A very generous donation from Wimmera Heath Care Group Foundation has supported Grampians Health Horsham to upgrade the birthing beds in Yandilla maternity unit.
Yandilla nurse unit manager and midwife Michelle Coutts said the $60,000 upgrade was an important one for the birthing unit because the previous beds had been in use for around a decade.
“The new beds are fully electronic with a retractable foot section that removes the occupational health and safety risk associated with the previous beds,” she said.
“Before we got these, you had to manually remove the foot end of the bed for birthing and post birth procedures.”
Grampians Health deputy chief operating officer hospitals-west Carolyn Robertson said the donation from Foundation was another important one.
“We currently have a birth rate of approximately 300 a year at Horsham and it is in the strategic plan to grow that number significantly,” Ms Robertson said.
“We have been increasing our maternity services and adopting a new model of care and we hope to grow the service to provide for up to 400 or more women to birth at Horsham each year.
“The support from the Foundation has always been invaluable and we appreciate the work they continue to do for our Horsham and Dimboola campuses,” she said.
Strategies to support birthing families at Horsham recently have included the opening of the Maternity Outpatients Clinic in McPherson Street late last year and the recent introduction of a full-time lactation service.
Picture: Yandilla Nurse Unit Manager Michelle Coutts and WHCG Foundation Director David Johns with one of the new birthing beds.
14 April 2023