Maternity Centre a saviour for baby Bella and her family
She could have been born on the side of the road at Lumsden on Friday morning, and delivered by her dad, Harry Dickson.
His partner Beth was booked into Southland Hospital to be induced on Friday morning, but her contractions began on Thursday night.
‘‘We left Queenstown at about 3.45am and they got worse. About five minutes from Lumsden, they really came on. I rang the midwife and she said to ring an ambulance. I had a phone in each hand, one talking to her and one to the ambulance.
‘‘The ambulance lady wanted me to deliver the baby on the side of the road, which I wasn’t too keen on doing. Then they said there was someone at the Lumsden Maternity Centre and we could go around there.
‘‘It was a bit freaky at the time, but it was a bit of a relief when we found out we could go around to Lumsden.’’
Fifteen minutes after arriving at the centre, baby Bella was born fit and healthy.
‘‘It all happened pretty fast. We were pretty lucky it [the centre] was there really, otherwise she would have been born on the side of the road.’’
The new family spent two nights at Lumsden before heading home to Queenstown.
Dickson said it would be a shame if the facility was closed down.
The Southern District Health Board has has proposed to downgrade the Lumsden Maternity Centre from an inpatient primary birthing unit to a maternal and child hub with no birthing facilities and fewer postnatal care options.
‘‘It would be a shame if it got closed look at the submissions it received during the public consultation period before it could determine its next steps.
DHB strategy, primary and community directorate executive director down, especially because it’s a halfway point between Queenstown and Invercargill. It’s pretty handy really.
‘‘It’s a really nice place, it felt like we were at home. There’s a double bed in the room and you don’t feel like you’re Lisa Gestro said there had been ‘‘a robust response’’ to the proposed plan since it was released.
‘‘We have received more than 200 submissions and we’re reading and in a hospital. The care we had was excellent.’’
Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker visited the family at Lumsden on Friday.
‘‘Degrading services at the Lumsden evaluating all input received,’’ she said.
The numbers the DHB used indicated that there had been fewer than 100 pregnancies in Lumsden and its catch- and questions Maternity Centre is the same as degrading birth to the side of the road. It places the dignity of women literally in the gutter. Fortunately, baby Bella, and her parents Beth and Harry avoided such an experience. ment area in the past couple of years, but these numbers have been disputed by those supporting the retention of primary birthing services at the centre.
‘‘Reviewing birth and pregnancy
‘‘If this centre is downgraded, other babies and families may not be so lucky. Why do we even need to argue that babies should be born in safe, wellresourced conditions as close to their homes as possible? It is outrageous.’’ numbers, as well as catchments boundaries, will be a part of our review process,’’ Gestro said.
An updated plan is expected to be released by the end of May, she said.