News

New hospital birthing suite welcomes first arrival

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 07:46:00

The first birth has been recorded in the new Mildura Base Hospital birthing suites.

Lola Mary Droffelaar arrived at 10.22 am on Tuesday – only hours after the new suites were officially opened at seven o clock that morning.
Lola was the fourth child for proud parents Lauren and Andrew, and a younger sister for India, Finn and Willow.
The new birthing suites are a key element of the seven million dollar Mildura Base Hospital redevelopment.
The work expands by one the number of birthing suites at the Maternity Unit, meaning there will be four birthing suites available.
The opening of two of the new suites marks the completion of the first stage of the Maternity Unit redevelopment.  The third new birthing suite will open soon, and the refurbishment of one of the original birthing suites will then get underway.
“Last year we had 874 births at the Hospital – it’s a very busy place some days,” said MBH Maternity Nurse Unit Manager Rachel McDowall.
“It’s been a relatively quiet week this week, but a fourth birthing suite will mean we can manage demand much more comfortably,” she said.
The hospital redevelopment project is also continuing elsewhere in the hospital.
The first stage of the Mental Health Department is already in use, with the expansion of the Emergency Department now nearing completion.
All work on all three redevelopment stages will be finished by December.  A separate project, the new $9 million accommodation complex for students and clinicians in Thirteenth Street, is now started.  It will be finished by the end of February next year.