March 04, 2015

UAB family celebrates WIC’s five-year anniversary with patients and their families

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wicThe physicians, nurses and staff of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women and Infants Centercelebrated its five-year anniversary with patients and their families the weekend of Feb. 21, 2015. Patients received a celebratory dessert and card with their lunch trays.

“It’s hard to believe that it has been five years since we opened this tremendous facility to better serve women, babies and their families,” said William Andrews, Ph.D., M.D., professor and chair of UAB’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “Everything in the Women and Infants Center is designed with patient comfort and family-centered care in mind. And while this state-of-the-art facility houses some of the most advanced medical technology available, the center is a welcoming environment because it is home to highly-trained and compassionate physicians, nurses and health professionals dedicated to the care of healthy and high-risk pregnant women, healthy and high-risk newborns, and women receiving care for a variety of gynecological problems, including gynecological cancers. It’s an honor for us to serve our community, state and beyond.”

Since the center opened Feb. 21, 2010, more than 20,300 babies have been born there, or an average of about 339 births per month. December 2014 was the month with the most deliveries recorded in the center since its opening with 414.

There have been 622 sets of twins delivered since the move-in, 38 sets of triplets, two sets of quadruplets and one set of quintuplets.

Other milestones of note include:

  • More than 210,000 clinic visits in WIC physician offices
  • More than 66,700 ultrasounds in WIC physician offices
  • More than 18,000 outpatient chemotherapy infusions performed
  • More than 6,300 mammograms performed
  • The Division of Gynecologic Oncology has cared for more than 17,000 unique patients and performed more than 7,800 surgeries for gynecologic cancers
  • The Division of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery has seen more than 6,700 women with pelvic floor disorders, including urinary and bowel incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, and performed more than 3,200 pelvic reconstructive surgeries
  • UAB’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility division has helped produce more than 125 babies through in vitro fertilization and more than 390 babies through ovulation induction and intrauterine insemination.
  • The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the specialty group for primary obstetrics and gynecology, has provided care for more than 31,000 unique women
The Women and Infants Center also has been recognized regionally and nationally as a top hospital for women and infant care, including most recently by the 2015 Women’s Choice Award and Becker’s Hospital Review.

UAB’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine division and Pediatric Cardiovascular Services also recently received attention for the care being provided to a local family as they prepare to welcome a child who will be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare heart defect that affects approximately 960 babies born in the United States each year.