A newly opened space at NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island is giving new parents the space they need to recover and bond with their new babies in private.
“It’s a beautiful new space which creates a warm and supportive environment for new families to recover from delivery and prepare to go home,” said Erika Banks, the hospital’s OBGYN chair. “It provides our patients with a room of their own when they recover from delivery, and space for their significant other and family members to celebrate the new addition to the family.”
This new, 10-bedroom family care suite also marks a shift in the Mineola hospital’s policy: Prior to its Oct. 21 opening, new mothers had to pay an additional fee to recover in a private room, otherwise they might have been sharing a room during their recovery, which Banks said made it difficult for families to be together. Now, all will have access to their own space, free of charge.
“It wasn’t an exorbitant fee, but it was a way to give women that option,” Banks said. “But, we had never felt right about that. It was never the way we wanted to do things. We’re thrilled to be able to provide equitably, excellent care for all women at no extra fee.”
Banks said the rooms are all equipped with a couch that unfolds into a sleeper bed for family to stay the night, additional seating, a private bathroom, windows to let in natural light and a television.
“When patients were in rooms with other families, extended family members didn’t always have room to celebrate with the new mother,” Banks said. “Now there is room for siblings and grandparents to be there in a private setting with plenty of space so that we’re not seeing families sitting in the lobby waiting and taking turns. They can really all be together and celebrate as a family.”
On top of creating a private, spacious and supportive environment for new families, it’s also creating an informative one: There’s a plethora of educational material on breastfeeding, parenting and child care incorporated in the rooms.
“It has access to all kinds of educational information for the new parents around things like breastfeeding and preparing them for possible complications once they get home, who to contact when they need it,” Banks said. “It includes the care team on the screen, so just sitting in the room, the family knows who their nurse is, who their doctor is, who their pediatrician is, and they have access to communicate with all those folks.”
There’s also parenting and other informational classes offered by the nursing team for new parents during their stay.
The suites stand where a conference room was previously. Banks said the hospital has had plans to repurpose the room for years and she and other doctors have been excited to see it finally come to fruition.
“It’s just been an injection of new energy around how we can continue to do better for new families and prepare for the major transition from pregnancy to parenthood,” Banks said. “I think it’s a uniquely magical and difficult time for families. It’s such a short time period between being pregnant, delivering and preparing to go home with your life completely changed. The environment in which that happens is really important.”
“We want to be able to provide the most supportive, engaging environment for families to be together and prepare for that life transition,” she concluded.
NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island is located at 259 First St. in Mineola. It is the only hospital on Long Island currently designated an Advanced Perinatal Center of Excellence by the Joint Commission, which recognizes excellence in caring for mothers and babies before and after birth.
