Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/750495
torrancememorial.org PULSE | 39 "Our volunteers pass out warm chocolate chip cookies every aernoon at 1 p.m. And a special dessert is made daily with dinner, as well as two red velvet cupcakes with edible orchids, given aer the birth to celebrate," Romine says. All interviewed for this article reiterated that the environment is created to help mom feel safe, private, luxurious and peaceful—without compromising a high quality of care. For that reason, state-of-the-art technolog y has been utilized to increase security of the unit, as well as to better educate mom and family within the privacy of their own room. Each room will be equipped with smarter televisions that offer child care, breastfeeding and postpartum education videos 24 hours a day. And for those families who deliver preterm babies, they will soon benefit from NICVIEW, an app that allows mom and partner to view their infant remotely any time of the day. It will also allow nurses to reach out to parents whenever they need to leave the hospital. "Imagine. Our nurses will be able to send a picture of the infant to its mom saying , 'Hi. I had a bath today!' It's so important to stay connected when going back and forth from the hospital." Wright says. When chatting with a few pregnant moms in Torrance Memorial's prenatal yoga classes, they all said how grateful they were for the bigger rooms and redesigned Mother/Baby Unit. But aer explaining all of the advancements offered, most moms (12 in all) said they especially wanted to take advantage of the hospital's encouragement of quiet, bonding time. Torrance Memorial already has the daily silence hour, which allows only mom and partner to bond with their baby aer the birth. But the new unit will also institute two hours of daily quiet time for mom. Between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m., daily visitors and hospital staff are not allowed to continuously interrupt mom, so she can get much-needed rest. "We were getting patient complaints about too many interruptions in the room. We don't want mom to be taking care of herself, the baby and her 2-year-old, and entertaining friends and family. Of course siblings are allowed during that time, but only if there is another adult there to help take care of them," explains Romine. Only two women out of the 12 in my prenatal yoga class will deliver aer the new Mother/ Baby Unit opens ... and let's just say there are 10 pregnant women in the South Bay very jealous they don't have due dates in November! The new Mother/Baby Unit at Torrance Memorial was not only designed with patients in mind, but patients, doctors and family members also helped design every aspect of the ward, which included giving feedback on the new hospital gowns. Preparing to move to the unit required simulated training sessions with an infant mannequin and different scenarios of care situations.