Cedar Valley Experiences Baby Boom
As the amount of newborns increases in the Cedar Valley, one area hospital is working to keep up with the boom as shared in a KWWL article!
“It’s no secret the Cedar Valley is growing in population. Allen Hospital is growing with it.
‘So, in the last three years, we’ve seen about a 20 to 25% growth in births,’ Vice President of Patient Care and Chief Nurse Executive of Allen Hospital, Mary Hagen said.
In 2017, the birthing center delivered 1,065 babies, and 1,102 babies in 2018. Hagen said the hospital is on track to deliver close to 1,200 babies by the end of this year.
As younger families move to the community, Allen hasn’t been able to keep up with the baby boom. They said the center’s expansion and renovation was needed in the Cedar Valley.
‘Being able to deliver these moms keeps these families in our community,’ Hagen said.
On busy delivery days, the hospital was often forced to move families and newborns to other wings of the hospital to accommodate the overflow.
‘The physical space served us so well for 15 years,’ the nurse manager of the birthing center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Amanda Wagner said. ‘We just ran out of room.'”
Read the full story on KWWL.
