WICHITA – Wesley Medical Center, known regionally as ‘The Baby Hospital’ since opening Wichita’s first ‘mother’s room’ in 1912, has expanded its perinatal nurse navigation services with the addition of maternity navigation. Wesley is the only hospital in the region to offer obstetric navigation services for its patients.
“Wesley’s navigation services are free and available to any woman seven days a week,” said Wesley’s new maternity nurse navigator Morgan Tracy. “Whether you need help scheduling a doctor’s visit or just need someone to talk to, we want to offer that support and make the journey to motherhood as smooth as possible.”
Wesley began offering obstetric navigation services in 2013 for complex pregnancies, but with this new program addition, all moms and moms-to-be can receive these support services. The program kicked off Oct. 1.
“Similar to most moms, I had a lot of questions and concerns when I went through my pregnancy journey,” Tracy said. “It’s my job as Wesley’s navigator to make the complicated more understandable, the overwhelming more manageable and women’s overall experience more centered on them.”
A maternity nurse navigator can help with a variety of pregnancy-related questions and concerns. They can take moms on an in-depth tour of the hospital, discuss what hospital amenities are important to them, and help create birth plans, discuss any risk or health factors that could affect their delivery, help them prepare for multiples and more.
“This is just one more enhancement to Wesley’s long-established birth care program,” said Wesley Healthcare’s chief nursing officer Judi Murphy. “Moms and moms-to-be have unique services available to them at Wesley that no other area hospital can provide, and we pride ourselves on being able to provide that top quality, expert care.”
In addition to navigator services, Wesley’s specialized labor and delivery team include anesthesiologists that provide exclusive care for pregnant women along with dedicated scrub techs that only help deliver babies. Wesley also has a dedicated obstetric area in its main emergency department that provides care for pregnant women in emergent situations.
“Our obstetric nurses are all trained on advanced cardiac life support, neonatal resuscitation program (NRP) and fetal monitoring to be a labor and delivery nurse,” Murphy said. “Many of our nurses have their advanced certification in high risk obstetrics to elevate the level of care their patients receive.”
Wesley has the largest women’s hospital staff in the region, delivering expert care to mothers and 70 percent of babies born in the region. Wesley has spent close to $40 million since 2015 renovating its Women’s Hospital and freestanding birth center – Wesley Birth Care Suites. For more information about Wesley’s birth care or maternity navigation services, please visit our labor and delivery page.