Newspaper Page Text
Skin Cancer Spotlight On Controlling
Facts Radiology Pain
Houston
A PUBLICATION OF THE HOUSTON HEALTHCARE COMPLEX
rand Opening...
Of The Women’s Center at Houston Medical
here’s no more special time in a woman’s life than when she’s
awaiting the birth of a child. And there's no time when comfort and
convenience matter more than when her baby is finally ready to be bom.
Recognizing these unique needs, Houston Medical Center is pleased to
unveil its new Women’s Center, an expanded obstetrics and gynecological
facility designed with women and their families in mind.
The Women’s Center features nine new private labor and delivery suites
and 10 gynecological rooms, a separate covered entrance, an enlarged
nursery for newborns, two rooms for outpatient treatment and a large
conference room for education classes. What visitors —and ob/gyn
patients will see in the two-floor Women’s Center is a state-of-the-art
medical facility that combines form with function.
“It’s absolutely gorgeous,” said Suzanne Gardy, RN, Special Delivery'
coordinator. “The colors, carpet and ceiling borders are beautiful, Anne
Geddis pictures are going up, and there are armoires for storing clothes and
personal belongings in the rooms.”
Dads have needs, too. Therefore, the large private rooms feature man
size sleeper sofas so that new fathers can spend the night at the hospital in
comfort. The combined LDRP (labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum) suites
also include special storage units designed to hold flowers and gifts.
But for new moms —and women undergoing gynecological exams or
treatments the greatest feature of the new Women's Center is
convenience of care.
In the past, expectant mothers and gynecological patients at Houston
Medical Center checked into the hospital at the front admitting desk, then
were transported through the hospital corridors to the labor and delivery
i N This Issue:
Summer 1997, Volume 4, Issue 3
area which contained only semi-private rooms. Once there, a lot of
shuffling usually took place. Women underwent labor in one room, then
depending on the circumstances, they and their families might be moved to
another space to ensure privacy during delivery'. When surgery became
necessary, patients were taken to the surgical suite downstairs.
All that moving about proved puzzling for patients and difficult for
health-care workers, who had to arrange and keep up with all the patient
transfers, officials said.
“Patients are concerned about privacy, and we try to accommodate that,”
Gardy said. But there was still a lot of shuffling about and moving of other
families from the room and that’s a distraction, especially at that time.”
With those concerns in mind, hospital officials designed the new Women’s
Center to be more comfortable and convenient than ever before —and added
many other new features. The center is a two-floor combination of renovated
and newly constructed space.
The change in ob/gyn services begins at the front door. With the opening
of the Women’s Center, women will be admitted directly to the unit through a
separate, covered entrance on the north side of the hospital. Once inside, the
private, combined labor-deliver-recovery-postpartum suites also eliminate the
need to move during the birthing process. The size of these patient rooms has
doubled, and are large enough to accommodate waiting families.
“It’s going to be really nice, and the rooms are very large,” Gardy said.
A centralized nurses station and nearby glass-enclosed nursery increases
security and makes nursing care more efficient, Karen Johnson, Assistant
Grand Opening Continued...