Designed for delivery

Moms and dads who are used to crowding into tight quarters to see

their newborns at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian will have more

wiggle room when a 320,000-square-foot wing opens Oct. 5.

Three floors of the seven-story Sue and Bill Gross Women’s

Pavilion are dedicated to maternal and child services. Rooms have

been designed with the philosophy that parents shouldn’t have to be

separated from their children shortly after birth.

“In the current environment, with semi-private rooms, we do what

we can to accommodate families, but sometimes there just isn’t room,”

said Kimberly Mullen, assistant vice president of patient-care

services at Hoag. “Now there’s enough space for moms and babies to

stay together.”

There are 130 private rooms in the Women’s Pavilion, many of which

have bathrooms, showers and Internet access. Pull-out beds are placed

near hospital beds so relatives can spend the night.

And when pregnant patients peer out the window of some hospital

rooms, they have an obvious focal point -- the Pacific Ocean.

Mullen said the idea is to lessen patients’ stress and to provide

them with more privacy.

“Family-centeredness is vitally important in healthcare moving

forward,” said Dr. Richard Afable, the president and chief executive

of Hoag Hospital.

The Women’s Pavilion, which members of the press toured Tuesday,

will be open for the public to see Sept. 24. Afable said he expects

the first baby to be born at the new facility on Oct. 3 or 4.

The $129-million Women’s Pavilion is the largest construction

project Hoag has undergone in three decades. McCarthy Building

Companies completed construction of the project two months ahead of

schedule.

With the new facility, there is nearly double the clinic space on

the hospital’s campus. Mullen said the hospital has already hired

about 50 nurses to handle maternal and child services.

And come January, the Women’s Pavilion is scheduled to become home

to Southern California’s first Women’s Wellness Center. Health

screenings and educational classes are among the planned offerings.

Included in the Women’s Pavilion is a two-level connector to the

main building that houses a cafe and a gift shop. Effective Sept. 26,

the front of the Women’s Pavilion -- where the decor most closely

resembles a hotel lobby -- will be the new entrance to the hospital.

“They wanted something that wasn’t a hospital in feel,” said Linda

Taylor, principal of Taylor & Associates Architects, which designed

the facility. “Because this is the public face of the hospital, we

wanted to focus on hospitality.”

On the first floor of the plush facility is the Hoag Breast Care

Center, the first of its kind to offer a direct-to-digital

mammography service. This allows radiologists to trade in analog

equipment for high-tech digital products that provide instant access

to information.

“We felt like it’s a higher resolution and a sharper image,” said

Gary Levine, medical director of Hoag’s Breast Care Center. “Just

looking at the images, we can tell we will see more and be able to

diagnose more and save people’s lives.”

A Hoag satellite center in Costa Mesa will also have the digital

capability, Levine said. The new facility also allows for a breast

MRI program.

Technology is everywhere in the new center. Flat-screen television

monitors and computers are placed throughout the building, and an

electronic tracking system will be in place that shows nurses which

operating rooms are in use.

The three-floor maternity ward includes a labor, delivery and

recovery wing, a postpartum section, and a neonatal intensive care

unit.

Taylor said the neonatal unit is designed to allow nurses to keep

an eye on numerous patients at once. The floor was designed with

carpeting and tiles meant to keep noise levels down, she said.

The second floor of the Women’s Pavilion houses the ambulatory

surgery and procedure center, which is for outpatient services.

Also included in the building are short-stay units, gynecology and

urology departments, and a nursery.

The Women’s Pavilion is named for Bill and Sue Gross, who donated

$20 million -- the largest sum in hospital history -- earlier this

year.

Bill Gross is managing director of Newport Beach-based Pacific

Investment Management Company.

The hospital started a campaign in 1999 to raise $50 million for

the new tower. The Gross donation brought the total amount raised to

$72 million.