Pre-natel Care

Expert Prenatal Health Unit

Family Healthcare is a community health care non-profit that first opened its doors in 2002. We have four clinics; two in St George, One in Hurricane and one in Cedar City. We will be opening our doors to a new clinic in Hurricane in Spring. One of the many services we provide to women is prenatal and delivery services. Very few of our patients have insurance. There may be one during a year. Usually 100% of our prenatal patients are uninsured. We serve uninsured pregnant women ages 17 through 40, 48 percent White and 47 percent Hispanic. Sixty-three percent of all patients are 100 percent of poverty.

In 2016 we served 175 patients and performed 98 deliveries. In 2015, we provided services to 200 patients and 125 delivered. We do not deliver all of our patients: many move before delivery; some are referred to hospitals for delivery; very few miscarry in early months. Some of our high-risk patients need C-Sections which we also perform.

Prenatal care helps decrease risks during pregnancy and increases the chance of a safe and healthy delivery. Regular prenatal visits our doctors monitor the pregnancy and identify any problems or complications before they become serious. Babies born to mothers who lack prenatal care have triple the chance of being born at a low birth. Newborns with low birth weight are five times more likely to die than those whose mothers received prenatal care. We offer a $20 gift card to early entry of mothers. This is to ensure that the mothers get early entry prenatal care which is so important to the baby and the mother’s health. This incentive is shared with our partners and the mothers who come in for prenatal services. Word gets around and it works!

World Class Prenatal Care

At the first visit we provide a complete physical exam, including a pelvic exam and Pap test. We take blood and urine for lab work; check blood pressure, height, and weight; calculate due date, and answer questions. The labs may be carried throughout the pregnancy. We also do a dental examination. Most of our patients come to us with needed dental work. Because of their lack of insurance they can have multiple dental problems. Oral health is extremely important for prenatal patients. We partner with Delta Dental to provide this care that is not included in the $2,762 average costs for prenatal care.

Follow-up exams are critical: we measure the abdomen to check baby’s growth and heart rate. We also check the mother’s weight, blood pressure, diet, blood and urine lab work and other health care concerns of the mothers. Our doctors often refer prenatal patients to our behavioral specialists. They may need help and support for depression and anxiety. If they are taking medications for depression, we try and wean them off the drug and/or manage their medications. Behavioral health care can help the mothers to get off all medications that may harm their child. That is one goal of our behavioral health specialists, the others are helping them deal with depression and anxiety.

We also administer Dtap vaccines to mothers and fathers so that the baby is not subject to the Whooping cough virus when baby goes home.