New Modesto clinic offers care for women with high-risk pregnancies
Valley Children’s Healthcare is collaborating with Doctors Medical Center in a new Modesto clinic offering optimal care for difficult pregnancies.
The maternal fetal medicine clinic had a soft opening this past week in the Valley Heart building on Florida Avenue, across from DMC.
The clinic is equipped to serve 16 patients per day who need special attention for complex pregnancies. Stanislaus County has a limited number of these clinics, so some families have resorted to traveling outside the area for this care, said Marie Mulgado, practice manager with DMC.
Dr. Shirley Sawai of Valley Children’s also mentioned the maternal death rate.
Recent years have seen an alarming rise in maternal deaths in the United States. The 2022 rate was more than 20 deaths per 100,000 births, which is the worst among the world’s affluent nations. The more typical rates range from 1.2 per 100,000 in Switzerland to 8.4 per 100,000 in Canada.
The Black population in the U.S. had a rate of 49.5 per 100,000, according to the Commonwealth Fund. A maternal mortality refers to a woman who dies during pregnancy, childbirth or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy. Often preventable, the deaths may be caused by hemorrhage, heart problems, infection, preeclampsia or delivery complications.
In October 2023, the Madera-based Valley Children’s and the Modesto hospital jointly announced they were elevating care in the Level III neonatal intensive care unit at DMC, which serves the Northern San Joaquin Valley and nearby Mother Lode counties.
The program is adding neonatal and pediatric specialists to the Central Valley Doctors Health System network. The new Modesto clinic is part of the game plan by ensuring more mothers with complex pregnancies get the care and monitoring they need.
The patients are scheduled for hourlong appointments, giving them time to talk with specialists about nutrition or managing conditions such as diabetes or hypertension.
Sawai said it’s common to see diabetes among expectant mothers in the Central Valley. She said the patients at the clinic are motivated to take better care of their health and control their diabetes for the sake of their unborn children.
The appointments may also include a sonogram providing a 3-D or 4-D view of the fetus. A patient with diabetes is recommended for a sonogram every four weeks; for other patients, it may be 12 weeks, said Crystal Alvarez, a sonographer at the clinic.
The clinic is set up for genetic consultations if an amniocentesis suggests possible Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis or other genetic disorders. Those consultations will be conducted via telemedicine, said Jason Carmichael, genetic counseling manager for Valley Children’s.
Carmichael said the clinic was sited here because of the underserved populations in the Modesto area and Tuolumne County.
Staff said the patients with high-risk pregnancies will be followed all the way to delivery at DMC. Or that’s the plan. The patient has the option to choose the hospital, Mulgado noted.
Through its Level III NICU, Doctors Medical Center is able to offer a high level of care for premature infants and newborns with complex health issues. Emanuel Medical Center, a sister facility in Turlock, has a Level II NICU that collaborates with the Valley Children’s system.
Most appointments at the maternal fetal medicine clinic require a referral.
This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 9:41 AM.
