$1.5 Million Drive for Queen's 'Baby Boom'

Queen of the Valley Hospital Foundation has launched a $1.5 million fundraising effort to help the Queen enlarge its cramped maternity unit and meet the community's pressing need for more obstetrical facilities.

"We've outgrown our space to the point that we no longer have enough labor and delivery rooms," says Bruce Scarborough, MD, director of Women's and Children's Services at the hospital. "If we don't want to have women delivering babies in the hallway, we have to expand."

The Napa Valley Vintners Association has contributed $500,000 toward the expansion. An additional $100,000 has come from the Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation, as well as $40,000 from the Gilmore Family Foundation.
Thanks to these and other generous gifts, the Foundation has already raised $1.2 million of the $1.5 million total. Now we need your help to raise the remaining $300,000 by the end of the year.

Proceeds from this year's "Day for the Queen" have been pledged to the Maternity Center expansion. In addition, over $50,000 in individual gifts has been received in response to a recent direct-mail appeal.

"People understand that maternity services are a vital part of health care," says Foundation chief development officer Richard Green. "I'm confident the community will help us reach our goal. I think everyone here wants to make sure the Queen remains a center of excellence in every way."

Double in Size
The planned expansion, which will double the unit's current square footage, is expected to cost a total of $4.4 million, with the balance coming from the hospital and the St. Joseph Health System.

"We need the room, because our volume has been going up steadily," reports Suki Stanton, RN, the hospital's assistant vice-president for patient care services. "Five years ago we averaged 50 births a month. Now it's up to 75, and some months we have close to or even over 100."

The expansion will add a needed isolation room to the center's Intensive Care Nursery (ICN), as well as two rooms where parents of babies in the ICN can stay overnight or enjoy some privacy as they breastfeed or bond with their child.

All-in-one labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum rooms (known as LDRPs) are increasingly popular, but the hospital currently has only three LDRPs, not enough to meet demand. In addition, new state requirements for the size of these rooms have made it necessary for the hospital to consolidate several of its existing rooms to make sure its LDRPs meet the state standards.

Space Squeeze
That has created a space squeeze. As a result, the hospital can offer only two private postpartum rooms. The other four rooms for women who've delivered their babies must often be shared by two new mothers.

"That's really not ideal," says Suki. "It means new fathers can't stay over, as they can in the single rooms. And having two women in a room can create privacy problems when family and friends want to come in and see the new arrival."

The expanded Maternity Center, by contrast, will be able to offer plenty of privacy. The expansion will create 10 private postpartum rooms with double beds and other amenities designed to make them look and feel comfortably homelike. The renovation will also expand the number of all-in-one LDRPs to five. Four of the LDRPs will include large tubs for women who choose to labor in the water.

With Napa's birth rate projected to rise, and the Queen attracting more patients from surrounding communities, it's vital that the hospital's Maternity Center maintain the standards of excellence we've all come to expect from the Queen. "This is a very competitive part of health care," says Dr. Scarborough. "When we renovate we'll be able to offer truly outstanding facilities."