Command Sgt. Maj. Janell Ray, the senior noncommissioned officer at Ireland, presents one of several unique gifts to Alyssa Bates in honor of her son being the last baby officially born at IRACH. New born Greyson and dad Raymond stand in the backgrou...

Right) Regina Eberhardt, who was a labor and deliver nurse at Ireland Army Community Hospital before it became a clinic, readied a bed for a new baby. Katie Williams, also a labor and deliver nurse and who was a nurse while on active duty, helped Ebe...

Fifty nine years ago Ireland Army Community Hospital opened its doors to Soldiers and their families, with the newest members of those families born in a brand new obstetrics ward. But when the decision was made early this year to transition IRACH to a health clinic that meant surgery and obstetrics would be phased out, while gynecology would remain.

In closing out an era, the last baby born in the IRACH OB ward was delivered to Raymond and Alyssa Bates Aug. 26 but it wasn't until the previous week that the OB staff knew for sure who the last baby might be--five or six other mothers were due around the same time frame.

One of those mothers was Sgt. 1st Class Yevette Poole a Soldier with Company A, 4th Cavalry Bde., who had her first baby here 15 years ago.

"It's ironic because I never expected to be back at Knox--having another baby--in the same month, two days before my first," she said. "My son (Dorian Moton) is a student at North Hardin and runs track--he's pretty good."

Poole doesn't remember much about her visit to IRACH during her first pregnancy, but said this one has been fine.

"I like Shelly (James)--she and (nurse practitioner) Nancy Derosa are taking care of me," she explained. "Shelly always has good advice and is very supportive and Regina (Eberhardt) and Dennis (Vorhies) are my favorite nurses. Everyone here has been pretty professional."

James, a midwife, came to Fort Knox as a Soldier and was a midwife at IRACH until her retirement in 2011. She said while the job hasn't changed, care of labor patients has.

"Back then the mother couldn't leave the bed, couldn't eat, the baby was whisked away right after deliver and the dad sat in the waiting room," she recalled. "Now we use kangaroo care--(immediate) skin to skin contact with the mother and new born... And now the mother can eat when she wants and the dad is in the room through the whole process."

Other changes she has seen in the way the ward operates include less tension between doctors and nurses, and competition that seemed to exist between GYN and labor and delivery before. Now, she said doctors and nurses share knowledge with each other and the two wards work together as one team.

If a visitor were to walk around the labor and delivery area of floor three, they would find a nursery much as it was when the hospital was built, and C-section rooms that until the last few weeks were still used. While the equipment was updated, James said the rest of that area sat in a time capsule.

The nursery hasn't been used since 1996 or so, said Regina Eberhardt, a labor and delivery nurse who will retire Sept. 16 after almost 30 years at Ireland. She said she had been in L&D since 1996 but started at Ireland in 1987 as a nursing assistant in orthopedics and ENT. When an opening for nursing assistant in OBGYN clinic opened, she applied and was hired.

"When I started in OBGYN the clinic was in the basement where pediatrics is now. It had about 13 midwifes and six or more doctors--we delivered over 100 babies each month," she recalled.

Through her 30 years at IRACH she has seen other changes, to include the addition of Skype in 2007. Eberhardt said the installation had a lot of Soldiers stationed here who would deploy before their wives could give birth.

"This was a good way for them to connect with their wives and new babies and actually be there for the birth," she explained.

She noted that while closing OB meant some people might have to find new jobs, the saddest part of losing the service--for her--will be patient care.

"Local hospitals will do a good job with the mothers and the babies," she said. "But our patients are different. They don't have a mother or sister here to support them because they are away from home and the husband is often deployed. And family can't get here because they live far away.

"So I am the person who is one-on-one all day. Coaching her with the breathing, telling here she's doing a good job-- I take care of people who have nobody but me. I will miss that part."

Alyssa, whose son Greyson was the last baby born in OB, gave birth to her daughter Addison at IRACH three years before. She said her visits to OBGYN have always been friendly and she received good care, but equally important to her was that the visits were kid friendly.

"It's neat to see (Addison and OB staff) interact because Shelly was with me when I had my epidural with Addison. And my nurses are the same with both kids," she explained.

Greyson left Ireland with several special souvenirs and the honor of being the last baby to grace the OB ward. His mother thinks it will be good for him to identify with some IRACH history when he is older--knowing his birth closed out a chapter at Fort Knox where his dad was stationed.

"I'm very grateful for both these experiences--I always felt my best interests were at heart," she explained. "I'm grateful for the experienced group of professionals and being around people who genuinely care about (the) baby and the mother."

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