Rebirthing High Point’s Healthcare: Family First & Bundle of Joy
With Mother's Day just around the corner, we are reflecting on the amazing women in our community who have raised generations of leaders and change makers. Honoring motherhood means not only honoring the special women who hold that role in our lives, but recognizing the village it takes to support women in their journey of motherhood.
Family First Capital Campaign
You don’t have to look far to see the support systems for mammas in High Point. Nestled in the heart of our downtown sits Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point Medical Center, a place where generations of High Pointers first entered the world – or first took on that lifechanging title of “mom.”
For the last 30 years, mothers in High Point have had the privilege of being cared for by the Assistant Nurse Manager for Women’s and Children’s Services at High Point Medical Center, Shaune Anderson.
When Shaune thinks back on her start in nursing after graduating from North Carolina A&T University, she describes herself as “young and ready to save the world!” But after a brief stint in the ICU, she realized she wanted to feel happier about coming into work. After a temporary transfer landed her on the Labor & Delivery floor, she realized this would be her home.
“My coworkers have kept me here,” Shaune says of her time at High Point Medical Center. Today, she is one of the leading forces for a close-knit group of nurses who aid moms in bringing new life into the world. She has been with women in High Point during some of their happiest moments, as well as some of their most heartbreaking.
“Treat your patients how you would like your family to be treated,” she encourages each of her staff. “You have to put aside your personal biases and step out there with faith and treat them the way your child should be treated.”
Shaune says regardless of race, color, creed, religious affiliation, or socio-economic status, each mother in High Point is treated with the highest level of concern and care when it comes to her nursing staff. They honor individual requests, especially when it comes to religious needs, requests for privacy, or just the emotional support they need.
“We see our patients not just as a group, but as an individual,” she says with pride.
After 30 years, she has a close working relationship with the OBGYN doctors at High Point Medical Center, and they strive to work seamlessly together to care for their patients. She notes that often, nurses are the ones who stay to make sure that the doctors’ wealth of expertise is digestible and understandable for moms.
“What didn’t you understand? What can I help you understand?” are questions Shaune often poses to her patients. Because she knows that fostering trust between patients and their providers is at the heart of good medical care.
Over three decades, Shaune has seen many changes in mother-baby care, primarily when it comes to “family-centered care.” No longer do doctors recommend babies taken from their moms to go to the nursery. Instead, they encourage the parents to stay with their child for the beginning of their little lives for best health outcomes.
But even with changes in medical best practices, what hasn’t changed, in Shaune’s opinion, is the level of expertise and engagement offered at High Point Medical Center.
“We have a very experienced staff,” Shaune says, “but we are truly a community hospital.” She explains that while the level of care is provided by first-rate physicians and nurses, the sense of community closeness and investment in High Point feels completely different than at one of the Triad’s larger hospitals. Here, names are known. Families are remembered. It's not unusual for a woman to deliver a baby in High Point, and years later to see her grandchild born here. Shaune’s own daughter, Maya, is no exception. Shaune’s grandson was born at High Point Medical Center.
“We do dynamite nursing,” Shaune affirms. “If I am willing to send my child there, they’re going to do good things.”
Yet even with the wonderful care that women receive at High Point Medical Center, the leadership at the hospital knew some changes to the facility were long overdue. That’s why High Point Medical Center is embarking on something truly remarkable: the "Family First" capital campaign to renovate the Esther R. Culp Women’s Center and the Susan and Rob Culp Women’s and Children’s Pavilion. The expansion, which will create a spacious, nearly 40,000 square-foot setting, is not just about bricks and mortar; it's about breathing new life into the Labor and Delivery and Mother-Baby units, showing our commitment to nurturing the health and happiness of mothers and their precious newborns.
Shaune points to a variety of changes the Family First expansion will provide that will transform how her staff is able to care for families in High Point. Larger post-partum rooms, procedural rooms, and labor and delivery rooms will all be modernized and expanded to allow for more family, more comfortable stays, and more family-centered care. The edition of the Level II nursery will also be life-changing for many in High Point.
Shaune explains that for high-risk medical situations with premature or sick babies, the parents are faced with the decision of sending their baby to Winston-Salem to Brenner Children’s Hospital. Often, this means parents are not able to stay together, as mom stays at High Point to recover. Mothers who may not have a partner or support person with them face even more harrowing decisions.
“Now we will be able to keep large fractions of the babies that go to Brenner Children's Hospital here with us,” Shaune says. “Having that extra space, parents won’t have to go through that.”
Ultimately, Shaune acknowledges along with much of the medical industry, that the experience a mother has with the birth of her child often determines the long-term outcomes of her family’s medical care.
“Women follow their OBGYN doctor,” Shaune explains. “If we can keep that community that is engaged because their care is here, we can keep these women here.”
And an engaged mother is a force to be reckoned with. She impacts not just her own individual children or family, but her entire community. An engaged mother knows that advocacy may start with her own child’s health, but it doesn’t stop there. It extends to all women and children in our community. Just ask Morgan Qubein.
Bundle of Joy
Morgan, a native of High Point, was living in Charlotte when she gave birth to her oldest son, Oliver. She experienced a traumatic birth that included severe post-partum hemorrhaging. Unfortunately, Morgan’s team of providers didn’t listen to her concerns, and after passing out, Morgan finally received a life-saving procedure – the next day. But she felt she lost those first crucial days with her son due to her medical team’s slow reaction to her health.
“Then they sent me home with no clear next steps,” she recalls. “It was very transactional.”
Morgan was thankful for her husband, Michael, as well as both of their families who sprang into action to support the couple and new baby Ollie, but after the painful experience, she wondered how many women face that sort of crisis without support.
