CASA's Maternity HospitalServing Women and Families since 1994
Since 1981, CASA's health workers and peer counselors have been traveling throughout the State of Guanajuato. There, CASA provides reproductive health education including advocacy for patients´ rights, family planning information, and supplies, to urban, rancho and rural residents, especially to youth, young families, and the elderly. Empowered with new knowledge, these people turned to existing health facilities for services, but often found poor quality, a lack of dignified treatment, or no care at all.
After years of hearing complaints, CASA began considering the creation of its own health facility that would provide professional services at fees that recipients, primarily indigenous poor, could afford. In 1994, this long standing dream was realized, and the CASA Family Health Center and Maternity Hospital opened in the working class neighborhood of San Rafael in San Miguel de Allende.
Staffed with health professionals as well as professional midwifery students in rotation, the hospital is capable of handling various surgical emergencies, interventions during complicated births, testing for reproductive cancer, identifying and treating STDs, and performing a number of in-house lab tests. Though its focus is in maternity, because of its location and its reputation for quality health care at affordable prices, the hospital offers many other services as well. The CASA Hospital has six birthing rooms, including a state-of-the-art water birthing room, two surgical suites for emergencies, and consultation rooms for use by the physicians in residence. Physicians at CASA include gynecologists, pediatricians, dentists, ophthalmologists, and podiatrists. The hospital has its own lab, ultrasound equipment, and pharmacy. Programs and information about reproductive cancer, family planning, preventative health, psychology, STDs, lactation, and pre- and postnatal care are available.
Aided by its sister midwifery program, the CASA hospital offers pregnant women free consultations, in and outpatient services, quality prenatal care, and individual rooms that provide the necessary privacy for the expectant mother and her partner during labor and the child's birth. The midwives provide post-partum and follow up care. They offer breast-feeding consultations, family planning, free contraceptive methods, as well as pap smears and HIV tests at no cost to the client. Equally important, the hospital serves as a hands-on training center for CASA Midwifery School students, who work alongside the professional midwifery staff. Ultimately, and as part of their commitment, these midwifery graduates return to and work in their home communities or other areas of need, thus enlarging the invaluable umbrella of professional maternal care that is so vital to regions outside of Mexico's large cities.
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Mother and Child at CASA Hospital
2007 Achievements
CASA Hospital´s low birth weight rate has been 4.6% >compared to Mexico´s 10.9%.
CASA´s Caesarian rate is 13%- Guanajauto state rate is 35%.
CASA midwives performed 4675 medical consultations.
There were 345 total births at the CASA Hospital.
1446 Cervical Cancer screenings were performed at the CASA Hospital.
CASA Hospital analyzed 10,676 blood samples.
3779 dental procedures were performed at the CASA Hospital.
Mother and Her Newborn at CASA's Hospital
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