Newton Medical Center Opens Modernized Unit with All Single-Patient Rooms

Newton Medical Center this week opened One South, a new inpatient unit featuring 22 modernized, single-patient rooms that provide state-of-the-art care in a soothing, patient-friendly atmosphere.

The unit represents the hospital’s ongoing efforts to not only modernize its facilities, but also move the hospital to full single-room status. The addition of the new 22 rooms allows Newton Medical Center to use semi-private rooms elsewhere in the hospital as fully private rooms.

“One South is just one example of how we are enhancing and transforming our campus to better meet the needs of our community,” said Joe DiPaolo, president of Newton Medical Center and vice president, Atlantic Health System. “The new unit provides a private, comfortable setting for patients to heal, while giving our staff the space and tools in which to deliver care.”

One South incorporates renovated space formerly occupied by two other units that reflect the hospital’s goals of modernizing care: Newton Medical Center’s physical and occupational therapy services, which moved to their own larger, updated center elsewhere on the hospital campus in 2013; and the former pediatrics unit, which was incorporated into the Advanced Care Unit, which opened in 2014 and reflects a new dynamic in the delivery of pediatric care.

Each room on the unit is equipped with tele-monitoring, allowing nurses to remotely keep track of patients’ health, including patient heart rhythms. Several rooms are equipped with patient lifts, to more safely help patients out of their beds. Several of the rooms are also equipped for more specialized isolation if needed, allowing treatment of various health issues.The modernized rooms also include amenities designed for comfort for patients and their families, such as pull-out day beds and rural scenic views of the land around the campus from room windows.

The unit will serve patients with all forms of medical or surgical conditions, and is staffed by highly-skilled nurses who are also specially trained in orthopedics, stroke and cardiac care.

Various design features will help improve the working environment for staff, such as built-in storage cabinets and closets that replace cluttering items like linen and laundry carts, and a room that can be used by staff and doctors to consult with patients and their families or use for staff training exercises without needing to leave the unit.

Construction of the unit was supported through hospital fundraising efforts in recent years that included donations from individuals and groups such as the Newton Medical Center Auxiliary. The nurses’ station will be named in honor of the Auxiliary, which donated $50,000 to the unit.