Northwell Health Completes $8.5M Recovery Unit at Katz Women’s Hospital

North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) this week opened a new patient recovery area and operating room in the labor and delivery unit of Katz Women’s Hospital. The $8.5 million upgrade to the women’s hospital’s third floor added 5,000 square feet to an eight-bed, post-anesthesia recovery unit and a new labor and delivery operating room containing three infant resuscitation bays, which helps reduce the time to transport newborns to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Strategic Investment in Maternity Expansion

The NSUH project is part of a more than $212 million investment that Northwell Health is making in expanding and renovating maternity units at six of the health system’s hospitals on Long Island, in New York City and Westchester County. Northwell Health donor Saul Katz recently toured the new operating room at North Shore University Hospital with Dr. Michael Nimaroff, the health system’s senior vice president and executive director of obstetrics and gynecology.

Originally opened in 2011, the three-story Katz Women’s Hospital at NSUH features 73 single-bed rooms, postpartum and high-risk antepartum units for prolonged hospitals stays, a 51-bed NICU and nursery. The hospital delivered more than 6,800 babies in 2018 – collectively, Northwell’s 11 hospitals with maternity units delivered more than 39,200 babies in 2018, representing 17 percent of all babies born in New York State and one percent of births nationally.

Setting a New Standard of Care

“Northwell’s commitment to the care of women and newborns is evidenced by our substantial financial investment into our maternity services and programs which set a new standard of care for our patients,” said Michael Nimaroff, MD. He further explained that Northwell is upgrading maternity units to be private rooms, which allows babies to stay with their mothers for the majority of their stay, encouraging breast feeding and recognizing the importance of bonding between mother and baby.

Upgrades Across Long Island, NYC, and Westchester

Elsewhere across the health system, construction is underway on major facility improvements:

• Staten Island University Hospital: construction is underway on an $80 million women and newborn center at the north campus, with the new facility expected to open in late 2021.
• Southside Hospital: an estimated $80 million project will be used to construct 11 private maternity rooms and convert 29 double-occupancy rooms into 18 private ones.
• Phelps Hospital: construction is scheduled to begin on a $21.2 million renovation and expansion of the labor and delivery unit to create 12 additional private post-partum rooms.
• Long Island Jewish Forest Hills: opened its $10 million renovated and expanded obstetrics and labor & delivery unit, which created five additional maternity beds and 11 private rooms.
• Huntington Hospital: unveiled its $12.5 million Center for Mothers and Babies, which expanded the hospital’s labor and delivery unit to 19 private rooms and a newborn nursery.

Summary of Northwell Health Maternity Investments