“How do moms handle this who don’t have what I have?” she asked herself. “How can the hospital send you home without a game plan?”
After moving back to High Point, Morgan eventually delivered her second son at High Point Medical Center, and was blown away by the difference in her birthing experiences. Personal and peaceful, the experience was night and day different from her delivery of Ollie.
The experiences, as well as the questions Morgan had around how new moms are being supported, eventually gave birth to a new idea: Bundle of Joy.
The idea of how to support mothers really took shape after Morgan connected with High Point local, Courtney Best. Morgan shared her story as well as her desire to see new mothers supported through resources with Courtney, and Courtney pointed Morgan to the High Point Regional Health Foundation. The foundation could be the avenue that Bundle of Joy could work through to guarantee that every mother who gave birth at High Point Medical Center would be given those resources to succeed.
Morgan took the idea and ran with it, especially after she reconnected with an old high school teammate, Lauren Britton. Both women had graduated from High Point Central High School and boomeranged back to living in their hometown. Lauren had a similar post-partum hemorrhage after the birth of her daughter, Amelia. But delivering at High Point Medical Center, she had a very different experience than Morgan.
“My doctor caught it immediately, and I had an emergency procedure,” Lauren recalls. She and her husband stayed a week afterwards, as nurses cared round the clock for the family and made sure all of them were safe and healthy. Lauren laughs remembering how her husband had never held a newborn before.
“We leaned heavily on the nurses,” she says, remembering how kindhearted they were towards the first-time parents.
Eventually, the two women connected with another High Point Central alum and High Point mom, Tori Ilderton. Tori, who also delivered her three little ones at High Point Medical Center, didn’t face the medical challenges during birth that her friends did. But she did face post-partum emotions after the birth of her second child that knocked her for an unexpected loop.
“I have an amazing husband who was super helpful and was taking time off of work to supplement,” Tori recalls, but she faced similar questions that Morgan did: what would her life have been like if she didn’t have an involved partner and family?
That’s why when Morgan shared her idea for Bundle of Joy with her two friends, they both were eager to get involved.
Bundle of Joy was envisioned to offer that bridge for moms between the delivery of their baby and that first week home. The program offers every mom who delivers at High Point Medical Center – regardless of status or means – a “bundle,” which includes a diaper bag backpack that turns into a bassinet for safe sleep, a onesie from Lauren’s company Monkeeroos, 60 diapers, 90 wipes, nursing supplies, diaper cream, a thermometer, and more.
Through their research, the women have uncovered how many women face financial decisions that no woman should ever have to face. Their hope is that through Bundle of Joy, at least some of those decisions can disappear.
“Families have to sacrifice buying a crib for buying diapers,” Tori says. “And it’s not sustainable for the safety of your baby or yourself.”
The bundle also includes a resource guide that includes contact information for the variety of support services offered by High Point’s vast network of non-profit organizations for women and children, like the YWCA of High Point, Family Services of the Piedmont, the Macedonia Family Resources & Food Pantry, and more.
“Part of our mission is to provide a healthy start to a baby’s life,” Morgan says, noting that many systemic issues result from a lack of resources and equity from the very beginning of a child’s life.
“Studies have shown that mothers who cannot provide the basic needs of their newborns struggle with postpartum depression at a higher rate and experience higher levels of stress – we are determined to make this slightly better,” she says. “Our dream is to make sure mental health issues, specifically for postpartum mothers, are addressed with care, concern and compassion.”
“It starts day one,” Lauren says. “You can’t focus on anything else until those first moments are taken care of.”
To make this program most effective, Bundle of Joy wanted to partner with those who interact the most with moms and babies: the hospital.
Thanks to the Foundation for a Healthy High Point, the hospital was able to hire Jeneen McClellan, the OB Navigator who supports moms at the hospital with pre- and post-natal care. Janeen and her team make sure every mother departs with a bundle and knows what next steps can be taken. To guarantee successful mother-baby outcomes, she goes so far as to make post-partum house calls if needed. Through a partnership with the High Point Regional Health Foundation, Bundle of Joy is able to secure resources at the most economical price point, guaranteeing that all 1,400+ births that happen in High Point are covered with joy and resources.
“Bundle of Joy is a silent promise that we [as a community] are here for you,” Morgan says. And if Bundle of Joy is the silent promise, then the Family First campaign is one that is shouting from the rooftops.
"Families in High Point to know they’re getting the possible care,” she adds. “We already know that’s true from a provider perspective; we need this from a resource facility perspective.
Women like Morgan, Lauren, and Tori, who have experienced the level of care of High Point Medical Center want to make sure that the hospital is well-equipped with everything it needs to make sure that women and their babies are cared for – from final push to first car ride home.
“Downtown has gotten this huge revitalization,” Morgan says. “We want to show people we care just as much about the hospital.”
“Having new and updated facilities that make people feel like they’re in a loving, positive environment,” she adds. “It makes people feel like they’ve got the community support behind them.”
“Bundle of Joy is a silent promise that we [as a community] are here for you.”
Morgan Qubein, co-founder of Bundle of Joy
Ensuring that our hospital – particularly when it comes to mother-baby care – is updated with the best possible facilities and resources is vital for the continued equitable health of our city.
“It's very important to the foundation and the future of our city,” Lauren says. “If people would rather go to Greensboro or Raleigh, we can lose sight of the importance of home.”
Home: the first place where family is formed. The place where motherhood is made.
Made through the support of providers like Shaune.
Strengthened through the support of neighbors like Morgan, Lauren, and Tori.
Celebrated by every one of us as we give to ensure that every mother and baby is cared for by their own village. As we celebrate Mother's Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to building a community where every mother and child thrives.
Discover our High Points,
The HPD Team