Moncton Hospital improves family experience in newborn care unit

The Moncton Hospital has a new obstetrics and newborn-care unit that will support the entire family.

Every room in the unit will now be private and have its own washroom. Families no longer have to share semi-private rooms.

The new larger rooms will also have spaces for parents to sleep while staying close to their babies.

"This is a space where families will feel supported, where mothers will feel safe and newborns will receive the very best start to their life," said Dr. Ken Gillespie, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the hospital.

Gillespie said that the unit will still do the same things, but the environment will be more comfortable and efficient.

The unit is expected to open later this spring.

The new unit will include the neonatal intensive care unit as well as integrated antepartum and postpartum care, maternal fetal medicine, breastfeeding support and other services.

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The obstetrics and newborn care unit has been under construction since 2020. It is set to open this spring. Victoria Walton has the story.

Nearly 1,200 babies are born at the hospital each year, the province says. Of those, 200 are admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. There are 3,500 maternal fetal medicine clinic visits.

New Brunswick Minister of Health John Dornan said the unit was built with the future in mind.

"We can handle this population boom and more," Dornan said. "So, there was some really forward thinking about that and it's come to bear fruit."

He said additional staffing for the unit will pose a challenge for the government.

Rachel Comeau's family used the services of the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital in 2020 when her triplets were born at 32 weeks.

Comeau said they spent 26 days in the neonatal intensive care unit and another family celebrated 100 days in the unit while they were there.

She said having "this amazing facility that has compassionate care" will probably keep many families from having to look for care elsewhere.

Comeau and her husband raised funds to install live cameras in the unit so families can watch their babies while outside of the hospital. They will also fund new chairs and fridges for the rooms. 

The total cost of the new obstetrics and newborn-care unit was $43.7 million, according to the Department of Health.