New Beginnings Birth Center Launches TeamBirth Program for Labor and Delivery

  • December 01, 2025
OBGYN Dr. Tara Haarsma, DO, visits with a patient at New Beginnings Birth Center while Obstetrics Nurse Morgan Bolstad, RN, listens in. New Beginnings Birth Center is launching the TeamBirth program, a care model that focuses on shared decision making between doctors, nurses, patients and their support people at critical points during the labor and delivery process. TeamBirth offers proven, evidence-based care the empowers mothers to play an active role in their birth experience.
OBGYN Dr. Tara Haarsma, DO, visits with a patient at New Beginnings Birth Center while Obstetrics Nurse Morgan Bolstad, RN, listens in. New Beginnings Birth Center is launching the TeamBirth program, a care model that focuses on shared decision making between doctors, nurses, patients and their support people at critical points during the labor and delivery process. TeamBirth offers proven, evidence-based care the empowers mothers to play an active role in their birth experience.

New Beginnings Birth Center at Brookings Health System is enhancing local maternity care by launching the TeamBirth program, becoming the first maternity unit in South Dakota to implement the nationally recognized initiative. 

“Implementing TeamBirth processes and workflows will help our labor and delivery team act more intentionally to include the patient and her support persons in decision making,” said Obstetrics Director Michelle Sand. “TeamBirth is a proven, evidence-based care model that empowers patients to play an active role in their care and elevates our team’s efforts in shared decision-making.”

Developed by Ariadne Labs, a joint center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, TeamBirth focuses on shared decision-making. The model includes structured huddles between the doctor, nurse, patient and their support persons at critical points during an OB stay: upon admission, during changes in the mother’s or baby’s condition, during delivery decisions and whenever requested by the patient or a care team member. Decisions are captured on a communication board so all members of the team understand the plan of care.

TeamBirth improves communication during the birth process, making the patient the focus of the labor and delivery experience. By prioritizing quality, safety and shared decision-making, the program makes the patient’s voice central to plans of care and gives every mother a chance at a safe, dignified childbirth experience. 

Brookings Health System’s OB unit, New Beginnings Birth Center, has eight beds consisting of five labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) suites and three postpartum recovery rooms. The unit provides full OB services to expectant parents and enables area residents to deliver their baby close to home with a local physician. To learn more about New Beginnings Birth Center, please visit brookingshealth.org/OB.

About Brookings Health System

Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic & Optical, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and extended care services. Brookings Hospital provides local access to doctors in Brookings and offers robotic da Vinci surgery and Mako robotic-arm assisted procedures, making it one of the premier rural community hospitals in South Dakota. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.