Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020081
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Construction on the addition should begin next week, said Gene Wright, the hospital's chief executive officer.
Wright announced the opening at a Thursday groundbreaking after he and Bill Sterrett, vice chairman of the hospital's board of directors, stood in a steady downpour holding gold shovels.
Local families and former obstetric patients requested this all-inclusive trend in childbirth, said obstetrics nurse manager Dawn Armour.
"Previously, mothers were in one room for labor, then they'd go somewhere else for the delivery, and then sometimes two other rooms for recovery and post-partum," she said. "Now, they can stay in the same room from admission to discharge."
The rooms were designed to accommodate the entire family throughout the birthing process and come complete with refrigerators, televisions and VCRs. Parents can choose their own music played through a CD player and mothers can relax in a whirlpool bath during labor.
"Families want privacy so they can be together and begin the bonding process with the baby," Armour said.
The addition will be next to the emergency operating room to ensure quick, safe transfers, she said.
Recent changes in the health care industry have increased competitive pressures on area hospitals. Wednesday, Radford Community Hospital announced its relocation to a new $60 million "health center" that will focus more on outpatient and preventative care.
But Wright said the birthing center developed simply out of need to handle their growing patient load. "We expect to handle about 600 births this year. That should go up to about 1000" in the next few years, he said.
by CNB