Hospital plans expanded services in vacated obstetrics department

Women’s, cancer and cardiac services will be enhanced, Aurora officials say

By Ed Nadolski

Editor in Chief

Officials with Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington announced Wednesday they will expand areas of the facility devoted to cancer, women’s health, cardiac and orthopedic care this summer.

The changes come on the heels of the hospital’s decision late last year to close the obstetrics department and transfer all birthing services to Aurora Lakeland Medical Center near Elkhorn as of July 1.

The expanded services will be offered in the areas of the hospital that will be vacated when the obstetrics department closes.

“These new offerings will bring access to vital health care, closer to home, and allow the hospital to focus on the health care services the community needs most,” Aurora officials said in a press release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Hospital President Vicki Lewis said recently in a letter to the Burlington Standard Press that the number of babies delivered at the hospital last year is not sufficient to sustain the service locally. Instead, she said, Aurora is committed to enhancing the services that are growing in demand at the Burlington hospital.

Aurora’s decision to close the obstetrics department has met with resistance from some in the community, including Burlington’s Mayor, who has begun looking for alternative health care providers to offer labor and delivery services locally.

Among the planned service enhancements are:

• A women’s center based on guidelines from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers to advance the hospital’s clinical excellence in breast care and gynecological procedures.

• An infusion center to meet the community’s growing need for intravenous therapy services, especially in the fight against cancer. This facility will include space for ultra-sound IV’s and peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC).

• A new cardiac rehabilitation unit designed to deliver heart therapies closer to home.

• A transitional care center to help patients recover after a cardiac catheterization or interventional radiation procedure.

• A multi-use surgical and procedure suite that will add a fourth surgical room to the hospital’s campus, which will help with growing orthopedic volumes.

Work on the new areas and programs will begin this summer after the obstetrics department is closed.

For more on this story, see the Feb. 28 print edition of the Burlington Standard Press.