Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center Welcomes Quadruplets

BELLFLOWER, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Four babies - two girls and two boys - were born to Fernando and
Vanessa Preciado Duarte at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in
Bellflower on August 14, 2008. Listed in birth order, Fernando, Jr.,
Marianna, Jesus and Yadira, began arriving at 7:48 p.m. The babies
weighed between 3-pounds 2-ounces and 3-pounds and 11-ounces.

Mrs. Duarte was admitted to Kaiser Permanente-Bellflower last week
and has been under the coordinated care of her obstetricians and
neonatologists since then.

The babies are considered premature (born at 32 weeks via
Caesarian section), but Kaiser Permanente obstetrician Mitch Rabbi,
MD, who has been Mrs. Duarte's physician throughout her pregnancy,
said the mother and babies are doing well, considering their early
arrival.

The overall logistics of the birth were complex, but the hospital
had a detailed plan in place to respond quickly.

"This was a cooperative effort by the entire medical center," said
Binesh Batra, MD, medical director of Kaiser Permanente Bellflower.
"Even though the births were premature, we had prepared in advance. We
had delivery teams of nearly 25 people on standby. The teams included
physicians, nurses and staff from OB, Anesthesiology and Neonatology,
and they responded very well to the challenge of delivering
quadruplets."

"We have excellent OB services and an outstanding neonatal
intensive care unit in Kaiser Permanente-Bellflower - this episode
demonstrated the kind of high-quality care we give to all our
members," added Dr. Batra.

In 2003, a set of quintuplets were delivered at Kaiser Permanente
- Bellflower. The medical center recently celebrated their fifth
birthday at the hospital.

The occurrence of quadruplet births in the United States is rare,
according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which recorded
only 418 such births from 1995 to 2005.

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading health care organization.
Founded in 1945, it is a non-profit, group-practice prepayment health
care program with headquarters in Oakland, California. The Kaiser
Permanente Bellflower Medical Center serves 286,756 members throughout
Southeast Los Angeles County, and has members in the cities of Bell,
Bellflower, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey,
Huntington Park, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs,
South Gate, Vernon and Whittier.

Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center Public
Affairs
Nancy Tovar Huxen: Tel: 562-657-4451, Pager: 310-609-4952
Mayra Suarez: Tel: 626-405-2652, Cell: 310-710-8479

Copyright Business Wire 2008