DES MOINES, Iowa — MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center unveiled a new program Tuesday to combat shrinking obstetric resource in rural Iowa.
The new Maternal Transport Team, which will see the medical center utilize MercyOne Air Med, will position itself to offer specialized care to mothers experiencing difficult labor conditions.
MercyOne said that it employed a similar program around two decades ago, but it went largely underutilized due to there being far more obstetric providers in the state at the time. The new program was developed to combat the shortage that has now surfaced.
“We wanted to show that MercyOne is investing in Maternal Health, and our goal is to improve access to care by creating a mechanism for the care to go right to the patient,” said Ryan Gochoel, Regional Director of MercyOne Emergency Transport.
The program, which has been under development for the last year, will see emergency medical technicians (EMT), the hospital's flight team and the neonatal intensive care (NICU) and maternal teams working together.
“There is nothing routine about any EMS or Air Med call, and our Maternal Transport Team takes this service to another level, bringing heightened, specified care for the most vulnerable of our patients,” says Dennis Szurkus, MD, Chief Medical Officer for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center.
Each MercyOne Maternal Transport will be composed of a pilot, high-risk obstetric nurse and either a flight nurse, ground EMT, paramedic or additional high-risk obstetric nurse.
Each team has received extensive training in ground transport and aviation safety along with obstetric critical care.
According to MercyOne, the program is already making a difference after a set of twins were delivered safely after their mother was airlifted from Waterloo to Des Moines.
Neil Mandsager, MD, had been monitoring the twins' mother and recognized she could have pregnancy risks before she eventually went into preterm labor.
After getting airlifted to Des Moines, MercyOne staff was able to safely deliver the twins and they were quickly taken to the NICU where they are growing stronger daily.