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All Women Will Benefit From New Center

Posted on: Monday, 1 May 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Joyce Owen, The Walton Sun, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

Apr. 29--Only 39 months after it opened, Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast broke ground on a new wing that will offer comprehensive women's health care, including childbirth services. Roger Hall, Sacred Heart president said it was an important to bring these new services to South Walton.

"I never expected to see this so soon," Sacred Heart Health Systems Public Relations Manager Mike Burke, said at the groundbreaking for the $22 million addition on April 20.

The 22,000-square-foot addition will provide childbirth facilities including four labor and delivery suites, eight private postpartum suites, a newborn nursery, education classrooms, a family waiting area and additional support services. The facility will be housed on the second floor of the new wing and will have a private entrance and separate circular drive. With construction expected to begin in July, the hospital hopes to deliver its first baby next summer.

A 4,000-square-foot space between the emergency room and radiology department in the main building will be converted to the Women's Diagnostic and Wellness Center adding new services like stereotactic breast biopsies, a needle biopsy alternative to surgical biopsies. Services already available at the hospital including digital mammography, ultrasound and bone density scans will also be part of the center.

The additional services will create new jobs -- labor and delivery nurses, nursery nurses, surgical technicians, anesthesiologists, a lactation specialist, registrars, environmental services, dietary services, a case manager and a social worker. The expansion will add 30 new employees.

The diagnostic center should be completed this fall, Burke said.

Women designed the Women's Center wing, Hall said. A Women's Advisory Group determined everything from floor coverings to the specialized beds for the obstetrics unit. Joyce Adams, a female architect, worked on the project, while Dr. Tamara Petrac, the first OB/Gyn physician to join the Emerald Coast staff, reviewed the design of the facility and the services to be offered.

Michelle Tommey, Walton County Chamber of Commerce marketing and communications manager and a member of the advisory group, was invited to offer her perspective as a young woman that might have children in the future. She said members of the advisory group traveled to hospitals in Atlanta and Birmingham to study their delivery and maternity facilities, where they examined rooms with medical equipment that could be concealed following the delivery.

"The expansion of Women's Services is a real tribute to the community, to their support, leadership and vision to continually improve access and quality of healthcare in our region," Hall said.

The Walton County Chamber of Commerce with its Purple Ribbon campaign and the community support for the effort to bring a hospital back to the area, more than 500 volunteers and donors have helped to create the state-of-the-art hospital, Hall said.

"You made a difference," he said.

Richard Owen/The Sun Roger Hall (far right), president of Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast, leads a group including Walton County Commissioner Cindy Meadows (second from right) at the groundbreaking ceremonies on April 20 for a new Women's Center at the hospital.

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To see more of The Walton Sun or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.waltonsun.com/.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Walton Sun, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Walton Sun (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.)

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