Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

The newly named Women and Newborn Services area combines the labor and delivery rooms, the recovery rooms and the nursery in one area of the hospital instead of being spread out in various sections of the facility. The areas have been alternately called Labor and Delivery, Maternal Child (MATCH), and now will have a new identity.

Two RNs (registered nurses) gave this author and photographer a tour of the new area in the Gila Regional Medical Center.

The first impression was of light, happiness and an uplifting area to have one's baby, first or fifth.

The mother's room was spacious, with a lot of room for family to be with the mother and baby soon after birth. A large basket of goodies for mom and baby awaited the first arrival to the new area.

The nursery was just down the hall and the nurses, Amanda Mondello and Jasmine Para, said they would encourage the mother to spend a lot of her time with her new baby.

Mondello said the nursery is a Level 2 nursery, which offers extra care to a newborn. "We have two OB (obstetrics) triage rooms, with updated fetal monitoring equipment during labor."

She said for any mother or baby needing extra care, Gila Regional has a good relationship with the University of New Mexico Medical Center and an El Paso hospital for higher level care, such as the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).

The GRMC unit has a staff of 36 nurses on various shifts. Last year, 305 babies were delivered at Gila Regional, for an average of 25-30 a month.

The GRMC Director of Facilities Management Nicholas Dacus said they planned to spend all of the following day moving all equipment from the old areas to the new area, in the hopes of fully opening the new area on Friday, July 26.

Steve Gurley, the Yearout Energy general contract project manager out of Albuquerque, said he had spent about six months in Silver City during the project which started in mid-January. "We used as many local crews as possible. Silver City is a great place. I've enjoyed my stay here."

The hospital provided plenty of food for staff and visitors before the official ribbon cutting. Mary Gruska, long-time lactation specialist at Gila Regional, had the honor of cutting the grand opening ribbon. Many staff members joined her in the celebration.

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