Northwest Medical Center – Bentonville and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital Named VBAC Centers of Excellence
10/22/2021
BENTONVILLE (Oct. 22, 2021) – The Maternal Safety Foundation has recognized Northwest Medical Center – Bentonville and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital as VBAC Centers of Excellence. VBAC is an acronym for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. This now means all Northwest Health hospitals with maternity services offer VBAC as an option and are Centers of Excellence. Willow Creek Women's Hospital was the first hospital in the nation to earn this recognition for its commitment to providing safe, VBAC-supportive care.
Megan Bokina, director of Women’s and Children’s Services at Siloam Springs Regional Hospital, said receiving this recognition validates the commitment to providing the best care to each patient.
“We wanted to ensure all our staff were able to provide the education needed to allow parents to make an informed decision about birth options including VBAC,” added Bokina. “We have updated our policies and reeducated our clinical teams to help ensure the highest quality of care for all mothers and babies regardless of birth plan.”
VBAC is an option for many women who do not need or want a repeat cesarean. According to the Mayo Clinic, benefits can include:
- Fewer complications without major surgery
- Faster and easier recovery
- Less postpartum pain
- Less risk for serious infection
The Maternal Safety Foundation offers the Maternal Centers of Excellence as voluntary recognition programs with a goal of helping patients and families find safe, risk-appropriate care. The number of women giving birth after a previous cesarean in the United States is approximately 600,000 — or 15.7 percent of all births — annually.
Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shown that Arkansas has historically had the fewest options for patients with a previous cesarean birth to give birth vaginally.
Patrick Kerrwood, Northwest Health interim market chief executive officer, says it is important to offer safe and healthy birth options for expecting mothers in Northwest Arkansas.
“I’m extremely proud of our clinical teams in Bentonville, Siloam Springs and at Willow Creek for putting in the extra time and training it takes to become a center of excellence,” said Kerrwood. “Offering VBAC to our patients is something we have been providing for some time, but now we can officially say we are all centers of excellence.”
To learn more about VBAC and delivery options at Northwest Health visit, NorthwestHealth.com/vaginal-birth-after-cesarean.
About Maternal Safety Foundation
Maternal Safety Foundation, founded in 2018 in Rogers, Ark., is a nonprofit patient advocacy and safety organization dedicated to maternal health. To support this mission, the foundation launched the Maternal Centers of Excellence in 2019, beginning with Accreta Center of Excellence and VBAC Center of Excellence as voluntary recognition programs with a goal of helping patients and families find safe, risk-appropriate care for vaginal birth after cesarean and placenta accreta conditions. More information is available at www.maternalsafetyfoundation.org.
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