For obstetrics nurse Ruth Camacho, BSN, RN, IBCLC, working in Bristol Hospital’s “Families Are First Birthing Center” is a labor of love— literally.
Camacho serves as a charge nurse and cares for laboring and post-partum mothers on the unit. Camacho said having two young children herself, gives her some “extra insight” to the patients she treats. Additionally, Camacho is a certified lactation consultant and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
“Any OB nurse who has young children, can bring some additional insights to our mothers,” said Camacho who will be celebrating her fifth anniversary at Bristol Hospital in September. “It definitely makes new mothers more comfortable.”
Camacho is one of three 2018 Nightingale Nursing recipients from Bristol Hospital. She is joined by Intensive Care Nurse Zeneida Davis, BSN, RN, CCRN, and Victoria Guida, RN, a staff nurse on the hospital’s G-South, medical/surgical floor.
“I was so taken back when I was told about the Nightingale award, it just makes me so proud to be a nurse,” Camacho said. “And it is an honor to be recognized with two extraordinary nurses like Zeneida and Victoria.”
Camacho also serves on Bristol Hospital’s Infant Nutrition, and Nursing Peer Review Committees. In one of the Nightingale submissions, Camacho was described as: “… continually striving for positive patient experience. She tirelessly assists and supports nursing mothers. Her expertise is what makes moms and her co-workers successful. She is a patient advocate and if someone says ‘no,’ unless there is a reason in the literature, Ruth will not take no for an answer.”
Camacho received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish literature and psychology from Brandeis University, and she received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Connecticut School of Nursing. Camacho is a member of the Psi Chi Psychology International Honor Society and the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing International Honor Society 2005.
When talking about Bristol Hospital’s Families Are First Birthing Center, Camacho said she is proud of what her department has to offer families in the Greater Bristol area. In the fiscal year 2017, Families Are First had 591 births—the hospitals highest number of births since 2014.
“I think being one of the smaller maternity units in the area is an advantage for our patients and families,” Camacho said. “We are able to spend more time with our mothers in a true family- and patient-centered environment,”
Camacho said that she is the mother of a former premature newborn and shares her experience with mothers who have experienced difficult births.
“It’s a just a matter of reassuring them that their child is in the best hands and receiving the best care possible,” she said. “We strive to keep the mothers together with their babies as much as possible.”
That includes the unit’s Early Labor Lounge, which is available for mothers who are ready to be discharged but whose child still requires inpatient care by one of the unit’s pediatric hospitalists. The lounge is available if all the unit’s birthing units are being occupied.
“Research has proven that newborns always do better when their mothers are with them,” Camacho said.