Daytona Beach, FL - A new unit in the Center for Women and Children is set to open at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center (FHMMC) and the community is invited to celebrate.
The grand opening is on Thursday, May 11, at 5 PM, 301 Memorial Medical Parkway, Daytona Beach. Officially open for patients on May 12, the newly completed $10 million construction project added 24 inpatient beds for women and 10 inpatient pediatric beds, increasing the number of beds at the hospital from 293 to 327.
During the grand opening celebration, guests will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at FHMMC's new pediatric area for both inpatient care and emergency care, as well as the labor and delivery unit and neonatal intensive care unit.
The new Center for Women and Children is located on the hospital's 4th floor. All of its 34 rooms are private and in the pediatric unit parents can comfortably stay overnight with their child.
"This was a natural progression in expanding our continuum of care," said Becky Vernon, FHMMC director of women and children's services. "Our entire 4th floor is already centered completely on women and children. With this construction now finished, women and children can receive all of their care on this one floor - whether you are preparing to expand your family, having a baby, or have a sick child."
The 4th floor is currently home to the Women's Care for pregnant mothers to receive prenatal care, the BirthCare Center to deliver babies and a 16-bed Level II neonatal intensive care unit for sick and premature babies.
As the only facility in the area to be designated as a Center of Excellence in Women's Health Surgeries by the America Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery, FHMMC's new 24 inpatient beds for women will care for those recovering from gynecological surgeries and birth.
The new 10 inpatient pediatric beds will care for children who need to stay overnight in the hospital.
"Before we opened this unit, we were limited in the types of care we could provide, the conditions we could treat or the types of procedures we could do for children because we were not licensed for pediatric inpatient beds. We could only keep children for 24 hours for observation," said Vernon. "Now we can provide the whole gamut of pediatric care and treat a wide variety of conditions in children - whether it be for respiratory issues like asthma, or orthopedic issues like broken bones, or even ear, nose throat issues."
The architect for the 24,000 square-foot expansion was Orlando-based Hunton & Brady and the contractor was Robins & Morton, also from Orlando.
Photos courtesy of FHMMC and michaeljung & Shutterstock.com.
Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.
Becky Vernon
Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center
