(Radio Iowa) – At a time when many rural hospitals are closing their birthing units, a medical center in northwest Iowa is planning a significant expansion. Tara Geddes, chief nursing officer at Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars, says construction will start on a major project next spring that will broaden the scope of the maternal care department. “We offer anything from preconception through our medical clinic all the way through OB care and then delivery afterwards and postpartum care, again, through our clinic,” Geddes says. “So we currently have an inpatient unit and deliver a little over 100 babies per year within that unit and are looking at expanding that.” One of the first things moms-to-be will notice is the larger rooms, which Geddes says are getting a much-needed update.

Floyd Valley Healthcare

“They’re pretty small. They’re a little over 280 square feet and the new rooms will be 411 square feet,” Geddes says. “It allows the moms and their families to have more room to come and see the new babies, to have more room to spread out, and also as equipment has evolved through the years, the rooms get pretty tight.” Geddes says the hospital strives to meet the expectations of patients, and the plans call for a new arrangement for care rooms that should make the process a little easier for mothers.

“Currently, moms, when they come in, will labor in a room and then once they’re ready to progress to the end of delivery, they move into a delivery suite,” Geddes says. “This will allow them to stay in one room, so they’ll be able to labor there, deliver and then actually be able to stay in that room postpartum, so they don’t have to move to different rooms.” Radio Iowa reported on a University of Iowa study in May that found rural Iowa hospitals are losing birthing centers at “striking” rate, with the statewide number of labor and delivery centers falling from 77 in 2000 to just 46 in 2020. Geddes says the expansion in Le Mars will represent a change of setting, but not a change in care.

“Our patient load is one-to-one, so for every patient here to deliver, we have one nurse for that patient,” Geddes says. “They’re not taking care of other patients, they are able to give individualized care and really personalize that to the patient and their family and that will continue in our new unit.” Construction will begin in March and should take about a year and a half.