Volunteer Doula Program Featured by American Hospital Association

  • February 02, 2015

The American Hospital Association (AHA) chose Brookings Health System’s volunteer doula program for inclusion in its 2015 edition of “Community Connections: Ideas and Innovations for Hospital Leaders.”

The annual publication features case examples from across the country and is distributed nationwide to hospital CEOs as a way to inspire initiatives and spark dialogue. Only two programs from each state and Washington, D.C., are selected every year, qualifying for one of four categories: Social and Basic Needs, Health Promotion, Access and Coverage, or Quality of Life. Brookings Health System’s volunteer doula program was included in the Social and Basic Needs section.

Brookings Health System started the volunteer doula program in 2011 at the request of the community to add doulas as an available option to the OB care team. During registration, delivering parents are asked if they would like the free services of a volunteer doula, a nonmedical person who assists before, during and after childbirth at Brookings Health System.

Brookings Health System’s OB unit, New Beginnings Birth Center, has eight beds consisting of three labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) rooms and five 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 www.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, Arlington Medical Center and White Medical Clinic. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, surgical and extended care services. The emergency room is staffed 24 hours a day and provides around the clock patient needs ranging from minor injuries to life threatening crises. 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.