Western Baptist supports effort in TV special on premature births
As a participant in a statewide initiative to reduce the number of premature births, Western Baptist Hospital obstetrics staff says the message in an upcoming television special is important to Kentucky.
The show, “Born Too Soon: a KET Special Report,” will air at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, on KET and at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, on KET2.
The report is part of Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait, a three-year partnership launched in 2007 with the March of Dimes, Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute and the Kentucky Department of Public Health. Six Kentucky hospitals, including Western Baptist, participated in this project.
“We are working to increase public awareness of the risks associated with prematurity,” said Kyra Brackin, R.N., coordinator in Western Baptist’s Maternal Child Services department.
Western Baptist was a control site, along with Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset and Norton Hospital (Downtown) in Louisville. Three intervention sites -- King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Trover Clinic/Regional Medical Center in Madisonville and University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington -- are featured in the KET special.
Prematurity is the leading cause of newborn infant death. In the U.S. and in Kentucky, about one in eight babies is born prematurely (before 37 weeks).
Western Baptist obstetrician Pamela Hodges, M.D., is president of the Kentucky Perinatal Association. “We have been working diligently with the March of Dimes researching the reasons our premature rate has risen the last 10 years,” Dr. Hodges said.
Most people realize that babies born around 25 weeks are premature, but Dr. Hodges said many aren’t aware that babies delivered at 36 or 37 weeks are considered premature as well.
“Babies born then, even babies that look normal, can have feeding problems, problems with jaundice and problems with learning disabilities,” Dr. Hodges said.
A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks. “The last five weeks are important,” she said. “The brain grows the last third of its size during that time.”
In recent years, many have begun to think 39 weeks is full-term, even though that last week is important in the child’s development. “Some early deliveries are because of physicians,” Dr. Hodges said, “and some are because of patients, but it’s having ramifications.”
Those ramifications are examined in “Born Too Soon.” The TV special looks at the causes of preterm birth, the impact of scheduling labor for convenience and statewide efforts to prevent this serious and costly health issue.