Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital is set to take a select group of invited guests on tours of its newly completed $7.25 million Dace and King Stubbs Labor and Delivery Suite on Monday.  But the next step is the most important:  marketing it to expectant moms, and getting more to deliver their babies in Vero.

The unit, named after long-time John’s Island philanthropists in recognition of their generosity to the hospital, is nearly complete and will begin officially serving patients on Dec. 18, Cleveland Clinic said.

Construction had to be completed in phases, as the unit has been operational the whole time.

Approximately 850 babies are expected to have been born in Vero this year when 2025 ends – down slightly from initial estimates as rumors spread by fearmongers earlier this fall that Cleveland Clinic might shutter its maternity ward here kept some new parents away.

Currently more than 300 of the county’s 1,200-plus babies are born each year in St. Lucie, Brevard or Orange counties.  A handful of Vero obstetricians have birthing contracts with out-of-county hospitals which allow them to get paid without delivering the babies.

It is those mothers the marketing of the new Dace and King Stubbs Labor and Delivery Suite needs to reach.  Since the Cleveland Clinic unit is designed to handle the county’s entire 1,200-plus babies annually, without the mothers who go elsewhere, the Vero maternity operation loses substantial money.

The  re-opening of the totally overhauled maternity unit, combined with the unit’s stellar safety record, should equip hospital leaders to tout the many benefits for moms to staying in Indian River County.

At each step of the new maternity wing, from renovated private triage-observation bays to labor and delivery rooms to post-partum suites with high-tech room-in quarters for baby, the unit’s design features improved aesthetics and efficiency.

Suites expanded in size by 50 percent offer accessible, spacious hotel-style bathrooms with more of the comforts of home. But the improvements go way beyond decor as the dedicated obstetrics operating theatre, called the C-Section Suite, was totally revamped and modernized.  The aging maternity wing also was repiped, rewired and received new lighting and fixtures as construction progressed throughout the year.

“Thanks to the generous support of our donors, our new Labor and Delivery rooms provide families with the comfort and confidence they need as they welcome a new baby. This initiative advances our commitment to improving quality, reducing C-sections, and expanding services for at-risk mothers and babies,” said Dr. George Fyffe, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“The operational advantages of sensory delivery rooms in labor and delivery include fewer interventions, such as lower rates of emergency c-sections and induced labor,” Cleveland Clinic spokesperson Raquel Rivas added.

“The new environment also improves patient experiences by helping manage pain, anxiety, and focus, which can enhance satisfaction and a sense of control. For staff, these rooms can create a better work environment with a de-escalating atmosphere and potentially lower staff stress, leading to increased job satisfaction and reduced sick leave,” Rivas said.

Hospital district trustees discussed the re-opening at a Nov. 20 meeting during a presentation by Megan McFall, CEO of Healthy Start Coalition about the county’s overall health of mothers and babies.

Trustee Paul Westcott invited McFall, a Registered Nurse and former 17-year Cleveland Clinic employee, to brag about the Vero hospital’s excellent safety record.

“How safe is our labor and delivery department, number one? Number two, the quality of the experience there. If you can talk, because you’re there, you have people around there, what is that like? Every opportunity we can crow about it, we’re going to crow,” Westcott said.

McFall explained that Indian River’s infant mortality rates are nearly five times better than the average of hospitals in Florida, and that Cleveland Clinic has a maternal-fetal medicine specialist on staff to provide advanced prenatal care.

She explained that some women go out of county because Vero only has a Level One Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, so out of an abundance of caution, even though they are not at high risk they go to a Level Two or Level Three NICU.

“If you are a candidate to deliver at a level one facility, such as Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, the likelihood of you being separated from your baby is less than 2 percent,” McFall said.

“If you delivered at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, your neonatal mortality rate is .80 (or .8 deaths out of 1,000 births). Those are pretty good odds. So when you talk about safety versus to your north or to your south, that both have NICUs, your odds are pretty good,” she said.

McFall said now the new decor and amenities will be as impressive as the safety record and she expects the revamp to appeal to women deciding where to give birth.

“If we walk into a very outdated labor and delivery department, and the statistics are not evident to us, we’re going to choose to go somewhere that is prettier,” she said.

If local patients demand to deliver in Vero, eventually the obstetricians will presumably comply, and strike contracts with Cleveland Clinic for birthing services. That, combined with the right kind of population growth – younger working people with good health insurance – should move Vero’s maternity ward toward the financial break-even point.