Upstate University Hospital completes birth-center renovations at Community campus

ONONDAGA — The newly renovated family birth center at Upstate University Hospital’s Community Campus will begin housing mothers and babies throughout the entire 21-bed unit starting in January. 

It’s located on the second floor of the hospital at 4900 Broad Road in the town of Onondaga. 

Construction on the 29,000-square-foot space project started in November 2016. Upstate University Hospital hosted a formal opening ceremony and media tour at the birth center on Dec. 5.

PAC Associates of Oswego Inc. was the contractor on the $9.2 million renovation project, while Syracuse–based Dwyer Architectural handled the design work.

“We now have the most modern labor and delivery and post-partum unit in Syracuse,” Dr. Howard Weinstein, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Upstate’s Community campus, contended in his remarks at the ceremony.

About the project

Upstate Medical University, in a news release, described the post-partum section of the completed floor as “unrecognizable” when compared to the pre-renovation space. The renovations included a new floor plan, expanded rooms, new family lounge spaces, a new six-bed nursery, nursing upgrades, and technology improvements.

The unit also has a dedicated lactation room for one-on-one support sessions with Upstate staff. 

“Moms come here healthy. They’re not sick. They don’t want to be treated as sick. They want to have good meals. They want their families to visit,” Barbara Bennett, nurse manager of the family birth center, said in speaking with reporters during the media tour.

The project was split into two phases to allow the Community campus to continue caring for moms and babies as the project continued. Crews completed the first phase in the fall of 2017. It involved renovating 12 patient rooms, a nursing station, and the hallways of half of the post-partum unit. 

The work on the second phase finished in November. It included the remaining patient rooms, an additional nurses’ station, the lactation room, and the six-bed nursery. 

The rooms were designed to allow visitors and for someone to stay overnight in the room with the mother and the newborn. Each room also has a computer and supply cart for the nursing staff.