Heywood Hospital Nationally Recognized as a Best Maternity Care Hospital by Newsweek

Gardner, MA – Heywood Hospital was named to Newsweek’s 2020 list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals. This distinction recognizes facilities that have excelled in providing care to mothers, newborns and their families, as verified by the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Best Maternity Care Hospitals is part of Newsweek’s Best Health Care series, powered by data from The Leapfrog Group.

“We are honored to receive this recognition, which is the product of the hard work and dedication shown by our physicians and nurses at the LaChance Maternity Center. We are very fortunate to have such a compassionate, talented and driven team of providers within our community.” said Win Brown, President & CEO of Heywood Healthcare.

Best Maternity Care Hospitals showcases an elite group of hospitals from across the country” said Nancy Cooper, Global Editor in Chief of Newsweek. “These facilities stand out for the care they provide to women and families, and for giving babies a strong start to life. Particularly in these uncertain times, we are honored to share this list of top-ranked facilities with Newsweek’s readership.”

Hospitals named as a Best Maternity Care Hospital have fully met The Leapfrog Group’s standards for maternity care on evidence-based, nationally standardized metrics. This includes lower rates of early elective delivery, NTSV C-section, and episiotomy, as well as compliance with process measures including newborn bilirubin screening prior to discharge and blood clot prevention techniques for mothers delivering via C-section.

Heywood Hospital was one of fewer than 250 to receive the prestigious accolade. The full list of recipients appears in the July 24 edition of Newsweek, available online and at newsstands nationwide. 

About Heywood Healthcare

Heywood Healthcare is an independent, community-owned healthcare system serving north central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. It is comprised of Heywood Hospital; Athol Hospital, a 25-bed not-for-profit, Critical Access Hospital in Athol, MA; Heywood Medical Group, with primary care physicians and specialists located throughout the region; and the Quabbin Retreat, our premier destination for treatment of mental health and substance misuse.

The organization includes six satellite facilities in MA: Heywood Rehabilitation Center & Heywood Urgent Care in Gardner, Winchendon Health Center & Murdock School-based Health Center in Winchendon, Tully Family Medicine and Walk-In in Athol; and West River Health Center in Orange. The organization also includes the Heywood Healthcare Charitable Foundation. For more information, visit www.heywood.org.  

About Heywood Hospital

A member of the Heywood Healthcare system, Heywood Hospital is a 134-bed acute care community-owned non-profit hospital in Gardner, MA, providing a broad range of high quality medical, orthopedic, bariatric, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric and behavioral health services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The hospital’s Centers of Excellence include the Watkins Center for Emergency and Acute Care; the LaChance Maternity Center; the Diabetes Center and the Heywood Heart and Vascular Center.