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Inside the mobile unit, midwife Rita Rhoads provides prenatal care tor Sheila Martin
while midwife Valerie Peery looks on.
Birth Care Is On The Move
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff >
QUARRYVILLE (Lancaster
Co.) Birth care is a moving
experience in Lancaster and Ches
ter counties. A mobile unit on
wheels travels from spot to spot to
offer birth care to clients.
Launched in October by Birth
Care and Family Health Services
in Quarryville, the 27-foot motor
home is equipped with a work
station with medical equipment,
bathroom, examination room, and
waiting room with a lending
library.
According to Rita Rhoads, who
founded the Quarryville Birth Care
Cento 1 in 1978 and continues to
serve as director of midwifery and
nurse practitioner, the original
concept of a mobile unit was to
make it more, convenient for
Amish clientele who often live an
hour’s drive from medical services
to receive prenatal care. Lack of
transportation can result in poor or
no prenatal care.
However, a surprising thing
happened. In some areas such as
Lititz, most clients arc middle and
upper-class non-Amish women,
who come because they like the
personal services of a midwife.
Sheila Martin fits into that
category. She and her husband
I Mr
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bers, from left, Rita Rhoads, CNM; Donna Good, LPN, Valer
ie Peery, CNN; Tracy Mauger, RN; Catherine Saunders, RN;
Maren Ketcham, administrator; and Joyce Rohm, LPN.
31. 1998'
Mtui
Cleon are expecting their first baby
in February. Although the couple
live in Manheim. Sheila began
traveling to the Quarryville Birth
Care and Family Health Services
because, she said, “I prefer the per
sonal touch rather than a doctor
who sees SO patients a day and
doesn’t have time to answer my
questions.”
* But Quarryville was a long drive
from her home, and Sheila was
delighted to hear that the mobile
unit comes to Lititz, which is only
a few miles from the Martins’
home.
Patients are given a choice of
birthing deliveries: home, birthing
center, or hospital. Rhoads said
that Birth Care and Family Health
Services is the only county prac
tice offering all three options.
“There are a few other practices
in the county that offer one of the
three or two of the three services
but not all three options,” Rhoads
said.
Sheila and Cleon plan to have
their baby at the birthing center in
Quarryville.
“Because it’s our first baby, I
didn’t quite trust to have the birth
at home.” Sheila said.
Rhoads said, "Generally we
believe it’s better to have first-time
babies at the center or at the hospi
tal because it's a new experience
and first-time parents are usually
not as confident. In addition, since
it is the first time, the mother is less
inclined to know when birth is
imminent and a midwife going to
her residence might need to wait a
day for the actual birth.”
Rhoads has the distinction of
establishing the first midwifery
center in the state.
“Birthing centers are not
intended to be high tech, because
birthing is considered a normal
process for pregnant women,”
Rhoads said. “The reason more
birthing centers are not established
is because they don’t make a lot of
money.
“The Birth Care Midwife Center
is more cost effective than the ser
vices typically provided by an
obsteddon or family doctor,” she
said.
Most insurance plans approve of
the center. Rhoads estimates that
25 percent of the patients use
insurance coverage, 5-10 percent
use a medical card, and the remain
der are private pay padents.
It is not assumed that private pay
patients cannot afford to pay full
price. If it is determined that they
cannot, a payment plan or a cost
will be negotiated.,
“We will not turn anyone
away,” Rhoads said.
The center holds an annual ben
efit auction to raise funds for
patients who cannot pay.
Certified midwifes must first
obtained a registered nursing
degree and then complete a course
in midwifery, generally a three
year course.
Follow-up care is provided.
When Rhoads noticed an abnor
malcy in a client, she made plans
immediately to send the client to a
specialist.
Rhoads said that the areas
targeted for mobile services are the
result of clients, who have been
requesting midwife services for
years in those areas.
“I assumed we would rent a
place, but it’s not feasible to rent in
so many different locations and
provide equipment for each one
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