The Serenity Birthing Suite, based at City Hospital, celebrated its fifth birthday on Tuesday 5th April with a seminar for people who have been directly involved with the centre since its opening.
Student Midwives, local birth-teachers, midwives and parents whose children were born on the unit attended the celebration which reviewed the first five years of Serenity and put into perspective how successful the suite has been.
Unit staff have helped to deliver over 5000 babies over the years and have no plans to slow down. The team is always looking to the future and the two hosts for the evening, Olivia Agar and Helen Powell, spoke passionately about this.
“We are very proud of everything we have achieved throughout the years and we will strive to keep up a very good standard of care to all who use our service.
“Our future plans are to continue to improve our midwifery skills and do what is best for the mothers.”
The guest speaker for the night was Beverley Beech, Chair of the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS), who used the Serenity Suite as a shining example of what the future of maternity should look like.
“I have been to birthing centres around the United Kingdom and across Europe and many of them do not come up to the standard of Serenity, so I am happy whenever I hear it being mentioned,” said Mrs Beech.
AIMS is a voluntary organisation which was founded in 1960 with the aim of improving maternity care to the benefit of both mother and baby.
AIMS’ members – parents, midwives, doctors and other health professionals – are drawn from all over Britain and Ireland, as well as abroad. There are AIMS contacts throughout the country that support each other and campaign on national and local issues.
At the end of the event on Tuesday, which also happened to be the International Day of the Midwife, Olivia and Helen gave the mothers and fathers in the room a chance to share their experiences with everyone and it was very evident how much the midwives and all other staff from the unit has touched these families lives.
“Our little girl was born here not too long ago and we cannot fault the help and care we received here so we would like to say thank you” said one mum while cradling her young child.
Midwifery can be at times challenging, but all of the hard work of the past five years has contributed to the success of the unit and it shows no sign of slowing down. It is hoped that women and their families in the Birmingham area continue to use this service.
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