 2008, 3,068 women gave birth at Sutter Roseville, a rise of about 5 percent from 2007. And so far this year, the not-for-profit medical center is on pace to break that record. It has recorded 25 more deliveries during the first three months when compared to January-March 2008 figures. Summer is usually the hottest time for deliveries, and the Family Birth Center at Sutter Roseville recorded a record 309 deliveries in July 2008 –- the first time in a month deliveries passed the 300 mark.

Sutter Roseville is the only hospital in the Sacramento region to receive five stars from HealthGrades for its Family Birth Center. The award for excellence in maternity care is based on the analysis of four factors: the volume of live deliveries, overall maternal complication rate, the complication rate among elective Caesarean sections, and newborn mortality rate. For more details on HealthGrades, go to healthgrades.com.

"HealthGrades means a lot to our Family Birth Center," said Chambers, who arrived in January as the medical center’s director of women’s and children’s services. "The award is based on our excellent outcomes, and it really speaks volumes to the quality of the OB/GYNs who deliver here, the excellence of the facility and the dedication of our staff."

The addition of Drs. Juhn and Khowong bring the total number of OB/GYNs delivering at Sutter Roseville to 14. Because of the increasing popularity of Sutter Roseville as the place for many new mothers in South Placer County and northern Sacramento County to have their babies, most of the OB/GYNs’ practices were impacted. These two new Sutter Roseville OBs offer more choices for expectant couples.

Both Drs. Khowong and Juhn are part of Associates in Women’s Health Care, whose offices are located on the Sutter Roseville campus at 5 Medical Plaza, Suite 250. Dr. Khowong received her medical training at the University of Colorado Health Science Center and completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In addition to English, she speaks Laotian and Thai. Dr. Juhn graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine and her residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and she also is fluent in Korean. Her husband is Roseville pediatrician Dr. Paul Wang, Jr.

The NICU at Sutter Roseville, an extension of the pioneering, renowned NICU at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, is a Level III unit, which means it can care for the sickest of newborns who are in need of state-of-the-art technology to survive. Since the beginning of the year, the NICU has had about an average of eight newborns being cared for by the specialized staff of registered nurses and neonatalogists. It has also allowed women of high-risk pregnancies to stay at the Family Birth Center for extended periods of time in anticipation of their births. In the past, these mothers and babies were sent by ambulance to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. Now, they and their families can stay closer to home.

"Sometimes these expectant mothers are with us in the Family Birth Center for days and even weeks, as are the babies in the NICU," Chambers said. "It is much more convenient for the father, their other children and extended family to be so close to home."

Chambers took the place of longtime Director of Women’s and Children’s Services Nory Sargeant, who took a similar position with a hospital in Portland, Ore. Chambers, who currently resides in Grass Valley, was the director of the birth center at Fremont-Rideout Medical Center in Marysville for 24 years. The Sutter Roseville position allows her to work at a growing Family Birth Center that many consider to be the Hilton of birth centers in the region.

"It is quite a treat to have our beautiful facility," Chambers said. "I stepped into a situation here that is ideal. The staff is very qualified and very passionate about what they do, from the nursery to pediatrics and post-partum to labor and delivery. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated staff."

For more information on the Family Birth Center at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and for profiles of the OB/GYNs, go to www.sutterroseville.org/services/familybirth.html.