Wednesday, March 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Birthing is big business in Southern Nevada.
"Oh yes, there has been tremendous growth," said Janine Drake, manager of the "Pathways to Parenthood" program at Desert Springs Hospital's new maternity center.
"Statistics show that just in Henderson, there has been a 166 percent rate of growth in the past two years," said Drake, who noted than many new residents are young couples planning families.
In order to give Southern Nevada's newest residents the best possible start, Desert Springs opened its 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility with seven labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum suites a week ago.
"Our first baby was born 3 a.m. Wednesday," said Caroline Copeland, director of women's services at the hospital. "His name is Dustin and he is happy and healthy."
When Dustin opened his eyes, he found himself in a comfortable suite, complete with a parquet wooden floor, color television, VCR, and wallpaper in Southwest tradition.
The $1.3 million facility, which includes another $1.3 million in equipment, is located in a separate building on the hospital grounds.
"Because we are in a separate facility, we provide a home-like atmosphere for our patients," Copeland said. "They don't have to walk through a hospital corridor to get to the maternity center."
At the maternity center, the focus is on parenting, said Copeland, who explained that studies indicate a 25 percent reduction in child abuse where a strong maternal-infant bond is established early on.
"We believe that the more input from the beginning, the more both parents understand the growth and development of babies," Drake said.
And so, Drake teaches the birthing experience to expectant mothers in the third trimester. After the baby is born, all aspects of child rearing are taught -- including feeding, changing and how an older brother or sister is likely to react to the presence of a new baby in the household.
"We teach everything from A to Z," Drake said.
The center is recognized and approved by most major health insurance carriers.
Officials at other area hospitals say there is certainly a need for another maternity facility.
"Business is great. We are experiencing tremendous growth, and that translates to a lot of babies being born," said Diane Williams, manager of the maternity and delivery unit at Columbia Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where more than 6,200 babies were born last year.
At University Medical Center, 4,103 babies were born last year.
Sunrise, which has been designated as the state's Southwest regional neonatal unit, and University Medical Center, both have the facilities to handle high-risk deliveries.
In addition, both hospitals employ the new technique of combining the labor and delivery room.
"In the old days the mother experienced labor in one room, and then was taken to a delivery room, and then to a recovery room," Williams said. "This tends to detract from the overall recovery experience."
At both hospitals, babies weighing as little as one pound are cared for.
"We recently remodeled our whole labor and delivery unit," said Dale Pugh, UMC spokesman. "The significant thing that occurs here and nowhere else is that UMC has an obstetrician in house 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and this helps contributes to a very low C-section rate."
Pugh noted that UMC handles many high-risk deliveries.
"We have a larger concentration of specialists in the hospital to take care of the mother, should anything go wrong."
Despite the high costs associated with having a child, which range from $3,000 with no complications to well over $100,000 with complications, no expectant mother is turned away from either Columbia Sunrise or UMC.
"We're responsible for treating anyone regardless of their ability to pay," Pugh said.
"We make no distinction whatsoever as to (ability to pay) for labor and delivery," said Williams at Sunrise. "On what's not paid, we try to write off."
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