MOTHERS-TO-BE WILL HAVE A CHOICE IN CAPE

There are a good many folks in Southeast Missouri who were born at St. Francis Hospital when it was near the downtown area. Now, after 125 years of serving the community -- and while the old hospital building is being demolished to make way for an apartment complex -- St. Francis Medical Center is gearing up for a new obstetrics unit.

In a few months, women in the Cape Girardeau area will have a choice about where to have their babies. Southeast Missouri Hospital, which had about 1,600 deliveries in 1999, will continue to provide obstetrical care with its 28-bed unit.

The St. Francis obstetrics unit will have five suites that are designed to make expectant mothers and their families feel as at home as possible in a hospital setting. A mother who enters St. Francis to have a baby will stay in the same suite during labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care.

Both hospitals provide excellent services for future generations waiting to be born. This should be good news to mothers-to-be in Southeast Missouri.