The Birth Center at Salina Regional Health Center has been named one of Kansas’ “Best of the Best in Metabolic and Newborn Screening” for a second year in a row. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in partnership with the Kansas Hospital Association and the Kansas Midwives Alliance, has created the recognition program for hospitals, facilities and midwives who provide newborn screening services.
The awards were released by the KDHE’s Kansas Newborn Screening Program (KS-NBS), honoring 142 birthing facilities and midwives for their dedication to higher newborn screening standards using data collected in the 2020 calendar year. Salina Regional was one of 21 facilities across the state to receive the “Best of the Best” designation.
Birthing facilities and newborn providers can earn top honors in up to five general categories by meeting or exceeding state goals or performing better than the state average. Facilities earning all recognitions for either point-of-care (hearing and critical congenital heart defects) or metabolic and genetic screenings earn a “Best of the Best” designation.
The KS-NBS Program began in 1965 and currently screens newborns for 32 rare and serious medical conditions. In response to a 2018 recommendation from the KS-NBS Advisory Committee, the program began planning to add four new conditions to Kansas’ newborn screening panel. In preparation, the program updated quality and timeliness expectations. Over the last three years, Salina Regional has worked to train its staff, update protocols and adjust to higher newborn screening standards.
“I am very proud of our Birth Center staff who have dedicated themselves to giving our babies the best chance for optimal health through quality and timely newborn screening,” said Melinda Schmidt, director of Women and Infants Services and Risk Management at Salina Regional Health Center. “It takes incredible diligence on their part to complete these screenings correctly, which in the long run can have a wonderful impact on babies and their families.”
More information on the Kansas Newborn Screening Program can be found at https://www.kdheks.gov/newborn_screening/
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Photos courtesy Salina Regional Health Center
Top Photo: Salina Regional Health Center Birth Center staff members receive a plaque for being named one of Kansas’ “Best of the Best in Metabolic and Newborn Screening” for a second year in a row.
Sanja Hower, RN, for Salina Regional Health Center’s Birth Center, conducts a newborn screening on Wednesday, December 22, 2021.
