Banner Thunderbird opens Maternal Fetal center
GLENDALE, Ariz. – (Aug. 5, 2009) – Banner Thunderbird’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Center, which opened to patients Aug. 5, provides an excellent resource to the Northwest Valley’s high risk mothers.
Before the center opened, high risk mothers who received care at Banner Thunderbird would have to visit several departments to complete lab work, get ultrasounds and be seen by Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists. Now everything is available in one convenient center on the lower level of the Glendale hospital.
Banner Thunderbird’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Center offers the state-of-the-art technology including 3D and 4D ultrasound, allowing our medical experts to keep a close eye on an unborn baby’s growth, development and even birth defects. The equipment and specially trained staff also work with mothers who need special care for risk factors during their pregnancies.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Director Kathleen Kuhlman, MD, said the center is part of Banner Thunderbird’s mission to serve high risk moms and babies in the Northwest Valley without having to travel to downtown Phoenix or the East Valley for care. Banner Thunderbird is the only facility in the West Valley to have earned a Level III status from the Arizona Perinatal Trust for its care of high risk mothers and critically ill newborns in its neonatal intensive care unit. The new Maternal Fetal Medicine Center is part of achieving that status which was awarded in October 2008.
"We are so proud of our ability to care for the most critically ill mothers and newborns right here in our community," said Public Relations Director Rainey Daye Holloway. "Having a child is one of the most exciting and nerve-racking times in the life of a family – we try to make the experience the best it can be by providing the best care close to home."
The center offers full-service care for both inpatients and outpatients from childbearing age to menopause. Services include preconception testing to determine if timing is right for those women planning to start a family as well as testing and information on infertility issues and ultrasounds to determine abnormalities in the reproductive system. Expectant moms can receive important services such as genetic testing, obstetric ultrasound and diabetic care. In addition women with general reproductive system health needs can be seen at the center for issues including testing for fibroids, polyps and endometriosis.
The Maternal Fetal Medicine Center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information visit www.BannerHealth.com/Thunderbird or call (602) 865-4200.
About Banner Thunderbird Medical Center
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, part of Banner Health—a nonprofit health system with 22 hospitals throughout the West—is a 409-bed acute-care hospital featuring a behavioral health center, children’s center and dedicated outpatient center.
