Rambam Health Care Campus has extended its acupuncture services for women giving birth from two days each week to five. Due to growing demand from pregnant women, Rambam made the decision to expand this service by adding new staff members trained in traditional Chinese medicine.
Cara Ferrer Sokolovski treats a patient with acupuncture. Photography: Ziv Koren.
Acupuncture has been available at Rambam for the past four years. It can create a greater sense of calm in all stages of labor and delivery, reduce pain, speed up labor for women in the delivery room, and provide comfort after giving birth. This complementary treatment is also part of a broad array of conventional and alternative therapies available for women during childbirth.
"Our patients know they can request Chinese acupuncture, and the increase in the number of such requests from pregnant women led us to make this decision, " said Cara Ferrer Sokolovski, a Chinese medicine expert specializing in the area of gynecology, pregnancy, and birth in Rambam's Obstetrics and Gynecology Division, and a leader in the effort to expand these services at Rambam. "We are talking about multiple pregnancy- and delivery-related conditions that may be alleviated using traditional Chinese acupuncture, together with touch and pressure on various points on the body. In addition to all of the positive treatment aspects, it is simply pleasant," adds Ms. Ferrer Sokolovski with a smile.
Chinese acupuncture is available in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Division at Rambam from Sunday through Thursday, in both the morning and the afternoon. There are plans to expand these services to include evening hours in the near future.