Due to widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl, officials with HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest have rescheduled the open house to unveil its newly expanded NICU to July 17 at 1:30 p.m.
Published July 3 at 8 a.m.
HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest is nearing completion on a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, expansion project, and will soon be renovating its labor and delivery area and well-baby nursery, hospital officials announced in a July 1 news release.
The details
The hospital's new 24-bed NICU will feature nine rooms, 15 bays and one isolation room; nursing stations and office space are also being added, per the release. As previously reported by Community Impact, HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest has a Level III NICU, meaning the hospital's NICU can care for mothers and infants of all gestational ages with mild to critical illness; the highest NICU level possible is Level IV.
Set to open on July 15, the expanded NICU will be unveiled to the public during an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 9 at 10:30 a.m. The event will be held in the NICU area located on the second floor of the Women's Atrium. Officials noted guests should park in the Parking Garage Orange Lot 3—located at the corner of Satinwood and Peakwood drives—and take the crosswalk on Level 2 to enter the hospital.
Quote of note
"We are extremely excited about expanding and renovating our mother-baby areas. Statistics show that Houston has a 12.1% preterm birth rate, meaning that 1 in 8 babies born in the Houston area are preterm," said Tricia McGusty, interim chief executive officer at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest, in a statement. "We invested in expanding our NICU capabilities to meet the needs of the community and care for these babies close to home. This expansion, along with the renovations we are making to the other areas of our mother-baby unit, will enhance the birthing experience for the families we serve."
What's next?
Following the completion of the NICU expansion, hospital officials will begin Phase 2 of the multimillion-dollar project, which will include the addition of:
- Four labor and delivery rooms
- A C-section room and a recovery room
- Three recovery bays
- A nurse's station
- Additional workspace and storage rooms
