Newsweek Names Silver Cross 1 of America's Best Maternity Hospitals for 2022
Newsweek has named Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox one of “America’s Best Maternity Hospitals” for 2022.
Newsweek’s evaluation is based on three data sources: a nationwide online survey in which hospital managers and maternity healthcare professionals (e.g., neonatal care providers and OB/GYNs) were asked to recommend leading maternity hospitals; medical key performance indicator data relevant to maternity care (e.g., a hospital's rate of cesarean births); and patient satisfaction data.
“We’re proud to be among the top 350 maternity care hospitals in the country,” said Silver Cross President and Chief Executive Officer Ruth Colby. “And we’re also proud of our nickname, ‘the baby hospital of Will County. It’s a nickname we’ve earned many times over…not only by the growing number of families who choose our Birthing Center each year, but also because of the exceptional and safe care we provide to every single one.”
In 2021, Silver Cross Hospital delivered 3,100 babies, more than any other Will County hospital. To accommodate the growing number, the hospital expanded its Women and Infant Services Birthing Center from 12 to 15 private labor-delivery-recovery rooms in 2021. In addition to private bathrooms, sofa-sleepers, glider chairs, blanket warmers, in-room refrigerators, and flat-screen TVs, the three newer rooms feature large immersion tubs for laboring moms.
Upon arrival, an expectant mom is partnered with a specially trained obstetrical nurse certified in electronic fetal monitoring who assists mom through delivery. The unit also features mother/baby couplet care, which means that the same experienced nurse will care for both mother and baby until it’s time to go home.
This ensures continuity of care and improved communication between the patient, family, nursing staff and physicians. Silver Cross also has several certified lactation consultants available for support to new moms who choose to breastfeed their babies. They offer education and support before and after delivery as well as when mom and baby go home.
An obstetrician/gynecologist is in-house 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Silver Cross also offers a variety of pain relief methods including breathing techniques, medications, and epidurals provided by an anesthesiologist available in-house 24 hours a day.
Future Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – the First and Only in Will County
With the expected summer 2022 opening of Will County’s first and only Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Silver Cross Hospital, premature newborns and full-term babies with congenital disorders will no longer have to travel far for safe, advanced care.
The future $12.9 million Amy, Matthew and Jay Vana Neonatal Intensive Care Unit features 24 private rooms, a comfortable family lounge, and dedicated rooms for parents to spend the night and be intimately involved in their baby’s care.
Patients will be safely cared for 24/7 by a team of highly skilled neonatologists, neonatal nurse nurses, respiratory therapists and other caregivers and have immediate access to Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital pediatric medical and surgical subspecialists.
