Hunter
06/09/24
Gazette
University of Iowa Health Care will be seeking permission this week to move forward on a $74 million maternity care renovation project, expanding space for labor, delivery and postpartum patient care.
The Gazette reports UIHC will present their request to the Board of Regents to undertake the renovation on the seventh level of UIHC’s John Pappajohn Pavilion, complimenting a $41 million build-out on the seventh floor of the neighboring Stead Family Children’s Hospital for an expanded neonatal intensive care unit.
Officials say the current space is at or near capacity many days. Officials wrote in their request that the project would support the increasing volume of deliveries and support the growth of the midwifery program.
UIHC got permission to start planning the expansion in January 2022 as part of the system’s 10-year facilities master plan. That November, a construction manager was hired, and last July, a design professional was brought on board so that the Regents could be presented with a proposed design, description and budget.
Renovations would begin late this summer, with more expansion planned in the coming years as only 46 of Iowa’s 99 counties had at least one hospital with obstetrics. UIHC says 61 percent of its deliveries and obstetrics visits are from patients living outside Johnson County.