At least 40 of Iowa’s birthing units have closed since the turn of the century. Rural communities have faced the brunt of the challenge: Thirty-one of Iowa’s 99 counties don’t have a labor and delivery unit, and the closures have led to a decline in Iowa women seeking prenatal care.
Among the decline in services around the state, there’s also the sound of growth: the clanging of construction equipment inside a critical access hospital in Le Mars.
Last year, Floyd Valley Healthcare leaders broke ground within its facility to expand its birthing unit. The OB department is still operating in the hospital and will move to the new area when construction is complete. Expansion plans had been in the works since before the COVID-19 pandemic when leaders began hosting focus groups with community members, said Chief Nursing Officer Tara Geddes.
The hospital had long been known for quality OB care, Geddes said, but the small and uncomfortable patient rooms don’t emulate that experience.
“The medical equipment has definitely surpassed what the space was able to offer,” Geddes said. “We wanted to make sure that our rooms match the care that patients are getting.”
There are currently three postpartum rooms and one birthing room. The updated space will include three rooms meant for labor, delivery and postpartum care so the new parents don’t have to move rooms throughout the various stages, in addition to one labor room and one triage room. The unit will have larger bathrooms, and the rooms will be double the square footage of current spaces. This will make it easier for families to have visitors during their experience, Geddes said, which is important because having your loved ones around you is helpful to the healing process.
The planners put thought into the aesthetics and how the design would make patients and their families feel. They will furnish the rooms with couches and beds to keep in mind significant others who sometimes stay multiple nights to support their partners and care for their new babies. The light fixtures will emit light throughout the room so patients don’t have a bright light overhead.
“It’s a more calming environment – lots of neutral colors, soft lighting,” Geddes said.
The hospital is also expanding its partnership with the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit focused on supporting families with sick children in their time of need. The organization will have a room within the new OB unit with snacks and drinks available for families.
The leaders see the investment as far more than revamping OB care. Geddes thinks about her own experience delivering five children as she’s made decisions on the project.
“I remember, to the second, the days my kids were born – I remember every detail, every smell that was in that room,” she said. “It’s one of those core memories that you just don’t lose. … When you deliver, that care is so critical at that moment, but also for your lifetime. We want to make sure that the care that families receive meets what their needs are, so that they feel comfortable and confident in us to trust us for not only the delivery of that baby, but the rest of the care for the life of that child and for the family unit.”
The unit is not equipped with a neonatal intensive care unit, so patients with high-risk pregnancies or deliveries are referred to a facility resourced for their needs. But as a critical access hospital, it can provide care for the vast majority of pregnancies, Geddes said. With a variety of medical services declining in rural areas across the country, Floyd Valley Healthcare leaders recognized the importance of quality local care where patients have their support systems nearby.
Pending construction wrapping up, the new unit is set to open on Nov. 1.
Geddes will be featured in the Oct. 25 Business Record that will feature Iowa women sharing about times they were fearless.
Categories: Health Care
