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Hospital prepares to deliver new department renovation
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
August 14, 2009 |
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Another department at King's Daughters Medical Center has been rebuilt from the ground up as part of the facility's massive construction and renovation plan, and officials there expect the latest improvements to make KDMC the prime health care destination for Southwest Mississippi's expectant mothers.
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KDMC Director of Nursing Merlene Myrick said the hospital's labor and delivery department is scheduled to reopen in approximately two weeks with nine labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care rooms and one surgical room. All have been upgraded and equipped with the latest medical equipment, and designed for patient comfort.
"We really went all out to get all the things we needed to take care of our moms and babies," Myrick said.
Myrick said the new LDRP rooms would be equipped with state-of-the-art fetal monitors produced by Phillips Electronics that will allow nurses and physicians to record medical information at patients' bedsides. The same monitors will also allow physicians to access the information from remote terminals in their homes or offices for instant communication of patients' needs.
Some of the new monitors will be wireless, she said, allowing expectant mothers to remain mobile - not confined to a bed - until labor begins.
The new rooms will also be equipped with portable birthing warmers to keep newborns warm, and will feature the same modern, space saving in-wall medical gas connections and bed monitors that were installed in KDMC's new Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department.
Additionally, Myrick said the department's staff has refreshed its skills by taking a new round fetal monitoring interpretation classes as part of continuing education requirements.
"That ensures we not only have the nicest equipment, but we're very competent in the use of our equipment," she said.
But it's not just new technology that makes KDMC's LDRP rooms so capable.
KDMC Chief Executive Officer Alvin Hoover said the rooms have been designed and built with an eye for comfort. During the project, his CEO duties have expanded to include that of interior designer, and special attention has been paid to the look and feel of the rooms, from the patterns on wallpaper down to the hardwood look of the floors.
"You want a non-institutional feel for moms delivering babies," Hoover said. "They want more of a home environment. It's still a high-tech room with new capabilities, but it is designed to look and feel very comfortable."
Making labor and delivery patients comfortable is important for the hospital in an economic sense as well, said KDMC Chief Development Officer Johnny Rainer.
Labor and delivery services fall under the commercial health care market, with births being insured and hospitals paid for the services, he said. Between 600 and 700 babies are born each year at KDMC, a relatively high number for a facility of its size, he said.
Rainer said hopes are the newly renovated labor and delivery department will increase those numbers by drawing more area women to Brookhaven - and away from Jackson - for their childcare needs.
"A lot of what we're doing now as far as improving our facilities, renovating and building new space is our effort and our investment in trying to compete with Jackson," Rainer said. "We're trying to compete with hospitals that are three of four times larger than we are, and we do pretty good. Our doctors are as good as any doctors anywhere, and our facilities are going to be as good as any facilities anywhere."
Rainer said Brookhaven's childcare base is a strong one, with four OBGYNs and three pediatricians carrying on a cycle of health care.
"Those four (OBGYNs) deliver quite a few babies in our hospital," he said. "Once that occurs, our pediatricians step in and they're able to continue to provide excellent care."
More improvements to KDMC's childcare facilities are in the works.
Hoover said the hospital nursery would be moved and expanded as soon as the LDRP rooms are complete. Further renovations that will increase the number of patient rooms are also scheduled, he said.
By December, Hoover said the hospital's more than two-year, $12 million construction and renovation plan will be complete.
"I'm excited to see it come to an end," he said. "Any time you do a renovation inside the hospital while you're still using it, it's tough on everyone. Our staff has continually provided the highest quality care with the greatest amount of compassion."
Though the big project is ending, there is still more construction and renovation in the future for KDMC, Hoover said. But first, everyone is going to rest a spell.
"We're going to take a big, deep breath, relax and make sure we understand how to use and take care of what we've made new, and then see what comes next," he said.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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