Oh, baby! First infants born at new Parkland Memorial Hospital
Parents, staff celebrate opening day with 18 deliveries
For more than half a century, Parkland Memorial Hospital has been renowned as one of the nation’s leading providers of maternity care, averaging more than 10,000 deliveries per year. In fact, one in 250 babies born in the U.S. each year is born at Parkland. From Sept. 25, 1954 until Aug. 20, 2015 when the last baby was born at the 61-year-old facility, Parkland recorded a total of 656,061 deliveries.
While every new life is special to Parkland’s staff, on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 9:40 a.m., an extra-special birth was celebrated – the arrival of the first baby born in the new state-of-the-art Parkland Memorial Hospital, the largest healthcare construction project in the U.S. The new Parkland medical campus officially opened for patient care that morning. The mother and her infant, a boy who arrived by Caesarean section, were doing well.
Expectant mothers admitted to the new hospital’s Labor & Delivery (L&D) unit not requiring Caesarean section were taken to one of 44 bright and spacious private labor/delivery/recovery suites in the Women and Infants Specialty Health (WISH) Tower, new home to Parkland’s outpatient OB/GYN clinics and state-of-the-art inpatient care for women and infants. Eighteen babies were born at the new hospital on the first day of its operation.
In addition, a total of 626 inpatients were transported to the new hospital during the two-day move Aug. 20-22 across the Mike A. Myers Sky Bridge that links the old Parkland to the new facility, which includes a Level 1 trauma center, emergency services, burn center, surgical services, labor and delivery and Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The first inpatient transported across the sky bridge to the new facility was Nedra Washington, a 28-year-old Dallas resident who was hospitalized at the old hospital a few days earlier due to pregnancy complications caused by gestational diabetes. She is awaiting the birth of her third child, a daughter.
From her seventh-floor private room in the new hospital, Washington quickly adjusted to the more spacious and private room with amenities not even dreamed of when the old hospital was built six decades ago.
“It’s much larger and the big-screen TV is nice,” she said. “I’m excited to be here. I’m ready to get my little bundle of joy out. I’m in good hands here.”
“Our new L&D suites allow patients to give birth and recover in one room, so new mothers will no longer be moved around from room to room,” said Paula Turicchi, Administrator, WISH. “Each of the private delivery suites has its own bathroom, large windows with views of the Dallas skyline and abundant natural light, plus a dedicated family area. This environment caters to the unique needs of mothers and babies and we are delighted to be able to serve our patients in this amazing facility.”
Just steps away from the new hospital’s L&D suites are nine state-of-the-art obstetrics specialty surgical suites, including an OR specifically designed for multiple births that includes a special neonatal resuscitation room. In 2014, 108 sets of twins, two sets of triplets and one set of quintuplets were born at Parkland.
The new Parkland hospital also boasts 96 private NICU rooms, each providing abundant natural light, which will treat more than 1,000 sick neonates annually. Pull-out sofas and rockers accommodate parents spending the night or visiting with their infant. A total of 62 infants were transported in isolettes from the existing NICU, where babies shared small rooms, to the new facility. Five babies born during the new hospital’s first 24 hours were also admitted to the NICU.
According to Jennifer Hill, RN, Director of Nursing, NICU, “All of the babies were accompanied during the move by a team of specialized caregivers to assure their safe transport. The transition went very smoothly for our tiniest patients. And while Parkland has always provided exceptional neonatal care, it’s wonderful that parents and families now have greater privacy and comforts than we could offer before.”
The new WISH tower at Parkland also has 12 L&D triage rooms, where women arriving in labor at the hospital are assessed and cared for, as well as 36 antepartum and 108 postpartum private patient rooms, each with its own bathroom and pull-out sofa for family members.
Parkland has one of the largest midwifery programs in the country, with 25 certified nurse midwives providing prenatal and delivery services. Williams Obstetrics, the leading text for OB/GYN physicians, was written by an author team practicing at Parkland’s world-renowned OB/GYN department.
Back