New Beginnings Birth Center at Prowers Medical Center is thriving

Pictured, left to right:  Dr. Shanon Forseter; Nicole Peacock, Medical Assistant for Dr. Forseter in the Women’s Health Clinic; Cynthia Rodriguez RN; Kori Sexson RN; Nica Ratliff RN; Pamela Tabb RN; Rita Bastian RN/Nursing Manager.  Dr. Christian Korkis could not be present for the photo.

Expectant parents in Prowers and surrounding counties can consider themselves blessed to have the New Beginnings Birth Center at Prowers Medical Center.  It is a sparkling gem in the community, filled with passionate, experienced and happy employees. Unfortunately, during the COVID pandemic, the OB department at PMC was forced to close due to a lack of experienced and vaccinated staff.  It was able to be reopened in late February of 2023 and has done nothing but grow since then.  The recent closing of La Junta’s Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center’s OB department makes the need for a local hospital that can provide OB services even more crucial.  Sadly, rumors have been spreading that PMC is either not still delivering babies or that they aren’t taking new patients.  Neither is true. Talking with expectant moms at a recent “community baby shower” in Otero County, staff members from PMC learned that 8 out of 10 pregnant patients there didn’t know that the PMC OB unit was open.

Wanting to put those rumors to bed, I met with Dr. Shanon Forseter and Dr. Christian Korkis (attending the meeting by phone), along with OB/GYN Nursing Manager Rita Bastian RN and Amanda Vasquez, Administrative Assistant/Marketing Specialist for PMC to hear from them what PMC can offer to the expectant families in the community and see the facilities.  The New Beginnings Birth Center in PMC has four LDRP rooms (labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum) that allow mothers to remain in the same room throughout their stay.  In addition, the OB department always has an operating room available for emergency and scheduled C-sections with 24-hour anesthesia care available.  There is also a triage room in the department.  The LDRP rooms will soon undergo a cosmetic remodeling along with being outfitted with new equipment and lighting.  Equipment in the unit is state of the art, and not common for a hospital of this size.  Dr. Forseter added that the OR rooms at the hospital are also “first class” and comparable to any larger hospital he’s ever worked in.  Safety of moms and babies is of utmost importance, so the unit is in a locked wing.

To address the above-mentioned rumors, PMC is not only still delivering babies, the numbers are growing each month.  Last year, 112 babies were delivered here and so far this year, 42 have been born.  July is promising to be the busiest month in the hospital’s history with 16 expectant moms having due dates that month.  Patients at any stage in their pregnancies are welcomed at PMC.  The only patients who are referred to another facility are those who are very high risk and those who go into labor before 36 weeks of gestation.  Examples of those high risk pregnancies include those with gestational diabetes, vaginal births after previous C-sections, preeclampsia, and placental issues. Also, if an expectant mother is 35 or older, she is considered high risk but Dr. Forseter says they do most of the monitoring in that situation and they can still deliver at PMC if there are no problems.  “For us, most of it is the below 36 week thing.  Imminent deliveries before 36 weeks, we are going to stabilize and try to get out” said Dr. Forseter.  If the mother is stable during labor in those instances, she is transported via helicopter or fixed wing aircraft to a UC Health hospital in Colorado Springs.  Drs. Korkis and Forseter have longstanding relationships with CU Anschutz regarding high risk moms and can coordinate care for those patients.  If the baby won’t wait and is born at PMC, baby and the mother are stabilized before being transferred to Colorado Springs.  When asked if the closing of AVRMC’s OB unit has affected PMC’s, Dr. Forseter said that he has seen several expectant moms from La Junta recently and that he and Dr. Korkis have done nothing but get busier and expects that trend to continue.

