Hospital goes public with funding drive
To cover the final part of North Valley Hospital’s $1.5 million goal to expand its stretched-thin birth center, the Whitefish hospital is turning to the public for help.
North Valley Hospital is ramping up its capital campaign, “Building for Generations,” to raise the last million dollars to expand the overworked center.
Nearly 500 babies a year are born in the facility, which is designed to accommodate 250. Nearly 30 percent of mothers who deliver in the birth center experience post-partum care in general inpatient rooms.
The Birth Center expansion project, first announced in 2012, calls for 2,730 square feet of new space and renovation of 1,045 square feet of existing space in the hospital.
$1 million has been raised already, and another $500,000 is needed to cover estimated costs of construction. On top of that, the hospital requires another $500,000 for equipment and training.
“Our plan is to break ground this spring, weather permitting, and complete the project before the holidays,” said Michelle Drager, executive director of the North Valley Hospital Foundation. “It would be reassuring to know we had 100 percent of the funding committed before breaking ground, but if it doesn’t happen, we’ll move forward with the construction in the anticipation that our goal will be realized by the time construction is complete.”
The project will create three new rooms for labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care, for a total of five of those rooms and two post-partum rooms separate from the rest of the hospital.
Other changes include a larger nursing station, a larger family waiting area and a new lactation room.
The first project on the “Building for Generations” capital drive was construction of a fourth operating room. That was completed in October 2013 at a cost of $1.76 million.
For more information on the capital drive, contact Drager at 863-3560 or email mdrager@nvhosp.org.
To donate directly to the hospital through a secure online portal, visit www.nvhosp.org/nvh-foundation/donate-online.