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NYHQ wins maternal health award

NYHQ wins maternal health award
Photo by Karen Frantz
By Karen Frantz

New York Hospital Queens received two of the highest rankings in the nation for excellence in maternity care Tuesday, representing what leaders of the medical team said was a remarkable feat given the difficulty of the field.

“It doesn’t just happen,” said Stephen S. Mills, president and CEO of the hospital. “It’s all about the people who are involved in what can be a very dangerous and a happy business.”

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing), who delivered both of her sons at the hospital, lauded New York Hospital Queens for providing amazing care.

“From the team to the nurses to the staff to the doctors and even the anesthesiologists, we had such a wonderful experience,” she said.

HealthGrades, a leading health care ratings company, bestowed New York Hospital Queens with a Maternity Care Excellence Award at a ceremony held at the hospital, at 56-45 Main St. in Flushing. The award is given to hospitals ranked in the top 10 percent for maternity care in the country — an award New York Hospital Queens has now won six years in a row.

Brody Westcot, strategic client manager of HealthGrades, said that out of the 5,000 hospitals the company ranks, only 149 are in the top 10 percent for maternity care and less than 20 received the award six years in a row.

New York Hospital Queens also received a five-star rating from HealthGrades, a mark that goes to the country’s top 15 percent of hospitals for maternity care.

Westcot said a 2012 study revealed that mothers and infants who received care from hospitals with a five-star rating had 62 percent fewer complications than those cared for at one-star hospitals.

“If all hospitals performed at the level of New York Hospital of Queens, there would have been 160,000 fewer women who had complications,” he said. “That’s very striking evidence of how good they are.”

Mills underscored the challenges the hospital faces in delivering more than 4,000 infants a year in the diverse Queens community.

“It’s a tough, tough business to be in,” he said. “And we serve a vast community, an ethnically diverse community. So we’ve got new mothers from all walks of life in [the hospital].”

Gary Eglinton, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology, said the staff is as diverse as the patients they serve, a factor that promotes cultural and language sensitivity and aids the hospital in carrying out their mission to serve the community.

“We must adapt to them,” he said.

Reach reporter Karen Frantz by e-mail at kfrantz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.