Returning the Favor
For obstetricians, giving the gift of life is a daily occurrence. But sometimes the gift is extra special, when they give it to each other!

Dr. Pagano and Dr. Alexander have become more than colleagues — they’re now friends who have each entrusted the other with the health and welfare of their families.

Ann Marie Pagano, M.D., a dedicated obstetrician who practices at Ocean Medical Center, knew she wanted to work with women and children for as long as she can remember. "It is what excites me, inspires me. This is what I love to do," she enthuses.

Living What You Love
Established in a thriving OB/GYN practice in her hometown of Brick, Ann Marie has grown increasingly confident referring her patients to Ocean Medical Center's Maternity Unit, a 23-bed single-room unit offering expectant mothers a caring, supportive environment where they can labor, deliver, and recover all in one room.

"Which hospital I refer my expectant mothers to is just as important to me as it is to them, especially because I know, as a physician and as a mother, that childbirth is one of the most extraordinary times in a woman's life," says Ann Marie. "My patients rely on me to choose a hospital they can count on, and for me, that hospital is Ocean Medical Center."

Ann Marie's faith in the hospital is so strong, in fact, that she delivered her first child, Aiden, there in 2003, under the care of Josephine Filardo, M.D. So when Ann Marie became pregnant again last year, it wasn't surprising that she stuck with the experts she knew she could trust. "Even though I've been through this literally hundreds of times with my patients," Ann Marie admits, "it is always different when it is actually you getting ready to have a baby."

Paying It Forward
Ann Marie chose Alynn Alexander, M.D., another obstetrician affiliated with Ocean Medical Center, to assist her throughout her second pregnancy. Why Dr. Alexander? Interestingly enough, Dr. Pagano delivered Dr. Alexander's second child, Tyler, at Ocean Medical Center only a year earlier!

"I delivered my first baby at a bigcity hospital," recalls Dr. Alexander, "and you can really get lost in a big setting like that. What is so nice about a place like Ocean is that when you deliver here, you are delivering at your own community hospital. The nurses, physicians, and other staff members are your friends and your neighbors, or the relatives of your friends and neighbors. What better way to celebrate the birth of a child than to share it in an intimate community setting?"

The Ultimate Reward
On March 14, Ann Marie and her husband, Francis, did just that, welcoming a beautiful 8-pound, 11-ounce baby girl, Hannah, into the world, with a proud Dr. Alexander and the staff of Ocean Medical Center's Maternity Unit by their side.

"As a physician, it is difficult to sit back and just be a patient," says Ann Marie. "There's this part of you that wants to take control, because that's what you do for a living. But I didn't. I let them take care of me, and they did such a tremendous job!"

Dr. Alexander can relate. "Young female physicians like Dr. Pagano and myself are more than just doctors, we're working women who have families, medical needs, and even babies, just like everyone else," she states. "We choose each other because we trust each other. And when it comes to choosing a physician and a hospital, trust is number one on my list!"

– Kim Almon