Maine Medical Center dedicated its new 190,000-square-foot East Tower on Saturday, with former first lady Barbara Bush and Gov. John Baldacci attending the event.
The new center includes units for prenatal care, labor, delivery and recovery, neonatal intensive care, and mother-baby units. It also is the future location of an expanded emergency department, and represents the latest piece in the hospital’s expansion.
“This is a very exciting time for all of us at Maine Medical Center,” said Richard Petersen, the hospital’s interim president and chief executive officer. “Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, ‘The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual,’ and this has never been more true than with this project.”
More than 500 employees from women and infants’ services and the emergency department will work in East Tower.
The ceremony concluded with Bush and 6-year-old twins Meaghan and Riley McBreairty cutting a 70-pound, 130-foot ribbon wrapped around the front of the East Tower.
The McBreairty girls were born early and spent three months in MMC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. The entire family participated in Saturday’s ceremony.
“This time is extra special for our family,” said the twins’ father, Shawn McBreairty, who along with his wife, Patti, provided feedback and suggestions to the hospital during the East Tower planning process. “Just this week, our girls went to their first day of kindergarten and they will celebrate their sixth birthday next weekend. We are truly blessed to have them in our lives.”
Maine Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital, delivers approximately 2,500 babies each year.
Additionally, 70 percent of all low-birthweight babies born in Maine are cared for at MMC’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
An estimated 55,000 patients are treated in the medical center’s emergency department each year.
Its 25,000-square-foot expansion into the basement of the East Tower is slated to open next year.
The new mother-baby units open for patient care Sept. 16.
Originally published by From staff reports.
(c) 2008 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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