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GRITMAN
Medical Cen-
ter’s Family Birth Center has been
recognized with a HealthStream
Excellence rough Insight Award
as a result of patient surveys from
hospitals nationwide. e center re-
ceived the highest ratings in patient
satisfaction from among more than
1,000 HealthStream hospitals.
“Patients today want birthing
suites as comfortable as possible,
and they expect amenities usually
found at home or a luxury hotel,”
said Alyssa
Martsching,
Director of the
Gritman Fam-
ily Birth Center,
which delivered
363 babies in 2013. “We have tried
hard to meet that expectation with a
queen bed, massages and good food,
although top-notch medical care re-
mains at the core of the experience.”
e Family Birth Center was com-
pared to birth centers nationwide to
earn its top ranking in patient mater-
nity. For these “unit-speci c awards,”
hospitals of all sizes are evaluated
equally, based only on patient re-
sponses to surveys. Gritman, with
450 employees, was evaluated against
much larger hospitals.
“As with many things, it’s not
about the size of the institution but
about its commitment to excel-
lent patient care,” said Gritman
CEO Kara Besst. “At Gritman, we
work hard to make the birth pro-
cess as ful lling as possible, and we
think our smaller size is actually
an advantage. We have had people
come from as far
away as Florida
speci cally
to have their
baby at Grit-
man, and this
award reinforces our mission to
provide excellent patient care to our
communities.”
In addition to a candlelight din-
ner, Jacuzzis and massages, moth-
ers (and fathers) take advantage of
the childbirth education class. is
six-week course is designed to give
rst-time parents an understanding
of labor and delivery, breathing and
The royal
treatment
Bess and Bryan Blakey had a daugh-
ter at Gritman in July 2014, after hav-
ing their rst two daughters at home.
The queen bed made their stay more
comfortable, and the Jacuzzi tub and
candlelight dinner also promoted
relaxation.
“There’s nothing like getting a mas-
sage right after having a baby. It really
feels like royal treatment,”said Bess
Blakey.“The nurses were wonderful;
they helped us with everything we
needed but were able to give us our
privacy as well. We had some wonder-
ful family bonding time.”
G R I T M A N F A M I L Y B I R T H C E N T E R
Awarded for patient
satisfaction!
Expecting? For more information
on the Gritman Family Birth Center,
visit
.
relaxation techniques, postpartum
education and baby care.
“We applaud Gritman Medical
Center’s high-level commitment
to excellence in healthcare,” said
Robert A. Frist Jr., HealthStream
CEO. “We are pleased to recognize
their achievement through our pre-
sentation of an Excellence rough
Insight Award.”
HealthStream provides training,
management assessment, consulting
and related services to healthcare
providers, encompassing nearly
4 million healthcare employees in
the United States.
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