Monday, November 7, 2011

Friends of the Birth Center meets with new PeaceHealth Oregon CEO

This morning members of the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center met with Mr. Tom Reitinger - PeaceHealth Oregon’s new CEO and Chief Mission Officer.

We shared our history as a grassroots advocate for funding and building the new PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center near the Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. (Click here to take a virtual tour.) We also discussed our groups’ continued activity as a consumer advisory group for the practice.

Meeting with Mr. Reitinger provided an opportunity for our group to highlight the many features and characteristics that make the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center such an important asset and resource for Lane County. Among many topics discussed,  we touched on its status as a Baby Friendly facility and its provision of Lane County’s only Centering Pregnancy Program (group prenatal care). We also spoke to the power and efficacy of the birth center model and independent midwifery.

Before we could invite him, Mr. Reitinger expressed interest in visiting the Birth Center and we look forward to this happening!

-- Katharine Gallagher