KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Maternity care is expanding in the Triad. Expecting moms will have a new option for where they can go to have their babies in the near future.
Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center is adding a new fourth-floor birthing center. It's the first time maternity care services have been offered at the Kernersville location. The new center plans to open sometime in 2023.
Novant held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for its new 60,000-square-foot expansion. It's a $55 million project. The new birthing center will include spacious labor and delivery rooms with natural light and smart TVs. Each room is equipped with laboring tubs and couches that expand to beds.
In addition, a new heart and vascular lab will be located on the first floor of the building with a catheterization lab and eight patient rooms.
The hospital system says its new Kernersville birthing center aims to provide a more convenient labor and delivery care option for expecting moms in eastern Forsyth and western Guilford communities.
"This high level of access of care not only brings a comforting sense of peace and convenience to our patients, but it also instills a sense of pride and the services provided at your community hospital," The center's president, Kirsten Royster said.
Currently, there are three major hospitals families can go to have a baby. They're either in Greensboro or Winston-Salem and separated by about 35 miles on I-40. The new Kernersville location will put another maternity care option right in the middle of that I-40 stretch.
Those other birthing hospitals include:
- Cone Health Women's and Children's Center at Moses Cone in Greensboro
- The Birth Center | Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem
- Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem
Back in 2020, Cone Health opened a Women's & Children's Center at Moses Cone Hospital for maternity care.
"It's a beautiful building and our patients have absolutely loved it. We've been very very busy this year, so I think people are wanting to add to their families or start their families and we're here to serve them," Chief Nursing Officer Sue Pedaline said.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist opened up a new birthing center in 2019. They say they continue to experience steady volumes of delivery.
Here's a rendering of what the new Novant Kernersville facility will look like:
