Services
Mercy Birth Center
The Mercy Birth Center has completed a renovation project to improve privacy for patients and families, improve space for families in the private rooms, enhance security of the unit, and ultimately provide a welcoming home-like atmosphere for our patients and their families and visitors.
The project’s primary focus areas included:
- Transitioning to 100 percent private rooms for patients and their families on the Mother – Baby unit. The unit remains at 15 beds. In order to accomplish this, five semi-private rooms were converted and five additional private rooms were added.
- Providing a sleeping space for family in the private rooms post delivery.
- A new nurses’ station allows staff to screen family and visitors prior to entering the secure unit.
- Providing a nutrition galley for patients, families and visitors.
- Re-organizing the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which allows for more space and privacy for babies and parents.
- Adding a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit mother/parent(s) lounge.
- Enhancing labor and delivery rooms.
- Making aesthetic improvements throughout the Birth Center, which included new flooring/carpet, paint, cabinetry and in-room amenities.
“We are excited about the changes and improvements that are now complete at Mercy Birth Center,” said Nancy Jewell, Manager of Mercy Birth Center. “We want this to be an inviting and accommodating environment for new mothers, babies and their families/visitors. We look forward to providing continued excellent care to our guests in the Mercy Birth Center, and can now do this in a more welcoming and efficient environment as a result of the renovation.”
Family Centered Maternity Care
During your stay at the Mercy Birth Center, our goal is to provide Family-Centered Maternity Care, where mother, baby and family are cared for as a unit. Labor, delivery and recovery take place in specialized delivery rooms. The remainder of the medical center stay occurs in a Mother-Baby Nursing area with nurses trained to provide care to both.
Specialized Delivery Rooms
Our labor-deliver-recovery (LDR) area contains five LDR rooms in which families progress through the labor and delivery process and the first two hours after delivery in the same room. For mothers requiring a Cesarean birth, a surgical suite also is part of the LDR area. If both mother and baby are doing well after the birth, families and babies are encouraged to bond and become acquainted while in the LDR room.
Mother-Baby Nursing
Approximately two hours after delivery, mothers and babies are transferred to the mother-baby (postpartum) area of the Mercy Birth Center for the remainder of their medical center stay. During this time, one nurse will care for both mother and baby, which enables the nurse to coordinate care according to both the mother’s and baby’s needs, which promotes recovery, learning and bonding as a family.
Level II Neonatal Intensive Care
One of the biggest challenges your physician faces is anticipating and identifying complications in the labor process that could threaten the health and well-being of your newborn. When an infant is born prematurely or is ill immediately or shortly after birth, he or she will be admitted to Mercy’s Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The unit features four NICU beds and the care is provided by pediatricians and registered nurses. David Little, M.D. is the medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Intensive care is provided 24 hours a day. Nurses, trained in giving neonatal care, provide constant attention to the babies and help parents through this difficult time.
Staff from the laboratory, respiratory care, Family Medicine residents completing their rotation with a pediatrician, and social workers all are involved with providing care and support for the ill infant and the parents.
Services provided include:
- Multidisciplinary treatment for high-risk newborns
- Pediatrician coverage
- Ventilator use for the infants with respiratory difficulty
- Surfactant therapy for the premature infant
- Transportation of a newborn from a level I hospital to our unit by our nursing staff
Mercy staff like to include the parents in the care of the infant as much as possible so the bonding process is not severed during the NICU stay.
Physicians
Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa can help you find a pediatrician in Mason City or a family physician close to your home. You may call Mercy Family Health Line at 800.468.0050 or 641.422.7777 for assistance or you may review our Physician Directory by clicking here. Under specialty, choose either Pediatrics or Family Medicine. Under location choose either Mason City, your hometown or choose from the towns listed for a Mercy Family Clinic easily accessible to your home. Then click on Search to bring up the list of physicians. You also may search for a pediatrician through the Physician Directory.
