Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge will open the state’s first 10-bed inpatient mental health unit for pregnant and postpartum women. President Rene Ragas says mental health challenges are a leading cause of maternal mortality.
“Birth related PTSD are all among the most common complications of pregnancy and childbirth affecting one and five women. Of those 75 percent, go untreated. And this is why we’re doing it and it’s the right thing to do right now.”
The unit will allow mothers to spend time with their newborns as they receive mental health treatments. Senior Vice President of Patient Care Cheri Barker Johnson says the unit will be designed to address mental issues by a qualified staff.
“We will hire on a team that will include a psychiatrist, social workers, to make sure we have all the things in place to provide support groups, therapies, those types of things.”
The state’s pregnancy-associated mortality report for 2017 to 2019 found mental health disorders directly impacted 14 percent of pregnancy-related deaths. Johnson says women who are pregnant and postpartum are often sent to other facilities outside of the community.
“Being separated from your newborn just really isn’t the best. In this unit we’ll be able to support her through any of those specific needs a pregnant or postpartum mom might need.”
The unit will be one of only several in the U-S. The hospital plans to open the unit next fall.
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