The Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort MacMurray will get a much needed maternity ward upgrade, with an expanded outpatient clinic and additional postpartum beds for new moms. The upgrades will not only improve the patient experience and allow the ward to handle additional patients it will also help staff deal better with the patient flow. Northern Lights Regional Health Centre maternal care manager Rebecca Syme discussed the current situation and why an upgrade is sorely needed. “We currently see in excess of 500 moms a month in our outpatient clinic, so we’re really busy. We have booked appointments and we also have people that walk-in to be assessed. And we’re trying to manage that in a three bed space. It’s the same with the post-partum (inpatient) beds. It’s not really increasing from what we’re already doing. We already have that increased (number of) patients coming through. It’s coping with it.”

Right now Northern Lights Regional Health Centre is handling 100 or more births each month, and that number is expected to increase in the future. A maternity ward upgrade will help the hospital staff handle the current caseload more efficiently. The project has a $500,000 budget and all of the funds will come from Northern Lights Health Foundation grants. Last year there were approximately 1,400 births at the facility so an expansion is greatly needed. The renovation and maternity ward upgrade is expected to start later this year. Fort McMurray’s Higher Health Clinic doulas provided a cheque for $13,000 to the hospital and associated foundation so that a new waiting room can be added to the expanded clinic.