West Coast Welcomes First ‘Rainbow Clinic’ Specialized Prenatal Care for Parents Pregnant After a Loss Through Collaboration of Dr. Steve Rad and PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy
Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic is the Second in the U.S., Breaking New Ground on Patient-Centered Care and Enhancing Prenatal Care Standards to End Preventable Stillbirth
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Magazine Top Doctor and Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist Steve Rad, MD has announced a collaboration with PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy (PUSH) to launch the West Coast’s first dedicated prenatal care clinic for families who have experienced a stillbirth or other perinatal loss.
The Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic at the Los Angeles Center for Maternal Fetal Health and High Risk Pregnancies is now taking patients, offering bereaved families who are expecting again access to cutting-edge medicine and trauma-informed prenatal care throughout their subsequent pregnancy and birth. The Rainbow Clinic resides at the offices of Dr. Steve Rad at Cedars Sinai Medical Office Towers in Los Angeles, and “rainbow babies” - siblings born after the death of a previous baby - are delivered at Cedars Sinai.
Stillbirth, the death of a baby in utero after 20 weeks gestation, affects about 1 in 170 births, or 23,000 families, every year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Research has shown that women who experience a stillbirth are almost five times as likely to experience another stillbirth or severe maternal complication. Until recently, however, there have been few options in the U.S. for families seeking specialized care to address emotional and psychological trauma, and manage the very real risks of a repeat tragedy in their next pregnancy.
“Though the pain of pregnancy loss is immeasurable and unfathomable, the hope and healing offered by the Rainbow Clinic is like a beacon of light in the storm, a special place guiding families towards a future filled with love and possibility,” says Los Angeles Rainbow Clinic Founder Dr. Steve Rad. “With appreciation and gratitude to Ari’s family, PUSH, and [Rainbow Clinic concept creator] Dr. Alexander Heazell, I am honored and privileged to found the Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic at my Center for Maternal Fetal Health & High Risk Pregnancies in Los Angeles - only the second Rainbow Clinic in the United States and amongst a very small handful internationally. Everything I have accomplished in my career, and all the families I have cared for until now, have led me to this calling. A pregnancy after loss deserves special care, and the families who will come to our Center will receive the treatment, time, support, partnership, and customized care they deserve. Thank you for this privilege to serve.”
Dr. Rad has consistently impressed the stillbirth community with his deep empathy [for PAL families and] tireless dedication. -- Samantha Banerjee, Executive Director of PUSH
Samantha Banerjee, Executive Director of PUSH, a nonprofit public charity dedicated to driving down the incidence of stillbirth, remarks, “Dr. Rad has consistently impressed the stillbirth community with his deep empathy, his tireless dedication to building real partnerships with his patients, and of course, his world-class clinical excellence. He is the number one choice for high-risk patients in the Greater Los Angeles area, and when you hear the way he speaks about empowering the moms under his care and his regard for them as true partners in their own care, it’s easy to see why. The experience of trying to bring home a ‘rainbow baby’ after the death of your previous child is a daily gauntlet of terror and anxiety, and we wish every family had the support of a compassionate, talented provider like Dr. Rad.”
The Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic is based on the Rainbow Clinic model pioneered in the United Kingdom by Alexander Heazell, MBChB(Hons), PhD, MCROG, an internationally-renowned stillbirth researcher and leader in pregnancy after loss care and stillbirth prevention. Dr. Heazell established the first Rainbow Clinic in 2013, which has since expanded to over two dozen sites across the U.K. Due to dogged efforts of parent advocates in the stillbirth community led by PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, the first ever U.S. Rainbow Clinic launched at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City in March 2022, under the leadership of Dr. Joanne Stone, Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System, and Immediate Past-President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
The Medical Co-Director of PUSH and stillbirth mother, recounts, “After the loss of my daughter to stillbirth in 2018, I felt all the guilt in the world. I didn’t know what I did wrong, I wanted to understand why my body failed me. No one could answer. Months later I found out about the Rainbow Clinic in the U.K. and was drawn to their passion for making the pregnancy after loss a less stressful process through continuity of care, thorough investigation of prior losses, and a thoughtful approach to supporting the parents' mental health. Moreover, their numbers were astonishing: an 85% reduction in the chance of a recurrent stillbirth. I would have given anything to have access to that type of care. Fast forward a few years, my dream is coming true before my eyes, and I’m beyond excited to see the Rainbow Clinic model reaching more families through Dr. Rad's dedication to bringing compassionate pregnancy after loss care to the West Coast.”
"The families who will come to our Center will receive the treatment, time, support, partnership, and customized care they deserve” -- Dr. Steve Rad, Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic founder & Los Angeles Top Doctor
Like the staff at Mount Sinai, Dr. Rad and his multidisciplinary team has completed Pregnancy After Loss Provider Training highlighting the firsthand experiences of patients who have braved pregnancy after loss (PAL), and informed by leading experts in mental health and perinatal bereavement and international researchers on the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The training - which is available via an e-learning platform to any interested prenatal care provider or birth worker - is designed to help professionals empathize with bereaved families and minimize retraumatization during their subsequent pregnancy. As emphasized by the Rainbow Clinic model, Dr. Rad provides PAL patients with the highest standard of prenatal care, personalized for each patient and with a focus on identifying the cause of any previous losses and creating a bespoke strategy for pregnancy management from conception through birth. Dr. Rad prioritizes patient education and empowerment, and treats parents as trusted partners in the pregnancy. He also provides access to advanced monitoring tools such as estimated placental volume (EPV), in which he has been trained personally by the innovator of the technology.
The Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic is named in honor of Ari Rubin Baybutt, beloved son of Rachel Gould and Adam Baybutt, who was stillborn on May 10th, 2021 at 37 weeks gestation after an otherwise normal and healthy pregnancy. Like so many others, Ari's family was completely blindsided by this tragedy; the current standard of care for low-risk pregnancies like Rachel’s typically does not prioritize stillbirth prevention, which results in many missed opportunities to avert tragedies like the one that claimed Ari’s life. Research shows that at least 25% of U.S. stillbirths are preventable, and Ari’s parents have steadfastly pushed for change in his name since his death. In fact, Rachel and Adam and their loved ones were significant funding contributors to bring the dream of the #NYCRainbowClinic to fruition, and introduced Dr. Rad - who cared for them during their subsequent pregnancy with Ari’s baby sister - to the Rainbow Clinic concept.
"I’m beyond excited to see the Rainbow Clinic model reaching [...] the West Coast." -- PUSH Medical Co-Director & loss mom who pioneered the #NYCRainbowClinic idea
“Pregnancy after loss is a juxtaposition of hope and grief. Hearing the heartbeat at each appointment provides fleeting moments of relief that quickly fade into fear and anxiety of an unseen complication,” recounts Rachel Gould, Ari’s mother. “My daughter and I were fortunate to be under the care of Dr. Steve Rad during my journey through pregnancy after loss. He took the time to individualize a medical plan that not only monitored the baby’s wellbeing but also my mental health.”
Rachel and Adam’s daughter, Eden Ariela, was delivered safe and sound in November.
“While Ari is not here in our arms, he continues to leave an imprint on the world. The Ari Rubin Rainbow Clinic will be a place where families feel supported and safe, without judgment, as every expectant family deserves. We hope this model of care can be adopted as the standard of prenatal care for all families as we continue to fight to lower the rate of preventable stillbirths.”
--
Are you a healthcare provider interested in providing world-class pregnancy after loss training? You can access the same training the LA & NYC Rainbow Clinic teams completed, created *by* patients who have experienced pregnancy after loss (PAL) firsthand, and informed by leading experts in mental health and perinatal bereavement, and international researchers on the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Contact us for a code to access the training modules for free.
PAL Families! You deserve the VERY BEST care in your subsequent pregnancy after your loss! View contact info for our list of recommended providers across the US, including our collaboration with Dr. Steve Rad, here.
About PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy
We're on a mission to end preventable stillbirth, and we're not taking no for an answer.
65 babies are dying in the second half of pregnancy every single day in the U.S. - that’s 23,000 each year, most of them otherwise healthy, and all of them deeply loved. Many of these babies were our babies, and many of them could have been saved.
PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy exists for one reason, and one reason alone: to kickstart the pace of change in the US using big, bold, innovative action to save as many babies' lives as possible, as quickly as possible. We are a diverse coalition of bereaved parents from around the country, and we are working closely with trailblazing medical researchers, courageous doctors, and other hardworking allies to drive down the incidence of stillbirth in the United States over the next decade by any means necessary.
No family should have to endure what we have endured. We are saying ENOUGH.
#UnitedWePush For Families, For Babies. For Change.
Learn more at www.pushpregnancy.org
PUSH Press Contact: Samantha Banerjee, 332-244-PUSH (7874), media@pushpregnancy.org
About the Steve Rad, MD
Dr. Steve Rad, MD, FACOG is a highly specialized and international expert in Obstetrics, Gynecology, Maternal Fetal Medicine and High Risk Pregnancies (Perinatologist). He is double board certified and has undergone rigorous training with highest honors at prestigious renowned institutions - David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, USC, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCSF Medical Center as well as centers internationally including London, Austria, Israel, Africa. He is among few physicians with unique training and expertise in advanced diagnosis and management of a variety of fetal abnormalities & birth defects, advanced fetal ultrasound- particularly brain and heart, multiple gestations (twins, triplets, higher), and all pregnancy complications. Dr. Rad is well published, actively involved in medical societies, medical research, loves to teach, served as Faculty at UCSF Medical Center, and is currently on the Teaching Service at renowned UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Centers.
He has received numerous top doctor awards including Los Angeles Times Magazine and Super Doctors Rising Stars Southern California 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
He is currently on staff at multiple medical centers in greater Los Angeles including Cedars-Sinai, UCLA-Santa Monica, Providence St John's Santa Monica, Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana, California Hospital Downtown LA, and Good Samaritan LA. Dr. Rad's hospitals are affiliated with NICUs at Cedars-Sinai, UCLA, and Children's Hospital LA.
Learn more at www.drsteverad.com
Dr. Rad Press Contact: Dr. Steve Rad or Alysa, (888) 614-7668, manager@drsteverad.com