Birth and baby fair held at St. Anthony Community Hospital

Warwick — Mothers and mothers-to-be, along with dads and other family members, filled the lower level corridors and cafeteria area at St. Anthony Community Hospital for the “Pregnancy, Birth and Babies” fair sponsored by Horizon Family Medical Group in cooperation with the hospital. The evening event featured tours of the award-winning Kennedy Birthing Center, prenatal education lectures, prizes, raffles, refreshments and displays by local vendors and healthcare providers. Recently, Dr. Alex Joanow and Dr. Dominic Aro of Horizon Family Medical Group’s Women’s Health Division had decided to invite expectant mothers and their families to St. Anthony Community Hospital for a tour of the Kennedy Birthing Center. At the same time, they reasoned, it would also be an opportunity for the visitors to attend informative lectures and to meet the owners and managers of local businesses and healthcare providers. The lecture topics during the evening included First Trimester Screening Techniques; Prenatal Testing, Car Seat Safety, Nutrition and Pregnancy, and Exercise and Pregnancy. Both Joanow and Aro as well as St. Anthony Community Hospital Maternity Consultant and OB/GYN Nurse Manager Diane De Freest were on hand to answer questions. The individual vendors and health care professionals who had displays and were also available to answer questions included consultants with expertise in lactation, mom and baby fitness, baby photography, infant massage, prenatal yoga, infant formula and cord blood bank information. “We are happy that so many people came out to take advantage of this event,” said Joanow. “The response from our patients has been overwhelmingly positive and appreciative. And we thank the staff at St. Anthony Community Hospital, the Kennedy Birthing Center, the vendors and other healthcare providers who helped to make this event such a big success.” More than 600 babies are born each year at St. Anthony Community Hospital, a member of the Bon Secours Charity Health System. The Kennedy Birthing Center was built to provide homelike surroundings for a more natural labor, delivery and recovery right in the same birthing suite. The unit also has a C-Section Suite, a large nursery and several gynecological rooms.