The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
Issue link: https://louisville.epubxp.com/i/643329
1 4 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U News & Impact UofL Center for Women & Infants fi rst in state with Family-Centered Cesarean Delivery A new option in childbirth at the University of Louisville Center for Woman & Infants (CWI) helps families undergoing cesarean delivery feel more connected to the birth experience. The CWI is the f rst in Kentucky to offer Family-Centered Cesarean Delivery, allowing moms and dads to watch via a clear plastic sterile drape as their babies are delivered. For patients requiring cesarean births, an opaque drape is used while incisions are being made. When it comes time for the baby to be lifted from the mother, the opaque drape is peeled away, leaving the clear drape in its place. In the traditional C-section, a closed curtain shields the sterile operating f eld. Mothers don't see the procedure and their babies are immediately whisked away for pediatric care — a separation that can last for 30 minutes or more. With Family-Centered Cesarean Delivery, however, new moms and dads see their babies being born. Babies are still assessed by pediatrics staff, but the drape allows the baby to remain in the mother's sight during this assessment. For many women, being told they need a C-section is unpleasant news. Woman who have C-sections typically say they feel like they haven't given birth but have had surgery instead. Seeing it was important to the couple who experienced that f rst Family- Centered Cesarean Delivery at the CWI, Alexandra Pruitt and her husband William Spalding of Louisville. They brought their f rst child, a son named Henry Lukey Spalding, into the world on June 26. "I believe this is the future of C-sections," Spalding said. "I see the Family- Centered Cesarean Delivery as the way all C-sections will be performed in the future." "I can't imagine doing it any other way," Pruitt said. "We are very grateful this is how we were able to bring Henry into the world." LEFT TO RIGHT: Taylor Whitaker, RN, Tina Bramer, RN and Lisa Bunnell, RN, display the new type of drape now available for use during cesarean births at the UofL Center for Women & Infants. The sterile clear plastic fi eld allows parents to actually see their baby being born via Family-Centered Cesarean Delivery. ACTively engaged Can acting out a story help preschoolers be better prepared for kindergarten? Def nitely. That's the conclusion of faculty researchers and student teachers in the College of Education and Human Development after they launched a program that trains future teachers to add a little drama to their classroom instruction. Funded by a $247,000 grant from the PNC Foun- dation, the PNC Grow Up Great Fellows program began in 2014. About 10 fellows — all of them UofL early childhood/ele- mentary education majors — are selected each fall semester to help at-risk, pre-kindergarten students at Jefferson County Public School's DuValle Educa- tion Center and Unseld Elementary. To date, hundreds of preschoolers have been entertained — and taught — by the PNC Fellows who worked with the experts at StageOne Family Theatre to hone their drama skills. Jill Jacobi-Vessels, an assistant professor of early childhood education who has oversight for the fellows, said the students worked with StageOne to learn how to engage children. The youngsters who take part in the program are able to quickly step into roles that require them to use math, literacy and social skills to solve problems, she said. President James Ramsey said the program underscores the power of community partnerships in education, as it brought together PNC Foundation, JCPS, StageOne and UofL. "Education is a contin- uous, lifelong process that works best when schools, businesses and nonprof t organizations all work together," Ramsey said. "That's why our PNC Grow Up Great Fellows program is a perfect example of how collabo- ration can transform our city and our future." PNC Grow Up Great Fellows Catherine Dircksen (left) and Whitney Thompson-Martin captivate the attention of a group of preschoolers as they dramatize the story of "365 Penguins."