Staff members of Lima Memorial Health System Sarah Wightman, Mary Andrews, Joan McBride, Shelly Hughart, Lauren Numbers and Penny Acheson hold the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima Memorial Health System was awarded a gold seal of approval from Joint Commission. The healthcare team took steps to earn a Level II Health Care certification in Perinatal Care. According to Obstetrics Clinical Manager Joan McBride, Lima Memorial is the only medical center in Ohio with the certification and is number three in the United States.
“Our team is incredibly honored to have earned this verification for our patients and community,” said McBride. “With this verification, patients experiencing high-risk pregnancies can be assured they will receive the best care and support.”
McBride said high-risk pregnancies are on the rise. The certification and new level of care will reportedly help moms during labor.
“Specifically, there are three main areas that endanger the mom and pregnancy,” said McBride. “They die specifically of sepsis, hypertension, and hemorrhage. Joint Commission has developed certain standards for healthcare organizations to follow to try to combat sepsis, hypertension, and hemorrhage. We’ve changed our whole process of measuring blood loss and medications that we give for hypertension and hemorrhage, certain alerts that are set off to identify sepsis.”
Joint Commissioner Chief Operating Officer Mark Pelletier said in a recent press release the certification will strengthen ‘regionalized care’ for mothers and children.
“The mortality rate of maternal moms has increased over the years because moms are sicker,” said McBride. “It’s driving down the mortality rate of the mom and baby when they develop these standards. I think you’re gonna see more people jumping on board and complying with these new standards to make their organization as safe as possible.”
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
