WOMEN are welcoming their babies into the world in a refreshed environment at St John of God hospital in Bendigo following the opening of its refurbished maternity unit.
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Over the course of about three months, the unit was fitted out with new paint, carpet and furniture, while rooms were given redesigned ensuites.
One of the key features in the rooms is the armchair that converts into a bed, allowing partners to stay with the mums and their new babies overnight.
Staff and patients moved back into the unit about two weeks ago, having temporarily relocated to another part of the hospital while the work was under way.
Alannah Darmody gave birth to baby Willow in the new-look unit last Tuesday night.
It was not the first time Mrs Darmody had visited the unit, having had her first child Scarlett at St John of God in 2014.
She said that the old unit was “lovely”, but it was now a little more modern, homely and fresh.
Her husband Jeremy had enjoyed the pull-out armchair bed especially, she said.
Unit manager Shirley Lechmere said the new rooms offered women privacy and a space to rest and recover.
But it was not only mothers benefiting from the new surrounds, Mrs Lechmere said - staff also enjoyed the unit’s new look.
The maternity unit has also grown from 12 to 16 beds under the refurbishment.
Mrs Lechmere said the unit was not focused only on maternity, with beds also available to the hospital’s gynaecology patients.
Children undergoing certain procedures, like tonsillectomies, might also stay in the unit.
The unit includes a special care nursery, childbirth and hypnobirthing education, a lactation clinic, a parenting program and postnatal physiotherapy classes.
Mrs Lechmere said the hospital offered new mums flexibility in their stay, allowing them to stay longer if they or their baby needed.
The unit’s birth suite is also undergoing a makeover and will be opened at the end of June.
It will include a bath to provide pain relief for women in labour.
Mrs Lechmere said the took on board feedback from its patients, with the birth suite’s bath going in at the suggestion of women who had had their children at the hospital.
The maternity unit’s refurbishment was undertaken as part of the hospital’s $40 million redevelopment.
The new acute gerontology and rehabilitation unit will open next month and the day procedure unit is undergoing refurbishment now.
The second theatre is expected to open before Easter.