BY ANDREA HIRSCH
DANVILLE — In just a few weeks, 12 new labor delivery suites in the Hendricks Regional Health Childbirth Center will be completed.
The renovation, which cost $840,000, was designed to offer many features that makes the rooms look and feel more like a hotel rather than a hospital.
“The idea was to make them ‘homey’ for mothers and accommodate family’s needs,” said Deb Case, director of the child birth center. “We want to do what’s very best for families and patients and wanted to give mothers a hotel atmosphere rather than a hospital one. I am really proud of the way things turned out.”
When the hospital decided to renovate rooms in the center, Case formed a consumer focus group where she asked mothers what they would like to have when delivering their child. Many suggested they would like aromatherapy, massages, a flat screen TV, Internet access, a desk, a day bed for a guest, and private bathrooms with a shower.
Along with those features Case suggested more storage room to put equipment away from the head of the delivery bed, a place to store soiled linens so they weren’t in sight, and an infant warming system right next to the head of the beds so the mothers can easily check on their babies.
When they decided what improvements they were going to make, Case made a mock room to see if the room was suitable to families. After 90 days, Case took feedback from families and created two more mock rooms to add additional improvements.
“We tried to take feedback to make more improvements,” Case said. “We made the second mock room because we had more ideas in order to accommodate the basic needs of our patients.”
The construction began almost a year ago by renovating two rooms at a time so they were still able to see patients. All but two rooms are currently completed and Case is hoping those will be completed within the next few weeks.
Case also recently started looking at blueprints to create a special care nursery that will feature six beds for newborns.
andrea.hirsch@flyergroup.com
