New birth suite for new mums at Foster
MEDIA RELEASE
TO: Phillip Island Advertiser, Sentinel Times, Foster Mirror, Waterline News, Bass Coast Post, The Paper
DATE: April 24, 2020
FOR RELEASE: Immediate
Title: New birth suite for new mums at Foster
Mothers from the Corner Inlet and Bass Coast communities are enjoying the new and improved maternity suite at South Gippsland Hospital (SGH) in Foster. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bass Coast Health and South Gippsland Hospital have been working together to provide birthing services at Foster for those mums who are neither confirmed or suspected of having COVID-19. A robust ante-natal care program has been established so that expectant mothers do not need to travel to Foster for most of their care. Instead they have a number of telehealth consultations and then meet with the experienced obstetricians closer to their due date.
The spacious new birth suite was opened in March and since then a number of women from across South Gippsland and Bass Coast have enjoyed the new facilities. Currently there are almost 40 women from Bass Coast Shire who are booked in to birth at South Gippsland Hospital. They will be well served by many experienced obstetricians from Foster Medical Centre and specialist consultant obstetricians who are on call 24/7 for more complex births. To assist with the increased number of expected births during the pandemic period, a second birth suite has been established and a number of the midwives from Bass Coast Health have temporarily transferred to work at South Gippsland Hospital. A new operating theatre will soon replace the existing theatre and will provide state of the art facilities for those women who need to birth via Caesarean section.
Recently, Inverloch resident and nurse Bridie Behmer delivered her second son, Otis at South Gippsland Hospital. Bridie spoke highly of the service she received from the obstetricians and midwives and was very pleased with the new facilities. Bridie is pictured below holding Otis attended by several of the medical staff from Foster and nurses from both South Gippsland Hospital and Bass Coast Health.
