BY BROOKE SMITH
The North Shore LIJ Forest Hills Hospital will be undergoing $8.2 million in renovations to its OB/GYN Unit, giving expectant mothers a more comfortable place to welcome their bundles of joy.
The project will include patient room renovations and equipment upgrades over the next two years. The upgrades will allow the hospital’s two-level neonatal intensive care unit to better care for babies born at greater than 32 weeks gestation or babies who are recovering from more serious conditions.
“The new design will serve about the same number of patients, but with much better accommodations,” said Orlando Santandreu, Medical Doctor who took over as head of obstetrics and gynecology last year. “There’s a nurturing feeling to have one-to-one nursing and to recover in a peaceful setting.”
The unit will take over the third floor, which currently also houses the Radiology Department, while Radiology moves to the second floor.
Presently, the OB/GYN unit has 18 patient beds, which will increase to 23 when the project is completed sometime in 2017. In recent years, the number of labor and delivery patients at the community has been approximately 2,000, which continues to increase steadily.
North Shore LIJ also has plans to change its name to Northwell Health in January.
