Delnor's special nursery offers more space, privacy to families

Babies born at Delnor Hospital who need extra care will soon enjoy it with a little more privacy for their families.

"We have gone to more privacy, so families have more intimacy," said Dawn Stanley, clinical director of the NewLife Maternity Center.

Officials at the Geneva hospital unveiled the revised special-care and well-baby nurseries Tuesday to employees and other guests.

It is where the special-care and regular well-baby nurseries once were. The well-baby nursery also has been rebuilt.

The special-care nursery is for babies born before 30 weeks gestation, babies with low birth weights (minimum 2 pounds) and babies with complex medical conditions.

Instead of babies being in an open room, with just see-through rolling screens for privacy, there are seven individual bays in the special-care nursery. Six of them have opaque pull-around curtains, decorated in a giraffe print. Breast-feeding mothers, and parents who want skin-to-skin contact with their infants, should feel more comfortable in them.

The other bay has glass walls and a door, to isolate babies who have infections.

Each special-care station features a reclining armchair. Each has its own light dimmers, instead of the whole room having the same amount of light.

The lobby features adult- and kid-height sinks for people to wash hands before visiting babies.

In 2016, more than 1,300 infants were born at Delnor, and about 8 percent needed special care.

The revamped nurseries are part of an $8 million-plus remodeling of the NewLife Maternity Center.

It is the first major project since the maternity center was enlarged in 2004 to add private mother-baby suites.

The hospital is doing it without adding on to the building. A former lounge area is being converted to office space.

The project also includes replacing two operating rooms, which currently handle obstetric and gynecological surgeries. The new operating rooms will be devoted solely to performing Caesarean-section deliveries.

There's a two-room clinic for teaching mothers about breast-feeding, and a new room for hospital employees to nurse their own children or pump milk.

The state health department is scheduled to inspect the nurseries Thursday. If the department approves, infants could start using them next week.