Women’s Center Gets Final State Approval
Maternity and Newborn Services To Be Delivered at Northside Hospital-Forsyth
March 2, 2007 (Cumming, Ga.) – The Georgia Department of Community Health’s full review board has unanimously upheld two previous approvals granted by their department for Northside Hospital-Forsyth to build a new a new $42.2 million Women’s Center on its campus in Cumming.
After many unnecessary and lengthy appeals by North Fulton Regional Hospital (Tenet) and Emory Johns Creek Hospital (HCA), Northside now has final administrative approval for this much anticipated project. Northside will begin construction immediately once the State says the hospital may proceed.
“We are anxious to begin construction on this new facility and we look forward to providing the same level of high-quality care and comfort in Forsyth County and surrounding areas that we’ve been providing at our Atlanta campus for decades,” says Bob Quattrocchi, President and CEO of Northside Hospital. “As a community hospital, we remain committed to growing along with the community. As such, we want to help ensure that the community has easier access to one of the nation’s premier hospitals for maternity and newborn services.”
As the nation’s largest obstetrics hospital (delivering more than 18,600 babies a year), Northside will construct a new 103,000 square-foot facility that will include:
- Six Private Labor-Delivery -Recovery Rooms;
- 16 Private Postpartum Rooms;
- Two C-Section Delivery Rooms with associated pre-op and PACU areas;
- A Normal Newborn Nursery featuring 24 bassinets;
- A Level II Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit (NICU) featuring four bassinets;
- Perinatal Diagnostic Services;
- Lactation Center;
- Admissions and other support areas.
“This is a major victory for our residents,” says City of Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt. “Soon, women will have the high-quality maternity and newborn services of Northside Hospital-Atlanta closer to home.”
More than 2,3000 babies are born to Forsyth County residents every year. Of those, more than 70 percent are born at Nnorthside Hospital's Atlanta campus. More than 1,500 mothers each year travel nearly 30 miles to deliver their babies at Northside. Once the Forsyth Women's Center is open, Northside expects over 1,700 obstetrical patients from Forsyth and Dawson counties will choose to deliver closer to home.
"With increasing growth and traffic congestion, it is becoming more and more difficult for Forsyth County residents to travel outside of their county for medical services," say State Senator Jack Murphy (District 27). Forsyth County Commission Chairman, Charles Laughinghouse added, "Northside's unique clinical and operational expertise in maternity and newborn services is second to none and we couldn't be happier to have that same level of specialized care in the heart of our community in the very near future".
The Women's Center will be constructed to the Southwest of the main hospital and will be attached to the hospital via a connecting corridor or "galleria". Once under construction the Women's Center is expected to be complete in less than two years.
