More than 135 years ago, the Sisters of Mercy founded St. John's Mercy Medical Center with a commitment to caring for women and children. Today we continue this mission through our Women's & Children's Health Center, where we provide compassionate care using advanced technologies, all within a caring and nurturing environment.

St. John’s Mercy offers a full range of services to meet the special needs of women throughout their lifespan. Select from the links below to learn more about our women's health quality initiatives:

Breast Center Labor and Delivery Family Focus Care (Post Partum and Newborn Nursery) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Breast Center
In the U.S., one woman in eight will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Quality breast care saves lives. St. John’s Mercy is committed to helping women receive comprehensive, quality breast care services. Our commitment is evident by our investment in high-tech mammography equipment, in staffing the St. John's Mercy Breast Center with dedicated, caring breast care professionals, and in our ongoing efforts to encourage women to get annual mammograms and to recognize the early warning signs of breast cancer.

St. John's Mercy Breast Center Quality Facts:

• The St. John's Mercy Breast Center has on-site physicians who specialize in screening, diagnosing and treating breast diseases and conditions. Our radiologists work together with our staff to make important diagnostic and treatment decisions.
• St. John's Mercy provides a wide range of breast care services, from screening and diagnostic mammograms to state-of-the-art cancer treatments and support groups. St. John’s Mercy Breast Center offers four screening locations and a mobile screening service. We screen an average of 2,700 women a month.
• St. John's Mercy offers minimally invasive breast biopsies (ultrasound guided and accredited stereotactic guided biopsies).
• Surgical intervention, sentinel lymph node mapping, axillary node dissection, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and reconstructive surgery are all treatment options available to patients diagnosed with breast cancer.
• St. John's offers many breast cancer clinical trials through the David C. Pratt Cancer Center Pharmaceutical Trials and through our membership in the St. Louis-Cape Girardeau Community Clinical Oncology Research Program (CCOP),a consortium of six institutions in Missouri and Illinois.
• Patients with abnormal mammograms or breast ultrasounds have access to a new resource at St. John's Mercy called the breast health navigator program. These patients are assigned a “nurse navigator” to educate and support them throughout their breast care. This nurse helps the patient to navigate the next steps in their care, such as diagnostic and treatment options, referrals to surgeons and oncology specialists, insurance issues, timeframes for test results, education and emotional support.
  
• St. John's Mercy technologists are specially trained and certified in mammography and are licensed by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT).
• The St. John's Mercy Breast Center is dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast disease in women. Our staff can educate you on effective breast care and prevention as well as provide you with resources on support groups, breast health information and more.
• The St. John's Mercy Breast Center is an American College of Radiology (ACR) accredited facility.

Labor and Delivery
Because bringing a new life into the world is so special, you should have confidence in the hospital and staff who provide care when your baby is born. Our Labor & Birth Center at St. John’s Mercy is known in the community for providing women with exceptional care during the birth of their babies. In our fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, 8,227 babies were born at St. John's Mercy.

Our Women's and Children's Health Center staff members have the experience and expertise to care for you and your baby - even if specialized care and equipment is required. The Perinatal Center at St. John's Mercy uses advanced technology and personalized care to help achieve the best possible outcome for mom and her baby. Maternal-fetal medicine specialists, registered nurses and certified ultrasonographers use sophisticated diagnostic equipment and therapeutic techniques to treat women with high risk pregnancies.

The Women’s Evaluation Unit (WEU) provides care for women experiencing complications with their pregnancy. Women are referred to the WEU by their physician for evaluation and treatment. A Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) completes a history and physical exam, including an ultrasound if needed. The physician and CNM consult with each other to determine the plan of care.

The Women’s & Children’s Education Department offers classes and programs to help expectant women and their families prepare for childbirth and parenthood. The classes include infant and child care for adoption, childbirth center tours, prenatal exercise, Lamaze childbirth preparation, infant care, CPR for Family and Friends, and special classes for new fathers, siblings and grandparents.

As partners in your baby’s birth, we are committed to meeting your needs through personal care and attention. We share the joy of your new baby, believing that each birth is unique - and that every baby is a miracle.

Family Focus Care (Post Partum and Newborn Nursery)
At St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, family-centered, compassionate care and advanced technology are combined to provide each family and new baby with the best possible care. Each year more than 7,200 moms and 7,400 infants are cared for at St. John’s Mercy. Our advisory board helps to direct service development and identify issues and is made up of both parents and staff members.

Our recently renovated Women’s and Children’s Center features 66 private postpartum rooms with conveniences such as DVD/VCR/TV units, individual heat and air controls, hair dryers in the bathroom and accommodations for your family. Our private rooms also feature hotel-style room service so that you can enjoy a delicious meal to order. Snack and kitchenette areas are available for family members.

At St. John’s Mercy Women's and Children's Health Center, we have the staff and facilities to care for you and your baby in any medical situation. The Newborn Nursery has a team of specialized nurses to provide attentive, personalized care. The Nursery has a capacity of 80 bassinettes. St. John’s Mercy also has the only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in St. Louis County, where our experienced neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners and staff nurses are available 24 hours a day to give premature or critically ill babies immediate special care.

Our large staff includes more than 20 maternal newborn nurses certified by The National Certification Corporation (NCC), a not-for-profit organization that provides a national credentialing program for nurses, physicians and other licensed health care personnel. 

St. John’s Mercy uses the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) to assess pain. This scale focuses on pain as a vital sign and allows for appropriate interventions to address the level of pain or discomfort. By assigning a number value to specific characteristics noted by the nurse, it allows him or her to seek appropriate treatment.

Patient safety is a priority at St. John’s Mercy. An electronic security system provides additional security to each infant on the unit. The infant security system identifies specific instances to guard against potential security breeches. Bracelet numbers and identifying information are verified with the mother any time the baby is removed from or brought back to her room. Patients are also instructed that staff members who are authorized to take the baby from their room will have a special logo incorporated on their badges.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
St. John's Mercy has St. Louis County's only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for high-risk newborns, which is staffed by board-certified neonatologists and certified neonatal nurse practitioners 24 hours a day. Patients with critical needs are admitted to our 75-bed NICU unit from throughout the bi-state area. From July 2005 through June 2006 (fiscal year), more than 1,600 babies were cared for in our NICU. St. John's Mercy also has a special team consisting of a neonatal registered nurse and neonatal respiratory therapist who transport babies needing an increased level of care from outlying facilities.

Currently, the NICU cares for an average of 67 infants each day. The average length of stay for all babies is 18 days. Babies who are born weighing less than 1500 grams stay an average of 91 days in the NICU.

The St. John's Mercy NICU is an active participant in the Vermont Oxford Network (VON), a group of more than 450 national and international NICUs who benchmark outcomes. According to VON, St. John's Mercy NICU was ranked in the best quartile in 2004 for our low number of Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH - head bleeds) which is a common complication of prematurity. St. John's Mercy is also participating with VON in a collaborative effort to improve neonatal nutrition.

A multidisciplinary team is exploring a new NICU care design to allow expansion to 100 beds in the future. Site visits have been completed at several other hospitals to examine similar designs.

© 2008 St. John's Mercy Health Care
615 S. New Ballas Rd., St. Louis, Missouri, 63141