Methodist Healthcare San Antonio Women’s Health Services

Starting in June 2010, the Women’s Pavilion at Methodist Hospital* will offer all of our expectant families the services of Biovideo, providing a free DVD of your baby’s first day. When you select Biovideo, a camera crew captures your arrival at the hospital, documents (discretely) the birth, mother’s first minutes with the baby, and the baby’s introduction to the rest of the family.

The video is professionally edited with a musical soundtrack and titles, and given to you when you check out of the hospital with your new baby. The DVD also includes an educational section to help parents in this new stage of life.

Biovideo is a free service offered to all families giving birth at Methodist Hospital. You can see a sample video by clicking the thumbnail to the right.

New parents who have received Biovideos from Methodist Stone Oak Hospital have been very pleased:

• “I absolutely loved my Biovideo! I would not have been able to fully grasp the whole experience of what was going on, especially right after the birth. The two girls that made this video possible were both very nice and professional. This is the best gift a parent could have!”
• “Our Biovideo is something we will always cherish.”
• “We love our video. Thank you so much for putting it together for us. The kids especially love to see themselves – it makes a perfect keepsake for Sophie to see once she gets older…”
• “It is something totally distinctive, capturing so many more moments of the birth experience. This being our first child, it made it all the more special to have all these images caught by your staff…”
• “We are extremely happy with our Biovideo. We have watched over and over again and still cry every time we watch it….you’re doing a great job of making mothers and their families happy by sending them home with memories that will last a lifetime.”

If you’re expecting or planning for a baby, ask your doctor about the Women’s Pavilion at Methodist Hospital.

Methodist Healthcare has instituted several proactive measures to address the swine flu health advisory including the initiation of appropriate patient protocols and the activation of emergency management procedures to handle all levels of the situation. We are following all CDC, Texas Department of Health and San Antonio Metropolitan Health guidelines and are actively involved in the Regional Medical Operations Center.

Should you have immediate questions about flu symptoms in adults or children, please call Healthcare’s Call-A-Nurse triage line at 22-NURSE (68773).

You can find more information about swine flu, including symptoms, guidelines on taking care of flu patients in your home and prevention tips by clicking here: www.cdc.gov/swineflu.

San Antonio woman shares family story and wins $1,000 for Threads of Love.

A San Antonio woman whose premature twin girls were given only a 30-percent chance of survival and who now are leading healthy, normal lives because of the care they received at Methodist Hospital has been named the first winner in Times of Your Life, a contest sponsored by Methodist Healthcare.

The contest invites the public to share personal stories about how placing their trust in Methodist Healthcare has enhanced their lives during pivotal life changes, such as the birth of a child, a battle with a life-threatening disease or the loss of a loved one.

Erin Pruetz is the first of three Times of Your Life winners. As a special gift to the community, Methodist Healthcare is making a $1,000 donation in her name to Threads of Love, Pruetz’s charity of choice. Threads of Love is a non-profit, non-denominational ministry dedicated to the production and distribution of clothing and care items to premature babies, living and deceased, serviced by San Antonio hospitals and care centers. Her entry also is posted on www.SAWomensHealth.net and will be featured in San Antonio Magazine. Additional winning entries will be selected in March and April, and the same prizes will be awarded.

Pruetz was admitted to the Women’s Pavilion at Methodist Hospital in April 2006, pregnant with identical twin girls who shared both an amniotic sac and a placenta. This condition is very rare, occurring only in about one in every 60,000 twin births. The risks included cord entanglement and death. “During my five-week stay, my twins experienced many heart-rate decelerations, in which the nurses had to act quickly to determine the cause and make a recommendation on treatment,” wrote Pruetz in her entry. “Acting too slowly could mean death for both babies, so a keen eye and excellent decision making were important.”

Pruetz said that at Methodist her girls were treated to some of the finest medical talent around. “The doctors, nurses and specialists treated our babies as if they were their own,” she wrote. “We owe our family of five to Methodist Hospital and believe that without Methodist Hospital’s pool of talent and passion, we would have never made it to today.”

People interested in entering the contest by sharing their stories can log on to SAWomensHealth.net and follow the instructions. Visitors can post their stories along with related photos, letters, drawings and videos. Entries are still being accepted for March and April.

For additional information on Times of Your Life, phone the Methodist Healthcare HealthLine, 210-575-0355, 1-800-333-7333 or visit www.SAWomensHealth.net