UAB Synopsis, Vol. 27, No. 9, March 10, 2008

Construction of UAB’s $180 million, 639,000-square-foot freestanding Women and Infants Facility is progressing and expected to open in early 2010. The building covers the block between 5th and 6th avenues and 17th and 18th streets south.

The facility is one of the first hospitals in the Southeast to offer single room neonatal ICU care. The unit, which is one of the largest in the country, includes 55 bassinets in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) and 52 bassinets in the Continuing Care Nursery (CCN). Each CCN bassinet includes family space, Internet access, and daybeds. Family support space that includes lounges, kitchenettes, dens, play areas, laundry facilities, and Internet access also is planned. The hospital will have the capacity to expand to about 120 bassinets.

Operational planning will begin when final interior plans are complete. On the first floor will be the lobby, an emergency delivery room for women with a pending birth, and a loading dock and support areas (materials, gas, and soiled holding).

The Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Facility will be on the first two floors. The second floor also will hold the CCN.

Three bridges are planned connecting the facility to the North Pavilion: a second floor bridge for all public traffic, a third floor bridge for service traffic, and a fifth floor bridge for patient and materials transport.

The third floor will house 17 labor and delivery rooms, 13 maternity evaluation rooms, 4 C-section operating rooms, and 5 women’s perioperative care beds. RNICU also is on the third floor.

The fifth floor includes call rooms and other support space, a limited number of physician offices (obstetrics and anesthesia), and classrooms dedicated to community education programs. The sixth floor will house the newborn nursery and 59 postpartum and antepartum beds, and the seventh floor is reserved for gynecology, including 56 beds for gynecologic oncology and medical and surgical gynecology services. A satellite pharmacy and outpatient classroom are planned for the seventh floor.

The eighth floor is shelled for future expansion. The 9th and 10th floors will house OB/GYN outpatient clinical services.

At this time, there are no plans to hire additional staff because the building is a replacement facility.

“This special building will be equipped with the latest technology and allow us to provide our patients with exceptional care in a warm and soothing environment,” says Madonna M. Nichols, RN, MSN, administrative director, Women and Infants Services.

“This is an incredible opportunity for our patients. Our mission in Women and Infants Services is all about families, and this new building will give us the opportunity to care for our patients and support their families in ways that we have only dreamed possible in the past,” Nichols says.