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Chattanooga: Area hospitals using e-mail to personalize service for expectant parents

By: Clint Cooper
(Contact)

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Pat Holloway

Around week 16 of their development, babies begin to develop the ridge patterns on their fingertips that will mark them for life.

Expectant parents might learn that tip if they are thorough readers of a book on pregnancy and development, but area parents can learn that and more in a customized weekly e-mail from Parkridge East Hospital.

In March, the hospital launched a free service that sends its registered parents-to-be week-by-week information on fetal development, the latest research findings, wellness tips and access to other resources.

After the baby’s birth and for the first year of life, the e-mail service provides parents with child development information, tips on baby care and other topics of interest.

“It’s great,” said Hixson parent Kristi New, whose daughter, Emily, was born at Parkridge East. “Any information is good information. You need all the help you can get.”

Area birthing hospitals are constantly improving their technology to provide better education or make things more convenient for parents and their families, officials said.

Erlanger East Campus recently upgraded its technology to provide easier access to a real-time feed that will allow friends or relatives of birth families the opportunity to watch a birth.

Two operating room suites are equipped with the technology, said Michelle Shrum, nurse manager for single-room maternity care at the hospital.

Within 30 minutes to an hour’s notice, the hospital can make the preparations, she said. A secure e-mail address is e-mailed to the people who would watch the delivery. The people on the other end need only a computer and Web access, she said.

“They can hear and see but can’t speak back,” Mrs. Shrum said.

She said the technology recently was used for the first time to allow a soldier in Germany to witness the birth of his child.

“It was incredible,” Mrs. Shrum said.

Parents at both Erlanger’s East Campus and its Baroness Campus also have access to the hospital’s systemwide free Carepages service, which allows patient families to customize — in a manner similar to Facebook or MySpace — a secure page that affords photographs, e-mails and other updates on a patient’s pregnancy and new baby.

For an extra charge, the baby’s family can customize the information on their page into a 30-page hard-cover or soft-cover book.

“It’s a nice little keepsake,” said Erlanger spokeswoman Christine Gordon.

Within a month, Parkridge East plans to add, through their e-mail newsletter, an opportunity for parents and expectant parents to ask questions of an expert from the hospital’s maternity department.

“We’d take any question,” said Parkridge East spokeswoman Pat Holloway. “We can try to find the answer for whomever. We certainly know the doctors are getting those questions in their office, so we see this as a way to support what’s going on in the office and provide them some more information.”

In the meantime, she said, the customized newsletter has a large list of resources, links to hospital services and a physician directory.

Similarly, Erlanger has on its Web site an overview of campus services “you would expect” if you are expecting, according to Mrs. Shrum, and soon will include a DVD with the same information in the physical packet of materials expectant parents receive.

Through a grant from the March of Dimes, Hutcheson Medical Center provides pamphlets with important information for expectant mothers, a hospital spokeswoman said. Hospital maternity officials also point expectant mothers to the organization’s Web site for additional information, she said.