It isn’t a secret that Piedmont Henry Hospital is a busy place. The emergency department is one of the busiest in the Piedmont system, the surgical services department hums with activity every day of the week, and the hospital continues to offer new programs and services to care for a consistently growing and thriving community. The Marcia G. Taylor Women’s Center at Piedmont Henry also stays very busy. The department occupies two floors of the hospital’s North Tower and features the obstetric emergency department (OBED), Labor and Delivery, the Family Care Center, and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Over the past year, Women’s Services has welcomed several new leaders, bringing a wealth of experience to a department that sees between 150 and 180 deliveries a month. Laytrina Clemons-Brown, MSN, RN, is the director of Women’s Services. She joined the team in October 2022 and has always been passionate about nursing and caring for mothers and their children.
“My grandmother and mother both worked in healthcare, so I always knew I wanted to serve in a hospital,” said Clemons-Brown. “So, I started working in a hospital as a teenager in Americus, Ga.”
Clemons-Brown worked as an extern during her time in nursing school. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Georgia State University, worked as a staff nurse in Women’s Services, then rose through the ranks to Charge RN, Assistant Nurse Manager, then Nurse Manager in metro Atlanta. Clemons-Brown then went on to obtain her Master’s Degree in Nursing Leadership and Administration from Kennesaw State University. She also maintained membership in the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nursing and has sat on the board of the Georgia chapter of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee and Postpartum Support International.
“Piedmont’s promise is to make a positive difference in every life we touch,” said Clemons-Brown. “My goal for my team is to consistently find ways to make process improvements that lead to better patient outcomes, as well as greater employee satisfaction.”
Kim Pace has been the manager of Piedmont Henry’s Level III NICU for 14 years. The NICU admits between 20-25 babies a month and provides care to infants at gestation of 21 weeks and six days or greater. Pace graduated from Emory School of Nursing and has had a long career caring for babies in NICUs in Georgia and Virginia. She also has cared for neonatal heart transplant patients and served as part of a Neonatal Transport team.
“I have a passion for mentoring NICU team members as they grow in their careers,” said Pace. “Being able to provide quality, specialized care for our patients and this community is a privilege and a responsibility we take very seriously.”
Angela Coker, RN, is the clinical manager of the Family Care Center since May 2022 but has been a registered nurse for 27 years and a member of the team at Piedmont Henry (back when it was still Henry Medical Center) since 1997, working in the emergency department, med/surg units, and the nursery. She began working full-time with the Family Care Center, the hospital’s postpartum unit, in 2007 when construction of the North Tower was completed. The unit expanded and transitioned to Mother-Baby care, and Coker began serving as a relief charge nurse on weekend night shifts.
“I’ve been blessed to work with a wonderful manager who encouraged me to move further in leadership,” said Coker. “Under her mentorship, I learned the role of nurse manager and served as interim manager of the department for approximately one year before accepting the role full time.”
Lashieka Mitchell, RNC-OB, MSN Ed., is the clinical manager of Labor and Delivery, the OBED, and the antepartum units. She has been a nurse in labor and delivery and high perinatal services for 21 years and brings energy and enthusiasm to her leadership role.
“I enjoy having birthday parties each time I come to work,” said Mitchell. “Childbirth is one of the most amazing and vulnerable times in a family’s life. My goal is to make sure that every patient and their families receive excellent care and service because they are trusting us to deliver!”
The Women’s Services team at Piedmont Henry is united in their mission to provide safe, high-quality care. They are often one of the leading departments in patient satisfaction scores and consistently look for ways to improve patient and family experience. Piedmont Henry is designated a Baby-Friendly Hospital. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative’s goal is to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies through breastfeeding and immediate skin-to-skin bonding. The department also offers access to lactation consultants, most procedures after a baby’s birth at bedside, and HALO Bassinets, which have an adjustable height and a 360-degree swivel design, which allows a mother to position her newborn for safe and easy access for skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding and care.
“Having a baby can be an exciting time for families, but it can also be stressful at times,” said Clemons-Brown. “Our hope is that our patients and their families see our level of confidence and the high level of care we provide and feel confident themselves. We hope that every family we serve feels like they are the only family being cared for while they are here.”
To learn more about the maternity services offered at Piedmont Henry, visit piedmont.org/maternity-services.