With spacious new rooms for moms and their babies, the latest in technology for critically ill patients, and convenient access to physician clinics, the new four-story, 70,000-square-foot southeast addition to Avera St. Luke’s offers unparalleled facilities to patients in this region.

An open house was held Jan. 7, 2006, at the new $12 million facility that features a state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit on the third floor and a family-friendly maternity unit, the BirthPlace, on the fourth floor. The first floor area serves as a clinic entrance to the physician clinics, with a foyer, staircase and elevators, and a large entrance canopy and vestibule that offer protection from inclement weather. The hospital is still planning uses for the open first floor space, with about 10,000 feet reserved for future development.

New ICU

Avera St. Luke’s enhanced ICU includes 10 private rooms and one nurses’ station for every two rooms. It’s designed so the nurses will essentially be at the patient’s beside in a quieter, more healing environment. The ICU is connected to the third-floor medical unit by a walkway, and includes a large family waiting room, complete with a kitchen and bathroom/shower.

An extra level of ICU care that the hospital recently added, called Avera e-ICU, provides an electronic connection to ICU specialists in Sioux Falls and will continue to be part of the new ICU. There is also open “shell space” that can be used for future development

The BirthPlace

The BirthPlace at Avera St. Luke’s, a state-of-the-art obstetrics unit, contains 12 private rooms that surround a central nursery in a family-friendly, spa-like environment. Some of the features of BirthPlace are:

• “Single Room Maternity Care” with rooms designed for a continuity of care, with privacy and quiet for Mom, baby and family.
• Large waiting areas with family kitchenette and sibling play space.
• Rooms designed with “slanted headwalls” that offer maximum privacy, space efficiency and designated zones for family, infant, nursing and physician during the birthing process.
• Whirlpool tubs in every room.
• Sleeper sofas for fathers choosing to stay overnight with their new family.
• Entertainment centers with TV, VCR/DVD/CD players.
• Central nursery with a celestial theme and a rainbow-shaped window, where our ‘small miracles’ can be cared for when Mom wants a rest or if baby requires special attention.
• Comprehensive, integrated electronic security for newborns, patient, family and provider safety.
• Dedicated private elevator that goes directly to the Operating Rooms for cesarean births.

When you come to Avera St. Luke’s

Even though there are now three main entrances to Avera St. Luke’s, people will still use the entrances as they always have:

• When you come to visit a patient, please continue to use the main Visitor Entrance on the west side of Avera St. Luke’s. This entrance is for visitors, vendors and routine business.
• The Patient Entrance, or the east-side Penn Street entrance, is for patients coming for hospital services or for people who need to go to the Emergency Department.
• The Clinic Entrance, the new southeast addition entrance, is only intended to give access to the physician clinics on the second floor: North Central Heart Institute, Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates of Aberdeen, NeuroSpine of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Surgical Associates and Surgical Associates Endoscopy Center.