FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2003

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FLORIDA HOSPITAL ORLANDO'S "the baby place" DELIVERS TEN NEWBORNS DURING DISCOVERY HEALTH CHANNEL'S BIRTH DAY LIVE! 10-HOUR MARATHON

Orlando, FL - Discovery Health Channel welcomed ten "bundles of joy" into the world on Monday, February 17 at Florida Hospital Orlando's "the baby place" during the network's unprecedented, 10-hour broadcast event, BIRTH DAY LIVE! Developed in partnership with the March of Dimes, the live birth marathon documented the labor and delivery of six girls and four boys born at Florida Hospital Orlando. Deliveries were also filmed at Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit and Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix. The broadcast aired from 4 PM - 2 AM (ET).

Discovery Health will adapt the 10-hour broadcast into a two-hour special for air Easter Sunday, April 20, from 1-3 PM (ET), during the network's day-long "Special Babies" programming event.

Five new mothers filmed at Florida Hospital Orlando's "the baby place" delivered naturally; five delivered via cesarean section. Although some of the new mothers were considered high-risk due to medical conditions or difficulties with prior pregnancies, all of the mothers participating in the live broadcast delivered healthy babies and did not experience any significant medical difficulties.

Award-winning journalist and author Mary Alice Williams anchored the 10-hour live event from the nurses' station at Florida Hospital Orlando, the broadcast headquarters. Throughout the event, correspondents stationed at each hospital joined Ms. Williams with live reports and updates as the labor and deliveries got underway. Dr. Andrea Pennington, Discovery Health Channel medical director, reported live from Florida Hospital Orlando. Ms Williams interviewed Orlando Magic point guard, Darrell Armstrong, live at Florida Hospital about his experience dealing with the premature birth of his youngest daughter and his Darrell Armstrong Foundation for Premature Babies. Ms. Williams also interviewed March of Dimes 2003 National Ambassador Emma Henderson and her parents live from Florida Hospital.

Viewers kept up with the action and got more background online, where up-to-the-minute information about each labor, delivery and birth was posted in a continually-updated "Live Birth Day" hub area.

Following months of preparation, more than 75 Discovery Health Channel crew members were deployed to each location in order to coordinate the logistically complicated broadcast, the first of its kind.

While presenting viewers with a rare, televised look at the hard work and split second decisions it can take to birth a baby, Birth Day Live focused attention on healthy birthing and the growing incidence of premature births in the U.S, estimated by March of Dimes to be more than 476,000 a year, an increase of 27 % since the 1980s.

BIRTH DAY LIVE! is produced for Discovery Health Channel by VUE Productions. David Stern is the television director. For Discovery Health Channel, Fran Murphy is line producer; John Grassie and Mark Poertner are executive producers. Executives in charge of production are Donald Thoms and Bob Reid.

Florida Hospital is one of the largest not-for-profit hospitals in the country, caring for over a million patients per year -- more than any other hospital in the country, according to the American Hospital Association Annual Survey for 2001. Florida Hospital provides a wide range of health services for the entire family, including many nationally and internationally recognized programs in cardiology, cancer, women's medicine, neurology, diabetes and rehabilitation. Fit Pregnancy Magazine recently named Florida Hospital Orlando as one of the top 10 hospitals in America to have a baby. As a system, Florida Hospital has been recognized the past four years as one the best hospitals in the country by US News & World Report.

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies. For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at www.marchofdimes.com, its Spanish Web site at www.nacersano.org, or call 1-888-MODIMES. For more information on the annual March of Dimes WalkAmerica, visit the Web site at www.walkamerica.org.

Discovery Health Channel is a 24-hour health channel from the people who also bring you the Discovery Channel. Discovery Health is a source of trustworthy information about health, medicine and nutrition, both on television and online at www.discoveryhealth.com. Together, they reveal the remarkable science behind everyday human experiences, allowing viewers to walk away with a stronger knowledge and a deeper understanding of the ever-changing health and medical environment.

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Artwork is available by registering at www.press.discovery.com. Click on Discovery Health Channel, then Artwork & Photography on the left hand side of the page.

This release is located on the Internet at: http://www.floridahospital.org/

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