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In an agreement reached between the Kino Nurse-Midwives, The University Physicians and University Medical Center, the nurse-midwives will attend deliveries at University Medical Center as the obstetrical unit at Kino Community Hospital shut down on July 1.

The nurse-midwives will continue to staff the existing ob-gyn clinics at Kino, providing prenatal and postpartum care as well as a full range of gynecological and family planning services.

Although patients seen at the Kino prenatal clinics will deliver their babies at University Medical Center, follow-up care for the new mothers and pediatric care for the newborns will continue to be provided at Kino Community Hospital. UPI has staffed a pediatric clinic at Kino for several years.

"We are looking forward to this opportunity for the nurse-midwives and physicians to work together, each with their own strengths, to provide the ideal birth environment for a woman and her family," said Dr. Kathy Reed, professor and director of obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.

"Our group is so pleased that we will be offering our patients continuity of care by joining UPI at the University. We are very attached to the women we see in our clinics. We intend to provide the same quality of care at UMC as we have provided at Kino over the last nine years," said Sam Cook.

In addition to Cook, the nurse-midwives are Cindy Doan, Joan Phillips, Kate Ring and Stephanie Lowell. The group will be known as The University Midwives. The nurse-midwives and Kino obstetrician Dr. Bill Meyer will become UPI providers.

This spring the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to discontinue Kino Community Hospital's obstetrical unit. Deliveries will now shift to UMC, where about 2,300 babies are born annually.