By Ana Good
When it opens its doors to the public Saturday, Oct. 10, Grandview Medical Center hopes to establish itself as the premier choice for women’s health services in the Birmingham area.
Grandview COO Drew Mason said the hospital’s location, along U.S. 280 just off of I-459, positions the hospital amid a “huge amount” of growing households in need of convenient care. Its location, said Mason, will allow the new hospital to better serve patients who already had been familiar with what Mason called a once-robust women’s services department at Trinity Medical Center.
Dr. Virginia Winston, an OB/GYN at Trinity, is among the doctors making the move to Grandview. Winston said that, when it comes to having a baby at Grandview, mothers can rest assured that their delivery will be as individualized as possible.
“I believe that there are many right ways to have a baby,” said Winston. “At Grandview, we will be committed to make you feel grand, very royal, to feel that you can have your baby in a way that is comfortable to you and safe. The term ‘birth plan’ is a positive term for us.”
Grandview will be equipped with eight labor, delivery and recovery rooms, 22 postpartum suites and a well-baby nursery to help give new mothers time to rest.
“I’m very pleased that Grandview will offer postpartum suites,” said Winston. “There are a lot of different things that go on in a delivery room that don’t need to be part of a postpartum area. A postpartum suite setup allows for a more welcoming area where family and friends can celebrate a baby’s birth together with the parents.”
Two surgical suites for Cesarean section procedures also are adjacent to the maternity wing.
Premature babies and others needing extra attention will be cared for in one of the 12 private neonatal intensive care unit rooms that will help keep mom and baby together. Using private rooms, a more inclusive approach than traditional ward-style NICUs, is a growing trend in the medical community, said Mason.
“It’s the new name in the game,” said Mason. “Across the country, private NICU rooms are becoming standard practice.”
The private NICU rooms will be equipped with sleeper-sofas, said Mason, an added convenience for parents who wish to remain with their babies. Within the women’s services unit, parents spending nights at the hospital also will have access to suite bathrooms for freshening up.
Along with offerings for the parents’ comfort, the hospital will be top-notch in the care of its tiniest patients, Winston said. Grandview’s Level III NICU will be capable of caring for the smallest and sickest babies from across the area, she said.
From a technological standpoint, Grandview will be the first in Alabama to incorporate the ACESO patient and clinician communication systems within private postpartum rooms. The digital screens will take the place of traditional whiteboards, said Mason, better streamlining patient-doctor communication. Once fully-operational, the program will run through a patient’s television screen and provide information including patient feedback, condition-specific content and on-demand movie selections. Eventually, Grandview hopes to expand the program to offer patients personalized meal-ordering options as well.
Women in need of other specialized care services also will benefit from the hospital’s forward-thinking vision, said Winston.
“The whole operation is focused on patient care,” said Winston. “Women needing outpatient services, such as mammograms, ultrasounds and annual exams, among others, will be able to easily navigate to the hospital’s outpatient services floor. The hospital’s layout takes away a lot of the confusion that is often attributed with quick visits.”
The hospital also will offer the latest in robotic surgeries, said Mason, many specific to women’s health.
Doctors from Trinity and other area hospitals are joining the women’s health team and the hospital as a whole.
“Our excellent Trinity physicians will be joined by established practitioners who have been successful on other campuses,” Mason said. “Many (of) which will be now more proximal to the areas their patients are coming from.”
From a professional standpoint, Winston said the Trinity doctors welcome the growth.
“It’s all very exciting,” said Winston. “Women’s health is obviously very important and we look forward to what is coming our way to better serve our patients.”
Trinity Medical Center patients will all be moved the nine miles from the old hospital to Grandview beginning at 6 a.m. Oct. 10 in a multi-level planned approach. A total of 35 ambulances will help transport approximately four patients every 15 minutes. Hospital services will be offered at both Trinity and Grandview until the move is complete, which should be by the end of the day.
The new hospital is at 3690 Grandview Parkway. For more, visit www.grandviewhealth.com. ϖ
