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Memorial to build new operating room to accommodate obstetrical services expansion

by jmaloni
Wed, Jul 18th 2012 12:10 pm

Press release

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has announced plans to construct a caesarean section delivery suite on its labor and delivery floor to serve the growing number of women delivering babies there.

The 800-square-foot surgical facility will cost an estimated $367,000 and allow women who need caesarean deliveries to deliver and recover on the same nursing floor.

"Patient volumes for all our women's health services have grown significantly, with Memorial recording a 36 percent increase in outpatient maternity visits, 47 percent increase in inpatient gynecological visits, and a 100 percent increase in inpatient obstetrics visits during the past 12 months," said Memorial Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Sheila K. Kee.

Nearly 700 babies are projected to be delivered at Memorial in 2012, a 47 percent increase over 2011. A significant factor in that growth has been the confidence shown in Memorial's women's services by Dr. Renee Baughman and Dr. Donna Feldman of Women's Medicine of Niagara and by Dr. Daniel Burns, Dr. Roger Jammal, Dr. Jayaselvi Kolli and Dr. Julie Madejski, obstetricians and gynecologists who deliver babies and perform surgical procedures at the downtown medical center, Kee said.

Currently, expecting mothers requiring a caesarean section delivery must be transported from the labor and delivery unit to an operating room on the ground floor of the hospital's Schoellkopf Building.

"The average time to transport a patient there by stretcher is 15 minutes and can be impacted by elevator delays," Kee said. "By performing C-section deliveries in the labor and delivery unit, we will improve the timeliness of care, ensure the presence of trained maternity nurses who are skilled in fetal monitoring, and promote the continuity of care to both mothers and babies."

Pending regulatory approval, the new caesarean section delivery suite is expected to be placed in service in early 2013.

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