DATE: Thursday, May 1, 1997                 TAG: 9705010481

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   42 lines

CHESAPEAKE GENERAL TO RENOVATE WARD THE HOSPITAL AUTHORITY APPROVED UPGRADES IN THE MOTHER-BABY UNIT.

Babies born in Chesapeake General Hospital's newly remodeled labor-delivery-recovery area shouldn't have to move to downgraded accommodations when they're ready to rejoin their mothers, hospital officials say.

Chesapeake Hospital Authority members decided Tuesday to renovate the hospital's mother-baby unit so they won't have to.

``The babies arrive in a beautiful room on the third floor, but when they move upstairs they get depressed because it doesn't look as good as the third floor,'' hospital president Donald S. Buckley joked Tuesday.

The unit, officials said, needs new windows in the postpartum rooms, and ceiling tiles, hand rails and carpeting in the corridors. The estimated cost is $500,000.

The birthing center is one of the busiest in South Hampton Roads, with more than 2,900 births annually, officials said.

``With all the new births here, we also need to create an additional (labor-delivery-recovery) room,'' said Becky Maples, the authority's vice president for planning and marketing.

No time has been set for the project's completion, officials said.

The renovations will also include some patient-comfort components.

``We have the dollars set aside for new heating and air conditioning,'' Maples said. ``Climate control was one of the greatest concerns for our patients.''

In other business at the Tuesday night meeting, the authority approved an additional $100,000 in hospital services for patients from the Chesapeake Care Clinic during the next year.

``Mr. Buckley and I just shook hands (in 1992), and it's been great ever since,'' said Dr. Juan M. Montero II, the clinic's medical director, Wednesday.

The clinic, which has been operating for almost five years, provides free, often specialized medical care for those without insurance or Medicaid or Medicare benefits. The hospital provides inpatient services, including diagnostic testing, radiology and pathology services, for clinic patients.

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