Bay Area Babies and Families “Start Strong” at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

Hospital launches engagement that confirms preeminence in caring for expectant moms and their babies

For Release: June 10, 2013

Palo Alto, Calif. -  In an exciting new conversation with the community, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford has discovered families throughout the Bay Area have some very important messages to share.

• “As a new parent, I was very nervous, but the staff kept me calm and supported.”
• “For us, even though everything went without complication, we wanted to have the best access to all the possible care we might need.”
• “I delivered my two children at different hospitals. It was like two different worlds. At Packard Children’s, I was supported by decades of knowledge and expertise—and it made our start so much stronger.”

Since last fall, the hospital’s Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services has been asking families why they chose or were choosing to have their baby at Packard Children’s. “Right away, we started noticing a theme,” said Yasser El-Sayed, MD, obstetrician-in-chief at Packard Children’s. “Moms, dads and partners said over and over that Packard Children’s would give their child the best chance to start life strong and healthy.”

The engagement, conducted through social media, mothers clubs, phone calls and hospital classes, “turned out to be a powerful way to learn what we are best at, and if there were areas we could improve,” El-Sayed added. “The testimonials were quite balanced. There were families who said Stanford’s strong reputation for research and innovation led them here. Others said it was because of a prior, world-class experience for another child. And it was no surprise at all to hear families confirm that our team is strongest not just for normal births, but for births that could have complications.”

This led to the launch of a new website, startstrongbaby.com, that provides a roadmap to having a baby at Packard Children’s. It’s yet another innovation for a hospital that delivers nearly 5,000 babies a year and has a neonatology team ranked in America’s top 10. “We’re also home to the lowest C-section rates of any hospital on the Peninsula,” added El-Sayed, “and we support individualized birth plan choices and have a supportive breastfeeding environment.”

Additionally, the site provides information for over a dozen classes designed for every step of becoming a parent, from Prenatal Pilates to Bringing Baby Home to Infant & Child CPR. “We’re really proud of these programs,” said El-Sayed, “and they provide lessons that last a lifetime.” And the classes and services are not just for moms who want their babies to start strong.

“As a first-time dad, I was anxious,” said one new father, who soaked up just about every class the hospital offered. “But the doctors, nurses and staff were with me all the way through. You could tell they were absolute experts and truly passionate about our family. My wife and I now have strong and healthy twins, and we would not hesitate to return for baby #3.”

To find out more about having a baby at Packard Children’s, visit startstrongbaby.com or call 650-498-BABY.

Authors

Robert Dicks
650-497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org

About Packard Children’s Obstetric Services

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford provides the best care available to expectant moms and their babies. Our highly specialized obstetric, neonatal and maternal-fetal medicine specialists provide nurturing support to every mother, whether her pregnancy and delivery are normal or complex, so her baby can start life strong. We inform, support and celebrate women and families as they welcome their new baby and embark on their happiest, healthiest life together.