Just as important as having a top-notch facility is the dedicated, experienced, and compassionate staff that work there.  Patients delivering at PMC can rest assured that both are available to them.  Both doctors have worked in multiple hospitals throughout their careers and both unequivocally stated that PMC is “top of the line”.  Dr Korkis and Dr. Forseter have, between them, 55 years of experience (35 for Dr. Korkis and 20 for Dr. Forseter) and both are board-certified in OB/GYN, something AVRMC didn’t even have before its closing (they used traveling family medicine doctors).   Dr. Korkis has been with PMC continually for the past 18 years, with Dr. Forseter joining about 18 months ago.  The doctors are on a two-week-on/two-week-off schedule, so one is always available for patients and their babies.  The nursing staff includes 13 very experienced RNs plus the Nursing Manager, Rita Bastian. There are always at least 2 OB nurses on the unit at all times and the doctors are “only 2 minutes away” per Dr. Forseter. They are still hiring experienced OB nurses at this time.  Prior to AVRMC’s discontinuation of its OB services, PMC serviced 5 counties.  With that closure, the number has now increased to 13.

The OB/GYN department also provides screening for and provides resources for issues such as substance abuse and postpartum depression.  They will soon have two Certified Lactation Consultants, as two of the current RNs will take their tests for same in December.  The Prowers Medical Center Health Clinic next to the hospital offers a full range of gynecological health services as well, for women of all ages and now has 5 certified SANE (sexual assault nursing exam) nurses on staff.

Ms. Vasquez said the messaging that PMC would like to get across is that unlike the larger hospitals in Pueblo or Colorado Springs, PMC can offer a patient-centered feel – more like family. Ms. Bastian affirmed that statement, adding that women who come in during their pregnancies for testing will have the same nurses delivering their babies.  Dr. Forseter said “The continuity of care is really important in our specialty.  I think developing those relationships with our patients is what we should be doing in OB/GYN services.  Dr. Korkis and I and our staff, that’s the mainstay here.  Another thing Dr. Korkis and I are fortunate to have is a a nice coordination with the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical campus.  We can call for high risk coordination with them or if we have questions that need answered, which has been very nice.  We’ve been able to keep quite a bit of our high risk patients because we have that coordination with them throughout those pregnancies.  We have two experienced high risk board-certified OB/GYNs.  The whole thing is just unheard of, what they (PMC) have here for Dr. Korkis and I.  It’s just unbelievable”.

Ms. Vasquez asked Dr. Forseter to tell me his philosophy on providing care, saying how much she loved it. He said “I feel like in medicine in general, taking care of our moms and women’s health has been the mainstay of what creates a good healthcare system.  If a mom is happy in her healthcare, the rest of the family is happy.  That is what I try to create when I practice medicine.  I feel like here at Prowers, that’s what Karen (Bryant, CEO of PMC), that’s what Administration, that’s what Dr. Korkis, that’s what Rita (Bastian) and Amanda (Vaszuez), that’s what all of our people that talk about this community are focused on.  Our board members are pro-women’s health.  They want to make women’s health ‘the’ place here in this maternal desert that we have that we’re practicing in”.

Ms. Bastion added: “I started here as a travel nurse and I’ve worked at a lot of hospitals. The sense of community and the way that the Administration supports the staff so that the patients get the best is pretty amazing.  There is a lot of support and a lot of working together”.  Ms. Vasquez added “We have a culture here – we’re all a team, from the CEO to the housekeepers and everyone in between.  It takes everybody to make this work”.

“I lived in Ft. Collins for more than 20 years.  I’ve worked in hospitals up and down the front range and I’ve found PMC to be superb.  The patients get expert care in all fields.  Nursing care here is top of the line.  We have the best nurses in all of Colorado” added  Dr. Korkis.  Smiling, Ms. Bastion added “It helps that we have good doctors.  We have to be able to trust each other”.

Dr. Forseter ended our interview by stating “Dr. Korkis and I are both extremely passionate about women’s health care.  To be able to do it in a community like this – it’s been an absolute dream of mine and I’m sure Dr. Korkis can say the same.  He’s created the culture here and it’s just different than practicing in a big, huge city.  It creates more passion for medicine to be able to work like this.  I’m so fortunate to be able to have this opportunity.  The medicine is just better compared to the landscape in a big city”.

By: Barbara Crimond