On Sunday, November 17th, the team at the Perinatal Center of the West Coast Clinics is hosting an event to raise awareness about the needs of premature babies and the importance of the Heide Center for the care of children and pregnant women along the entire Schleswig-Holstein West Coast. The date was chosen with care as November 17th is World Prematurity Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about the special needs of premature babies and their families worldwide. Public buildings will be lit up in purple, the color of the awareness day, to show support. This has been a tradition in Heide in previous years as well.
“This year, we want to use the day to highlight the importance of our center for the care of premature babies and women with high-risk pregnancies along the entire Schleswig-Holstein West Coast,” say Dr. Reinhard Jensen, the head of the Perinatal Center, and PD Dr. Dominique Finas, the new chief physician of the Women’s Clinic at WKK Heide.
Due to the increasingly stringent structural requirements set by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), doctors see the existence of the highest level care center, which has been in operation for 20 years, at risk. One of the new requirements is that the minimum number of cases for treating children under 1250 grams has been increased to 25. Adhering strictly to this decision would mean reducing the current five centers in the country to just two. The health insurance companies have confirmed the continued existence of the Level 1 center in Heide for 2025, but what about 2026?
“A Perinatal Center does more than just care for premature babies. Our goal is to prevent premature births or delay them as much as possible,” explains PD Dr. Dominique Finas. “And in most cases, we succeed. For every premature baby under 1250 grams, there are approximately six to eight women for whom our work has prevented a premature birth or an extremely premature birth.”
For Heide, this means that in addition to the 18 children cared for at the Perinatal Center in 2023, more than 120 women with high-risk pregnancies from Dithmarschen and even North Friesland were also provided care.
“The Perinatal Center in Heide is important for us in North Friesland. We work closely with our colleagues in Heide,” says Lena Jessen, the new chief physician of the Gynecology Clinic at the Nordfriesland Hospital. She will also be attending the event in Heide on November 17th.
The clinic in Heide is not only important for high-risk pregnant women from North Friesland. The team of pediatric intensive care physicians and neonatologists led by Dr. Reinhard Jensen also ensures pediatric care for obstetrics in the neighboring district and rushes to Husum in emergencies by ambulance. For years, there has been an established on-call service staffed by experienced specialist colleagues, available 365 days a year. This well-coordinated emergency care would also be at risk if Heide were no longer a Level 1 center.
On November 17th from 4 pm to 6 pm, Dr. Jensen and PD Dr. Finas’s team will be available for discussions to provide information on all these aspects. They also plan to showcase their excellent work and introduce their team of nurses and midwives, which has significantly grown in recent years.
Additionally, on the event day, attendees can pedal on bicycles to symbolically generate power for the building’s lighting. Waffles and cocoa will be offered, and there will be opportunities to learn more about the Perinatal Center.
“We look forward to welcoming many interested individuals who want to learn about our work,” say Dr. Reinhard Jensen and PD Dr. Dominique Finas.
