Chester County Hospital Records a Milestone 3,000 Births

Talk about a baby boom! That’s what’s going on at Chester County Hospital. In fiscal year 2021, 2,921 babies were delivered at CCH; in fiscal year 2022, that number jumped to 3,231, an increase of more than 10 percent.

Katie Luzi Costantini, MSN, RNC-MNN, director of Maternal Child Services for Chester County Hospital, points to the abundance of new residential construction across the region in recent years and suspects that the influx of young families could be part of the reason for CCH’s increased birth rate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county’s population increased by seven percent between 2010 and 2020.

Amy Latyak, BSN, RN, CCE, CBC, the hospital’s Childbirth Education Program coordinator, also attributes part of the rise to a growing awareness of the hospital’s reputation. In August, CCH was one of 145 hospitals nationwide and one of three in Pennsylvania to be included in Healthgrades’ list of National Leaders in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance using objective quality measures including clinical outcomes, patient safety, and patient experience.

Latyak oversees the hospital’s Mother Baby Facebook Group, a forum with more than 2,800 members where expecting parents can pose questions to nurses and specialists at Chester County Hospital. There’s also a wealth of posts by new parents who happily share the intimate details of their positive delivery experiences at the hospital. “I think that helps people solidify their decision to deliver here,” Latyak says.

One example is Amy Bergmaier. As a result of potential complications, she was scheduled to deliver her son, Noah, through C-section at CCH at 37 weeks. Bergmaier describes the experience as a positive one. “All of my nurses were just wonderful,” she says.

To help new parents adapt to life with their newborn in real time, Latyak helped develop the Parent Wellness Network, which includes resources for lactation counseling and perinatal mood disorders, as well as three free support groups: one for breastfeeding mothers; Moms Supporting Moms, where a maternal mental health specialist moderates open-ended discussions; and a group for new dads that’s led by an obstetrician and a physical therapist, both fathers themselves.

“Every Maternal Child team member cares for our patients like family members,” says Costantini. “A big part of that recognizes their individuality,” she says. “The art of what we do is trying better to understand our patients’ different perspectives and philosophies.”

Costantini speaks from experience. She was appointed director of Maternal Child Services in August. Before that, she was a maternal child nurse at the hospital. And during the early, uncertain days of the pandemic, she was an anxious mom about to give birth to her third child.

“I felt like I had advocates all around me looking out for my best interest. And I knew that this was where I would receive the highest quality care,” she says. “As we left the hospital, my husband was in awe of how personal my care was. That’s what makes Chester County Hospital special.”