Fort St. John Hospital welcomes new birthing room

Photo: New moms and major donators cut the ribbon to officially open the newest birthing room at the Fort St. John Hospital on Friday – Christine Rumleskie/Energeticcity.ca

By Christine Rumleskie

The Fort St. John hospital now has a third fully-operational birthing room.

The "Have a Heart" Maternity Room Campaign has been underway since last year, and the Fort St. John Hospital foundation managed to collect $130,000 for new birthing equipment.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, the foundation’s new Executive Director Ashley Bentley explained that the room was desperately needed. She added that the number of births have been climbing over the recent years.

Bentley says in the past, nurses were forced to transfer equipment from room-to-room, which took away from patient care.

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The new birthing room contains a new delivery bed, a radiant resuscitation warmer, a fetal monitor, an incubator, a pain management pump and a neo-puff.

Major contributors include Chances Gaming Centre, which donated $35,000, and EnCana Corporation, which donated $25,000 for the birthing bed.