Wealth of experience serves Keesler's expectant mothers Published Aug. 21, 2007 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Keesler Medical Center's new family birthing center boasts a staff with a wide range of experience. Four people associated with the birthing center are especially noteworthy. While nurses Marguerite Jones, Wanda Labat and Anne Lease have worked almost 95 years in the women's health field, Capt. (Dr.) Anne Gray is at the medical center for the third time. Captain Gray was born in the facility's old labor and delivery area in April 1976 when her father was assigned to Keesler Ironically, Ms. Jones participated in her birth. The captain returned as an obstetrics and gynecology resident in 2002. She would've completed her residency at Keesler in 2006 had Hurricane Katrina not interrupted the medical center's medical resident program. She finished her residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in August. Captain Gray said Keesler's facility is equal to, if not better than, a similar unit at Wilford Hall. "With the resumption of deliveries, we are seeing a gradual increase in numbers," she noted. "Before Katrina, we delivered approximately 60 babies each month." Ms. Jones, who marked 35 years at the medical center in July, said, "I also worked with Doctor Gray when she was a resident here." Ms. Jones has worked in the nursery, postpartum unit and newborn intensive care unit over more than three decades, including 16 years in the NICU. "Back then, the moms delivered in labor and delivery and the babies were taken to the nursery, where they stayed except for feedings," she recalled. "The mothers had to walk down to the nursery to get their babies." Now babies are with their mothers the entire hospital stay, except for exams, procedures, daily weighing and newborn screening. The birthing center offers a much more appealing venue with spacious, brighter accommodations, state-of-the art equipment and windows. New mothers even have private bathrooms. Ms. Labat, who marked 30 years of federal service in October, has been at the medical center since 1976. First assigned to the OB unit, four years later she moved to the surgical unit, where she remained 10 years. She then spent six years supporting the medical-surgery unit, returning to OB in 2002. "It's different than the old labor and delivery unit," she said of the new unit. "I've been learning a few new things." Ms. Lease, the junior member of the trio, has been at Keesler since 1997. However, she also marked 30 years of federal service in October, including16 years in the Navy (active duty and reserve). When she started at Keesler, Ms. Lease worked nights in the old labor and delivery unit. "There is no comparison between the old L and D and the new birthing center," she said. "Of all the hospitals I've worked at, it's absolutely the nicest unit I've ever seen. The rooms have the best of everything. They are large, airy and colorful."