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When Omaha-area residents got a first look Saturday at the new Methodist Women's Hospital, some wondered whether they had entered a hotel.
The region's first women's hospital packs loads of luxury, including a glass-enclosed atrium and cascading waterfall in the lobby.
“It's beautiful, absolutely gorgeous,” said Stefanie Christensen, 30, who is expecting her second child in July.
“All the amenities are really amazing. I'm really excited about coming in because of this place, as strange as that sounds.”
The new hospital, which opens June 21, will increase Methodist's maternity capacity by more than 50 percent.
The hospital at 192nd Street and West Dodge Road will have 126 beds.
Services will include deliveries, newborn and adult intensive care and outpatient radiology and imaging. The hospital also will operate an emergency room for men, women and children.
“The facility before you is the culmination of a decade of careful planning, collaboration and innovation,” said Steve Goeser, Methodist Hospital president and CEO, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “For us, Methodist Women's Hospital is a dream brought to life.”
The $120 million hospital offers sleep sofas, more seating for visitors, wireless Internet service, 24-hour room service and indoor and outdoor dining.
Other amenities include flat-screen TVs, refrigerators, vanities, hair dryers, personal wall safes for valuables, luggage racks, medical equipment hidden in cabinets and, in some labor and delivery rooms, Jacuzzis.
Future fathers were impressed, too. Some noted that the rooms will be inviting, especially considering the long hours spent in the delivery room.
Jamie Johns, 30, said her husband kept repeating that he “felt like he was in a hotel.”
Tiffany Reasland, 33, lives in midtown Omaha and had her first child at Methodist Hospital, 84th and Dodge Streets.
That location, which will still handle high-risk births, is farther from her home near 180th and F Streets, making the new building more convenient for her second delivery.
In May, the Methodist Physicians Clinic Women's Center moved from 90th Street and West Dodge Road to the new location.
The women's center includes obstetricians, gynecologists, pediatricians, birth education classes, a fertility program and mammography services.
Contact the writer:
444-1545, zack.colman@owh.com
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