Hardin Memorial Health Foundation leaders announced they received a $25,000 grant from the PNC Foundation that will dramatically improve the health and safety of Central Kentucky’s tiniest and most vulnerable patients. The PNC Foundation grant will help Baptist Health Hardin (Hardin) purchase new infection-resistant fetal monitor carts for BirthPlace, the hospital’s labor and delivery unit. The need for the new carts was exacerbated by COVID-19.
Wooden cabinets currently house fetal monitors and since COVID-19 can live on surfaces up to 72 hours, constant disinfection is required. This grant will allow BirthPlace leaders to replace the wooden cabinets with medical-grade, non-porous cabinets that more effectively prevent the spread of infection.
“The COVID-19 virus creates a number of extraordinary problems for the extremely busy labor and delivery unit,” said Sharon Wright, Baptist Health Hardin vice president and chief nursing officer. “Delivering mothers presenting with COVID-19 are more prone to complications and must be observed 24/7, mandating one-on-one care by a labor and delivery nurse. Even asymptomatic COVID-19 positive delivering mothers must be extensively monitored. Receiving these cabinets will help our nursing team spend more time caring for patients.”
HMH Foundation Board Chairman Joe Prather mentioned the grant will have a lasting impact and could not have come at a better time during the pandemic.
“It is critical, particularly in this moment, that PNC works to support the health and well-being of our families and their children,” said Chuck Denny, PNC regional president for Louisville. “That is why we are committed to supporting organizations like Baptist Health Hardin that are assisting our communities during the challenges of this pandemic environment.”
Hardin ranks among Kentucky’s top delivering hospitals. In 2020, 1,646 babies were born at Hardin making it one of Kentucky’s busiest Labor and Delivery units by volume among the state’s 124 hospitals. In July 2020 alone, 155 babies were delivered, one of the highest months in the hospital’s 66-year history.
