Public Employee Press

Million dollar Newborn Unit

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Nadie J. Graham, a Service Aide at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn, is all smiles as she finishes straightening out a room at the hospital’s newly renovated post-childbirth unit.

“This is really nice,” beams the Local 420 member. “All of the equipment is brand new and the patients are treated very well.”

Unlike the old unit, all of the family-friendly rooms are private and have telephones, rocking chairs and color television monitors for the new moms to watch videos on topics such as breast-feeding.

The modern unit now features a four-bed state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a six-bed Inter-mediate and Continuing Care Unit, and a 15-bed well baby nursery.

More renovations planned
The upgrading is part of a $6 million renovation project that was completed in August and spearheaded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has committed more than $1 billion to improve hospital facilities and has restored city subsidies to the Health and Hospitals Corp. Other renovation projects recently completed are a new ambulatory care pavilion at Bellevue and a $173 million Acute Care Pavilion at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. More renovations are planned at Harlem, Elmhurst and Coney Island hospitals. City Council member Diana Reyna was also instrumental in obtaining $2.2 million in funding for the new center with the help of Brooklyn’s council delegation.

“The new post-partum and newborn nursery represents our continuing commitment to meet the needs of the community,” said Dr. K. Candis Best, acting executive director and senior vice president of Woodhull Medical Center. “The focus here is high quality care in a setting designed with comfort in mind.”

Parents can also rest easy knowing that the new unit has a top-flight security system. The system, known as Hugs and Kisses, sets off an alarm if the wrong baby is bought to a mother. And if an unauthorized person tries to take a newborn baby from the floor, the entire maternity ward locks down.

That kind of security makes working in the unit less stressful and lets the staff focus on providing quality patient care. “It makes my job easier, said Local 420 member Marcia Jackman, a Patient Care Technician and 16-year veteran of HHC. “The mothers and their families are more relaxed as well as the entire staff. That makes a big difference.”

The clerical staff, members of Clerical Administrative Employees Local 1549, are also an integral part of the new unit. From behind their new computers they make sure the patient’s paperwork is in order, while the mothers bond with their babies.

“We all work together here,” said Ms. Graham. “And we make sure that everyone is taken care of, the mother, the father and of course, the baby.”

“New Yorkers can be proud of their HHC facilities,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “And together with the mayor’s financial commitment, our members from Locals 1549, 768, 420 and other locals will make these institutions even better.”