UTAH, Nov. 11, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is celebrating the opening of a new state-of-the-art fetal care center “that provides a one-stop multidisciplinary approach to the care of expecting mothers whose babies have complex conditions while in the womb.”
The Utah Fetal Center operates in partnership between Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and University of Utah Health. It’s designed to ensure that mothers whose children have been diagnosed with a birth defect can receive highly-specialized care before, and after, the child is born, according to a prepared statement by U of U Health.
“We have a multidisciplinary team with doctors for both the mother and baby who have expertise in fetal medicine and surgery, and who work together to compassionately care for these complicated patients,” said Stephen Fenton, MD, a pediatric surgeon with University of Utah Health and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, and director of the Utah Fetal Center. “We want to ensure that moms and babies get the highest level of care possible both during pregnancy and after birth here in the Intermountain West,” Fenton said.
This multi-faceted plan is being fueled by an investment of at least $500 million in children’s health will be shared by Intermountain Healthcare and community philanthropic support through an emerging campaign organized by Intermountain Foundation.
At the Utah Fetal Center, mothers are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team consisting of a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor, multiple pediatric sub specialists, and additional personnel, such as a social worker, that will care for them and their babies before and after birth.
“We know what a difficult time this can be for an expecting parent,” added Fenton. “We want to make sure that they know that there is a team of experts here to help them through this process, and to give them the best chance possible of having a happy outcome for their child.”
