Improving quality of care for birthing has been a laser focus for Rutland Regional Medical Center’s (RRMC) Women and Children’s Unit and Birthing Center. This past January, the steady work to improve maternal health outcomes paid off when the hospital was formally named a Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care—the only hospital in Vermont to receive this distinction. This award is for exceptional care demonstrated through specific measurable outcomes at facilities that meaningfully differentiate the delivery of care.
Leah Romine, nurse director of the Women’s and Children’s Unit and Birthing Center at RRMC has been a leaders in the program’s steady growth in quality outcomes and recently spoke about her hopes for improved maternal health across the state. She issued a challenge: that every birthing program across Vermont close the gaps in maternal care outcomes and attain the Blue Distinction Center designation.
Rutland Regional’s care outcomes are “a great lesson for statewide conversations at other health care facilities. There’s a lot to learn here; our goal is to raise the bar for all Vermonters,” said Romine. “I’d love to see everybody get awarded the Blue Distinction for Maternity Care too… Healthy Vermonters everywhere! One down – 13 to go.”
To be named a Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, RRMC put in place various evidence-based trainings and procedures to reduce traumatic births, severe maternal morbidity events, and cesarean sections.
With 26 years of experience as a labor and delivery nurse working in hospitals in Los Angeles before joining RRMC, Romine applied her experience to the task of earning this distinction. Together with her team, she has shown the Rutland community that intention and dedication can lead to positive change, according
