Public Employee Press

Babies back at North Central Bronx Hospital

The once-shuttered maternity ward at North Central Bronx Hospital reopened in October after the de Blasio administration and the City Council invested $2 million in the Health and Hospitals Corp. facility to modernize its labor and delivery unit.

Doctors and staff, political and labor leaders celebrated the new unit at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 9. They welcomed the return of the hospital's expert team of obstetrics and gynecology specialists, nurses, midwives and prenatal employees, including Nurses' Aides, Patient Care Techs, and Clerical Aides in DC 37 Locals 420 and 1549.

The restoration of the maternity ward followed a protest campaign led by DC 37, the state Nurses Association and community advocates when HHC followed former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's orders to cut the vital maternity services in August 2013. Closing the unit slashed by 50 percent the availability of labor, neonatal and delivery care to the Pelham Parkway community.

Reopening the unit "is a huge victory for the patients, the community and our members, who delivery quality health-care services in keeping with HHC's mission to deliver care regardless of patients' ability to pay," said Local 420 President Carmen Charles.

Under the de Blasio administration HHC received the cash infusion and the City Council allocated $600,000 to save the shuttered ward. After a much-needed renovation and a final inspection by the state Health Dept. the new unit reopened to the public in late October.

The new maternity unit features eight private labor and delivery rooms, a 26-bed post-partum unit, new nurse stations, computers, and other upgrades to improve comfort and efficiency, and HHC expanded the staff to 91 health-care professionals.