Evansville Ascension St. Vincent Chaplain Deb Fleck, is blessing the revamped and updated Labor and Delivery area of the Women and Children’s Hospital.
She’s moving from room to room, reciting a short prayer and flicking Holy water using a gold aspergillum. She said as a Catholic hospital, blessings are part of their tradition.
“We want the presence of Christ in every single room,” she said. “People need to know that they're loved. They need to experience hope in the midst of whatever life they're going through.”
Ascension Saint Vincent Evansville’s Mother Baby and Labor and Delivery renovation project took four years and was opened on Thursday. Fleck led the Blessing Ritual to officially open the renovations.
Aside from updating the rooms, the project touched the reception area, conference room, nursing stations and security system.
Jenny Davis, director of Women and Children’s Service said this section of the Hospital for Women and Children is about 25 years old.
“So it was very dated. And when you look at new places, hospitals, hotels, anything like that, it's more of a spa-like environment. And so that was really what we were going for. And our physicians had a good vision.”
These physicians include Heather Schroeder and Tara Ranard. Both spoke at the blessing ritual.
Six large recovery rooms or "Family Suites" have a queen-sized bed in addition to the hospital bed.
Davis says the floor layout was also changed to improve workflow of the staff.
“We reworked a lot of the desk areas, the rooms,” she said. “We made sure that the lines were clean and that the physicians are able to visualize the things that they need to be able to see when they're caring for the patients.”
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A summary of the renovation overall
Ascension updated family waiting rooms in both Mother Baby and Labor and Delivery. Enhancements included the refresh of all 16 rooms with the addition of six large family suites.
Centrally located the nurse station to streamline the staff workflow in the OB emergency department; added two new OB emergency rooms for patients requiring urgent obstetrical care.
Relocated the nurse station for greater visibility and accessibility in the labor and delivery rooms.
Updated all 20 rooms with modern features to "enhance comfort and functionality for patients and providers,"
Strengthen security controls and access systems throughout the units to better ensure the safety for our patients and our staff.