Published on February 25, 2010

NICU Expansion

Rogue Valley Medical Center (RVMC) will begin a major expansion project for it's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in May, 2010, hospital officials announced today.

"We must meet the growing need in the community," said Kent Brown, hospital CEO. "Babies don't know there is a recession. We are expanding our NICU to improve care, add capacity, and provide private rooms for babies and mothers."

Preliminary planning estimates the project at $6 million and is expected to increase capacity from 26 to 32 beds. The project is planned in two stages. First, an area of the second floor of the hospital will be completely remodeled into a 13-room unit with 10 single rooms and 3 double occupancy rooms for a total of 16 beds. Second, the existing NICU on the first floor will be transformed into a 16-bed unit designed to serve the babies with the greatest medical needs. Preliminary plans estimate stage one should be completed in December 2010, and stage two should begin in December 2010 with a projected completion date of May 2011.

The NICU cares for premature babies from Lakeview, Oregon to Crescent City, California.  Since 2004, the number of babies cared for each year has not risen, but the average daily census has gone from 15.7 to 19. "We are increasingly treating babies with greater medical needs, which means longer stays," said Lee Harker, MD, a neonatal specialist and medical staff president. The NICU is frequently at capacity and sometimes staff must transfer infants outside the area. "By expanding we can meet that need and keep mothers and babies closer to home," Dr. Harker said.

The new NICU is designed as a family-friendly environment. It will have private rooms with space for family, and mother can stay overnight with her newborn. Private rooms will greatly reduce the possibility of infection.

Designed by industry leaders TVA Architects and the Estime Group--both from Portland, Oregon-- the project was developed and designed with thorough input and feedback from staff, patients, and hospital leaders. Justin Hurley, director of Real Estate & Sustainable Planning for Asante Health system, said the expansion will include environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions and will be LEED certified (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council). 

"This is one of the first projects where we will be pursuing LEED Certification. Our future development projects will be engineered with sustainability as one of the many goals," Hurley said.

The expansion is supported in part by the community through the Asante Foundation, which will be working to raise $2 million for the project. "Community support has always helped to make the NICU possible, and we are asking for that continued support for this expansion," said Dawn Welch, Asante Foundation.

The RVMC NICU is a level III-B unit, which means it can care for infants as early as 24 weeks and as little as 1 pound 2 ounces.

The existing unit is licensed for 26 beds, but due to space constraints, the unit is at capacity with 20 patients.

Overall, the expansion will add 9,000 square feet to the existing 6,000 square feet.

The RVMC NICU opened in 1974.