Time goes by quickly when you’re having fun. But in our case, time has flown by when bringing babies into the world. In 2016, Banner Casa Grande embarked on an exciting journey – groundbreaking on a 26,000-square-foot Women & Infant Services unit that would enhance maternity care and services.

Soon after the groundbreaking, construction started and took about a year to complete. While there were some minor issues along the way, the brand new, $17 million unit opened on July 25, 2017. City officials were at the dedication, and the community showed up to celebrate and tour the new building. There was even extensive press coverage by media throughout the Phoenix area, showcasing the new building and what it meant to have these expanded services readily available for patients.

“It’s like we had this groundbreaking, blinked our eyes, and before you knew it, there was a new beautiful building on our campus,” said Rona Curphy, CEO of Banner Casa Grande Medical Center. “We’ve really committed ourselves to upholding Banner Health’s mission of ‘Making health care easier, so life can be better’ for our patients and their loved ones. In the last year, this new unit has come to signify the importance of investing in our community. Whether it’s a new hospital unit, a new surgical robot, or new medical program, we’re not only saving lives through exceptional patient care, but also helping to boost our local economy. We’re proud we can play an instrumental part in that by helping our residents stay in Casa Grande for medical care, no longer needing to drive to Tucson or Phoenix for treatment.”

Banner Casa Grande continues to offer childbirth preparation courses so new parents can be ready for “labor day.” Also, through breastfeeding classes, mothers can learn about the benefits of breastfeeding their baby during their child’s first hours and days of life. While these patient care maternity services have been available before the new unit opened, the expanded unit has also allowed for enhanced services.

“A lot of exciting things have occurred since we opened the new unit,” said Janet Taylor, RN director of the Women & Infant Services unit. “For example, we offer laboring tubs for laboring mothers. This is an alternative method of relaxation and pain control so delivery can be easier for mothers. Also, having a new baby in the house on the first night, we want to help eliminate the worry of cooking at home. So we provide families a take-home celebration dinner for that first night with their baby.”

Taylor adds that in the new unit’s first 11 months of operation, from opening day on July 25, 2017, to mid-June 2018, there were 639 babies delivered there. Taylor said, “We project from July 25, 2017, to that same date this year, we will have had about 750 deliveries in the new unit.”

So now that the new unit is a year old, what better way to celebrate than by having a first birthday party! The public is invited to attend a free open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at the hospital, located at 1800 E. Florence Blvd. Tours of the unit will be given, light refreshments will be served, there will be a “meet and greet” with doctors and medical staff, and people will have a chance to win door prizes.

Curphy said, “This birthday party is not only to celebrate the first year the unit has been open, but also to say ‘thank you’ to the community. The community has been the driving force of all that we do here, and we appreciate the support they have given us over the years.”

For more information about maternity services at Banner Casa Grande Medical Center, please visit www.BannerHealth.com/casagrande.

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