A $1.7 million donation from a local philanthropist is helping AdventHealth Ocala launch a maternal fetal medicine program later this year.
The hospital recently announced that the McKenzie Kearney Gray Maternal Fetal Medicine program, which is funded in part by the generous donation, will officially start in the fall of 2022.
The program aims to elevate the prenatal and postnatal care of high-risk pregnancy patients in Marion County. Local families currently need to travel outside of the county in order to receive this highly specialized pregnancy-related care.
Under this program, women with multiple high-risk pregnancy factors and babies who are born after high-risk pregnancies will be able to remain in the AdventHealth system to receive care from nationally ranked specialists.
Maternal fetal medicine care teams work with the obstetrician to help achieve the best possible outcome for complicated pregnancies. They identify risk factors during the pregnancy such as delivery of multiples, maternal hypertension, diabetes, fetuses with birth defects, and genetic issues, and they come up with a plan for safe delivery.
The program at AdventHealth Ocala will build on the health system’s network of neonatal and pediatric care services in Marion County.
AdventHealth Ocala is home to a Level II neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) which is staffed 24 hours a day with specialized neonatal care nurses and neonatologists. The hospital also has the area’s only pediatric cardiologist specializing in fetal echocardiograms for high-risk pregnancies.
For more information, visit the AdventHealth Ocala webpage.