You could
say the stork has been working overtime
at Roseau Area Hospital. Or at least it
has pulled double duty--seven times, to
be exact.
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Dr. Lynne Didrikson proudly shows
off two sets of twins she delivered
less than two days apart in October
2005. At left are Kylie and Kari
Brindle. At right are Paul and
Joshua Balaji. The children were
among a total of seven sets of twins
born to families in the hospital’s
service area last year. |
That’s
right, in the past eleven months, Roseau
Area Hospital has welcomed an amazing
seven sets of twins.
“Well,
technically, two sets ended up being
born in other facilities, but the other
five sets came into the world right here
in Roseau,” says Dr. Lynne Didrikson,
one of the members of the RAHH medical
staff. “All seven mothers had their
prenatal and follow-up care close to
home with one of our physicians.”
As if seven
sets of twins wasn’t exciting enough,
consider that two sets arrived within
two days of each other in October, and
two other sets arrived a mere six hours
apart back in April.
“As a rural
healthcare facility, we are very
fortunate to have excellent staff and
facilities to be able to handle multiple
cases like this,” says Dr. Didrikson,
who delivered the back-to-back sets in
October. “It doesn’t happen often, but
knowing we are capable and fully
prepared if such a situation arises is a
great comfort to an expectant mother.”
Bucking a Trend
While a growing list of rural hospitals
across the country has seen a decline in
the number of babies delivered annually,
Roseau Area Hospital’s statistics remain
strong.
In 2003, the
hospital had 212 deliveries, and 170 in
2004.
Last
year, another 208 babies at Roseau Area
Hospital reaffirmed the widening trend
between RAHH and several other rural
healthcare facilities.
According to
a January 2006 article in the Grand
Forks Herald, only two hospitals north
of Grand Forks in the upper Red River
Valley continue to deliver babies.
A wider look
across northwest Minnesota and northeast
North Dakota paints an even clearer
picture.
“If you take
a map and draw a rectangle from Roseau
down to Bagley, then west to Cooperstown
and up to Langdon, only seven of the 17
hospitals inside that area still deliver
babies,” says Keith Okeson, president
and CEO of Roseau Area Hospital and
Homes.
“Not only
have our numbers remained strong, but
the quality of service and the whole
birthing experience rank extremely high
here,” says Okeson. “Our birthing wing
rivals or surpasses just about any
birthing unit in Minnesota.”
Okeson and the hospital staff are not
alone in that opinion.
Above:
Roseau Area Hospital
delivered 208 babies last
year.
Below: Pictured are seven
sets of twins delivered in
2005 to families within
Roseau Area Hospital’s
service area. They are (from
left to right): Kyla and
Jadyn Novak, McKenzie and
Matthew Cole, Joshua and
Paul Balaji, Chance and Ty
Christian, Brody and Zachary
Erickson, Kylie and Kari
Brindle, and Samantha and
Benjamin Butler. |
More and
more families continue to see firsthand
the recently renovated birthing suites
at Roseau Area Hospital.
Complete
with solid oak furniture, soft lighting,
plush bedding, and private jacuzzi tubs
for relieving muscle ache, each of the
four suites looks more like a hotel room
than a delivery room.
Baby
Doctors
The medical staff at Roseau Area
Hospital is equally impressive, with
nine of its ten family practice
physicians providing obstetrics.
They are
Ralph Herseth, M.D.; Deb Erickson, M.D.;
Ronald Brummer, M.D.; Lynne Didrikson,
M.D.; Bryon VandeWege, M.D.; Robert
Anderson, M.D.; Luis Jain, M.D.; H. Brad
Allen, M.D.; and Daniel Sullivan, M.D.
(The tenth, Dave Brett, D.O.,
specializes in family practice and
pathology.)
For information about the Birthing
Wing at Roseau Area Hospital, call (218)
463-2500.
