Petty Officer 3rd Class Amy Clayton, pictured right, a hospital corpsman at Naval Hospital Rota, helps Robert Wood take his daughter, Vivian, out of her stroller on Monday inside the hospital's new baby ward. The hospital unveiled $150,000 in improvements to the Maternal Newborn Unit during a ceremony on Friday. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Petty Officer 3rd Class Amy Clayton, pictured right, a hospital corpsman at Naval Hospital Rota, helps Robert Wood take his daughter, Vivian, out of her stroller on Monday inside the hospital's new baby ward. The hospital unveiled $150,000 in improvements to the Maternal Newborn Unit during a ceremony on Friday. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
The new delivery room inside the Maternal Newborn Unit at Naval Hospital Rota in Spain. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain — The furniture is oak, including the rocking chair, and the bathrooms include a Jacuzzi shower and towel warmers. The bedside tables has a laptop computer, complete with wireless Internet access. There’s even a luggage rack in the corner.
It might look like a hotel room, but this is no bed and breakfast.
It’s a hospital room.
The Navy has poured in $235,000 into Naval Hospital Rota’s new and improved Maternal Newborn Unit to make expecting parents feel like guests at a five-star hotel. It’s part of an effort by Navy hospitals across the globe to make delivery rooms more comfortable for families.
Rota unveiled its renovated baby ward on Friday with a ceremony.
“I think you’ll be extremely impressed,” hospital commanding officer Capt. Elizabeth Niemyer told a crowd of VIPs, parents and medical personnel before they toured the new department on Monday.
The few parents who have seen the renovated rooms and raved about the changes.
Robert Wood — whose wife, Leilani, gave birth to their daughter, Vivian, last Tuesday in one of the rooms — didn’t expect such décor in a military hospital.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” said Wood, who manages the base’s Champion’s Sports Club.
The rooms include oak head and footboard and entertainment centers with TV/VCR combo units. Bedside laptops allow parents to send photos of their new baby minutes after delivery.
Lt. Cmdr. Kim Zablan, head of the Maternal Newborn Unit, said the renovations are a leap forward from the old rooms, which had a drab, 1970s feel.
“It’s so much warmer, everything is much more soothing,” Zablan said.
In addition to the room improvements, the hospital has alleviated the administrative burden on new parents by allowing families to take care of the baby’s paperwork — from passport applications to birth registration — via bedside computer. The hospital also will install a $350,000 fetal monitoring system this summer. The hospital delivers between 10 and 15 babies a month or about 150 babies on average annually.
