New maternity LGH WARD ACCOMMODATES WOMEN'S NEED 7O HAVE CONTROL GVER BODY HEN PREG- NANT mothers enter Lions Gate Hospital after April 17 to give birth, they’ll find the new $2.7 million maternity ward on the hospital’s 3 West wing to be like a home away from home. By ELSZABETH COLLINGS News Reporter The cold green tiles and Stainless steel of the old operating-room-style labor rooms have been replaced with the wallpapered walls and oak finishes of the hospital’s new bir- thing rooms. And this homelike atmosphere is as much a reflection of the changing expectations of women as it is a change in the philosophy of care, according to Wendy Winslow, former LGH director of nursing. “‘The whole philosophy around childbirth has really changed a fot in the last decade or two,”’ Winslow said. ‘‘The maternity unit here was designed in the late *50s and then opened in the early °60s and it really reflected a whole differeut approach to maternity care than is now cur- rent. It was built at the height of when birth was medicalized and women were dejivered of their babies. Women were very passive and med'cine had a big role.”’ But women now want more control over the births of their children, Winslow said, and LGH has responded to their de- mands. “That (approach),”’ she said, “has really changed to women taking control of their bodies, ward at Lions Gate Hospital. ward reflects chan 3 - Sunday, April 15, 1990 - North Shore News ging attitudes NEWS photo Terry Peters AFTER ALMOST a year in a temporary maternity ward, Lions Gate Hospital maternity staff will start work in the new 3 West maternity unit on Wednesday. Standing in a section of the renovated maternity ward are (left to right): Rene Vanderzee, Sylvie Pather, Toni Moore, Dr. Dorothy Janzen, Anne Pruiton and Val Rollett. being autonomous. The whole consumerism movement has had a big effect on the birth process because women want a say in what that experience is going to be like for them and their fami- lies. In fact, they really want a lot of control over the whole pro- cess.” Winslow, who recently became the assistant executive director of patient services at Vancouver’s Grace Hospital, sat on the seven-member LGH maternity ward renovations committee. The committee investigated maternity ward options that wuuld be functional but also allow women more say in their birthing experiences. After inspecting three materni- ty wards with differing concepts in Calgary, the committee, along with architects and the LGH nur- sing staff, came up with a final NEWS photo Terry Peters DIANE NIELSEN holds her two-day-old son Kevin in her arms in one of the nearly completed birthing rooms in the renuvated maternity design that it considered would best meet both medical and con- sumer needs, 3 West has seven birthing rooms, a caesarian operating room and an assessment room that can also double as a birthing room. The concept behind the bir- thing rooms is to permit women in labor to go through the entire birthing process in one room. “‘We used to put women in lit- tle cubicles for labor,’’ Winslow said, ‘‘and then we, just at the moment of birth, would run them down the hall to an operating room, have them leap onto an operating table, put their legs in the air, their back down and they had their babies that way. And then they’d go some- where else to recover, so there was meant to be three different places in a very systematized way. ‘“‘What happens now is that you wil! come into a very warm, inviting, homelike, bedroom-like environment, and you have there who you want with you: your partner, some special people in your life, maybe even your children will be there if that’s what you want.” Each birthing room is also equipped with bathtubs and showers, so women who find the warm water soothing can choose to spend their labor in the bathtub. Medical equipment for emergencies in the birthing rooms is hidden behind panels and cur- tains. The more serene environment of the birthing rooms will actual- ly help the birthing process as well, Winslow said. “There’s a whole inter-rela- tionship between the mind and the body in every aspect of life and certainly it’s true about birth. So if you come into a nice, comfortable, warm environment and you feel relaxed, then in- evitably the whole birthing pro- cess is going to go a lot more smoothly."’ Because the maternity ward provides women with what they want, Winslow expects LGH will attract more of the pregnant women who used to shop over town for doctors and hospitals. “I expect that our birth rate will steadily increase even though normally it wouldn’t, given the population on the North Shore. But [ think the 500 women who go into town (currently) to have their babies will probably stay on the North Shore, at least some of them.”’ New ward pleases hospital staff NURSES REMEMBER OLD ‘PLACENTA CAFE’ HE LIONS Gate Hospital maternity ward project was similar to the birth experi- ence itself: it was a long time coming, but when it came, it came quickly. By ELIZABETH COLLINGS News Reporter Although the need for the ward’s renovations was long recognized at LGH, former LGH director of nursing Wendy Winslow said it wasn’t until 1987 that nurses and doctors started to lobby for the needed changes. “Every time any government official came by the hospital, we’d whip him up to the third floor and show him what the fa- cility was like,’’ Winslow said. In the end, a quick tour through an area nicknamed the “placenta cafe’? was needed to convince former B.C. health minister Peter Dueck to commit provincial funds to the $2.7 mil- Public invited to view new LIONS GATE Hospital will throw open the doors of its new $2.7 million maternity unit to the public on Tuesday, April 17. From noon until 8 p.m., visitors can view the display in the hospital’s main lobby and tour the new unit on the third floor. The main lobby display will in- troduce hospital visitors to the maternity unit with pictures of the old unit and mothers with their newborns and a pictorial explanation of the hospital's ear- ly discharge program. Maternity nurses and physi- cians will be on hand to answer questions and to show the ward’s renovated birthing rooms, special-care nursery and antepar- tum-postpartum areas. The new LGH maternity ward consists of three main areas: ea labor and delivery area with lion overhaul of the unit. Winslow describes the ‘‘cafe’’ room: ‘‘At the end of the room was a fridge where dads could come in and get juices, and milk and gingerale. On the other side of the room we set up in- travenous (equipment) and then the dads made tea and toast right beside the hopper where we flushed all the ‘junk’ down.”” Once the funding was an- nounced, the local Mum’s the Word campaign got down to fundraising for maternity ward equipment and furnishings. In less than a year, it raised more than $800,000 — $300,000 over its target. The ward was originally scheduled to be open last Oc- tober, but factors ranging from the nurses’ strike to removal of asbestos prior to construction combined to delay the ward's construction. Meanwhile, the maternity ward was moved to an interim ward down the corridor, making life even busier than usual for the maternity nurses. “It’s been a bit hectic,”’ said head nurse Rosemary Tindale. ‘*We've had less beds than we normally had. We had 27 beds on our old ward and now we only have 22. Five beds less might not sound like a lot but it makes quite a difference.”’ “The postpartum area has been very much on top of labor/delivery which means the postpartum moms hear moms in labor and moms delivering so it’s very noisy, you just can’t help it. There's so many people around,”’ Tindale says. But after almost a year in the makeshift home, the maternity staff will be moving to its new unit. **You have the thought always there in the back of your mind that this wasn’t going to be for- ever. It was for a limited amount of time and I think that’s why we've been able to put up with it,” Tindale says. The new maternity ward will be accepting patients on April 18. $2.7 million ward seven birthing rooms, each equipped with its own shower and tub; ®a special-care nursery, which provides close observation and specialized care for up to 14 babies, and includes a family room for breastfeeding and teaching as well as a small playroom for visiting siblings; eeight private, six semi-private and two three-bed rooms. The maternity unit is located on the hospital’s third floor. Visitors can find it by following the baby footprints from the main lobby.