Redesigned maternal child health department now open
3/30/2021
The maternal child health department at Columbus Community Hospital has just completed its renovation and is open for new parents and babies.
The hospital has been undergoing a $35-million expansion and renovation project for the past two years. The project is helping the hospital meet the growing needs of Columbus and the surrounding area, as well as improve efficiency.
Since the project groundbreaking in April 2019, the hospital’s surgical services area has been expanded, new conference rooms have been added and the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation department has been relocated into an addition on the first floor.
Maternal child health is the latest department to be improved. The department was scheduled to move from its second-floor location and begin operating on the third floor of the hospital in early March.
Space that was occupied by cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, the skilled nursing unit and conference rooms has been renovated to house maternal child health.
The move expands the department, nearly doubling its size from 10,200 square feet on the second floor to 18,400 square feet in the new area. More space was necessary because of the uptick of birth rates experienced at the hospital. That has been a trend since CCH opened at 4600 38th St. in 2002. Each year, about 600 babies are delivered at the hospital.
“Our deliveries have been on a slow and steady increase. We have been at this location for about 20 years now. There have been times when we would run out of space and overflow into the acute care,” said Kim Eisenmann, director of maternal child health.
The new space has eight labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms (LDRPs). Those rooms are designed to allow patients to remain in one room during their time at the hospital. In the old space, moms had to switch rooms after delivery.
“Rather than coming in, laboring and having your baby in one room and then moving to another, they will be in that one room their entire stay,” Eisenmann said.
Each of the rooms have delivery instruments and equipment for newborn care that can be easily stored away when not in use. The rooms also have en suite bathrooms with showers.
Also included in the department are four postpartum rooms, two observation rooms to monitor or test patients and a larger neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with four private rooms, including one room that is large enough to accommodate twins.
Also integrated into the department is an operating room for C-sections and the ability to convert some of the LDRPs and a NICU room into isolation rooms. The entire unit is locked for safety and security.
For families and other guests, a main waiting room is located right outside of the unit. There are two nourishment centers where families can help themselves to coffee or other refreshments.
Also in the design is office space for Eisenmann, the service line coordinator, lactation consultants and the First Steps program. The third-floor veranda has been revamped into a staff break room/meeting room.
The new maternal child health department was designed to provide the best setting for labor and delivery.
“I’m really excited about the fresh, new look. We are gaining a lot more space, so we will also have room to grow,” Eisenmann said.
The renovation and expansion project at CCH is scheduled to be complete later this year. The area that was occupied by maternal child health on second floor will be renovated into a senior behavioral health unit, which is an inpatient program targeting older adults who have depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other mental health conditions. Some other areas of the hospital that will receive updates include the kitchen, gift shop, inpatient rehabilitation, radiology, endoscopy and infusion.