RBSD Brings Home to the Hospital in Completion of Integrated Jamaica Hospital Birthing Center

Wood-look floors, offset entryways, skylights, oak cabinets and dramatic bedroom windows. Dream home? Not quite—these are only a few of the creature comforts RBSD implemented in the design of Jamaica Hospital’s new Birthing Center. 

On May 11, 2001 Jamaica Hospital Medical Center opened the doors to the Birthing Center, a component of the multi-part East Addition project headed by RBSD Architects. Not only does the Birthing Center double the hospital’s maternity capacity, it transforms a traditional labor and delivery unit into one based on the LDR concept. No longer must mothers be subjected to multiple moves during the birthing process. In Birthing Centers like RBSD has designed for Jamaica Hospital, mothers can settle comfortably into their very own private room that will be the setting for Labor, Delivery, and Recovery.

Calling on their expertise in Healthcare Facilities planning, RBSD developed an innovative and coherent design for the Birthing Center that effectively combined the comforts of a homey setting with the latest medical technological advances as well as conformed to all necessary healthcare services requirements.

Thanks to RBSD’s comprehensive design and planning, the Birthing Center can boast optimization of available space through current techniques such as the oak-paneled shelves and cabinets that hide medical equipment, gases, and equipment docks until they are needed. As these residential-style cabinets eliminate traditional hospital clutter of wires and tubes, the LDR suites are significantly roomier, more comfortable, and safer.

Knowing that contented clientele originate with happy service-providers, RBSD’s planning of the Birthing Center kept in mind the needs of both patients and staff. Sunshine floods the LDR suites, as well as bathes the central Nursing Station in a warm glow throughout the day. Large windows adorn the LDR suites and two octagonal skylights above the central Nurse’s Station provide comfort through the natural warmth of sunshine. This proliferation of natural light throughout the entire facility maintains a connection with the outside world that provides a sense of space and time and avoids the time warp experience that all too often characterizes a patient’s hospital stay. 

Merely one phase in RBSD’s 12-year series of projects with Jamaica Hospital, the Birthing Center serves as a prime example of the successful projects that have helped to transform the small community hospital into a professional medical center that provides state-of-the-art care and rises to the challenges of its community’s rapid growth.