The Women & Children's Pavilion Progress

Construction is underway on a new Women & Children's Pavilion on the Main Campus of Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC). The pavilion will replace current labor, delivery and recovery rooms, expanding delivery capacity; increase the number of Mother/Baby rooms from 32 to 44 rooms, expanding delivery capacity; and double the number of C-section rooms. The pavilion will also house new antepartum rooms for pre-delivery, high-risk perinatal patients who require extended lengths of stay. Plans also include a newly expanded neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for the care premature and sick infants. The addition will also provide more convenient access to Women and Children’s services.

“NGMC’s delivery volume is projected to increase from its current annual volume of 4,000 births to more than 4,600 births by 2010,” says Carol Burrell, NGHS’ Chief Operating Officer. “Our current capacity constraints make the expansion of our Women and Children’s services vital to our ability to meet the obstetrical needs of our region.”

The expansion of the NICU was partially funded by the Jim Syfan family’s $1 million lead signature gift to The Medical Center Foundation this past winter.

“The Medical Center Foundation has committed $2.4 million towards the $7 million NICU expansion project through its Health Journey II Campaign,” says Woody Stewart, chairman of the Development Council of The Medical Center Foundation. “The Syfan family’s gift of $1 million goes a long way toward enabling the Foundation to fulfill this commitment.”

Located on the ground floor of the Pavilion, the new NICU will double its bed capacity from 13 to 26 and almost triple in square footage size. This project will also include an additional transitional care room for parents to use in preparation for taking their infant home for the first time. It will allow more families to remain near their infants while they receive the necessary level of critical care.

“The addition of full-time neonatologists to our staff in 1996 enabled our NICU to care for premature and sick infants here in Gainesville so parents no longer had to travel to Atlanta each day to be with their child, “ says Kim Pace, nursery manager at NGMC. “Since that time, our region has experienced tremendous growth, resulting in increased demand for our NICU services. The doubling of our bed size is greatly needed, and the increase in space will allow us to design more private isolette areas for patients and families. This project will have a tremendous impact on our community and on the Medical Center’s ability to continue to provide advanced neonatal health care close to home.”

Construction of the $50 million Women and Children’s Pavilion is projected to be complete late 2008. Plans allow for additional build-out in the Pavilion in the future depending on market growth and funding availability.

For more information about the new Women and Children’s Pavilion at Northeast Georgia Medical Center call 770-531-3840.

Rendering of finished W&C Pavilion

See real-time progress of the Women & Children's Pavilion construction through the webcam link below:

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