Two new operating rooms and a recovery area are ready for use at the Red Deer Regional Hospital to ensure greater access for high risk pregnancies and scheduled and emergency C-sections.

The labour and delivery unit expansion includes a new recovery area near the operating rooms so parents can spend time together with their newborn babies more quickly following delivery.

Associate Minister of Health Brandy Payne delivered the news at the hospital this morning.

“It is so important for moms and dads and parents to have that opportunity to bond with baby right away.”

“By having the dedicated OR rooms for obstetrics and having the recovery room right there, it gives families those precious first moments together.”

Veronica Clark was the first person to deliver a baby in the new expansion and said her experience differs a lot from her previous child berths.

“This time around it was really special because I got to hold her and didn’t have to wonder what she was going to be like.”

“I got to experience that immediately right away and nobody was able to take that from me.”

27 hundred babies are born at the Red Deer Hospital each year, including about 480 emergency C-sections and 420 elective C-sections. The cost of the project was $9.7 million dollars.

2017 04 10 Hospital Room