HealthEast Maternity Receives Top Minnesota Hospital Award

ST. PAUL, MN--(Marketwire - June 4, 2009) - HealthEast Care System announces it's the recipient of the 2009 Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) award for "Innovation of the Year in Patient Care." MHA awarded HealthEast Maternity Care at St. John's Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital and Woodwinds Health Campus for ongoing improvements for moms and their babies during childbirth through its innovative and successful Perinatal Safety program.

"We're extremely pleased and honored to receive this prestigious award from the Minnesota Hospital Association," said Maureen Beaverson, Group Director of HealthEast Perinatal Services. "I'd like to congratulate our dedicated staff with the HealthEast Perinatal Safety Collaborative, who is continually developing and implementing safety processes to keep our level of patient care high."

HealthEast partnered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to form HealthEast's Perinatal Safety Collaborative, which is the first national collaborative community specific to maternity care. For this MHA award-winning initiative, this group developed and set in place processes to increase patient safety with the safe use of oxytocin, which is used for inducing labor. Oxytocin is a man-made form of a natural hormone that works by causing the uterus to contract and can be used during childbirth to speed delivery.

This improved safety initiative has been successfully implemented across the HealthEast system at all maternity locations, which includes St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, St. Joseph's Hospital in downtown St. Paul and Woodwinds Health Camps in Woodbury.

MHA's "Innovation of the Year in Patient Care" award honors hospitals and health care systems that have developed or implemented creative, new methods and models for the delivery of patient care.

For more information about HealthEast Maternity Care call 651-232-8080 or www.healtheast.org/maternity. For more information about this award and others visit MHA at http://www.mnhospitals.org/.

Contact Information: For more information contact: Jodi Ritacca 651-232-6410 Pager 651-864-3547