First birth brightens new Kaiser Permanente Redwood City hospital

When Neetal Smith went into labor at home at 8am December 16th, she knew it was 3 days earlier than expected but she also knew it was a good time for other reasons.
“I knew I was having my baby at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City,” she said holding her dozing newborn son, “but I also knew the new hospital would be open December 16th at 8 am so it was perfect.”
Neetal, who works as a periodontist in San Jose, and her husband Patrick, arrived at the new hospital at 4pm that day, just a short time after staff had completed the move of patients from the original Redwood City hospital next door.
But the doctors and nurses in Labor and Delivery were ready to greet them.
“I expected we’d get lost in the new hospital,” said husband Patrick, smiling at his new son. “But we found our way very easily.”
Once the Smiths were in their brand-new Labor and Delivery room, it was less than an hour before Neetal delivered Casey Parker Smith, 7- pounds-13-ounces, 21-and-a-half-inches long.
“Dr (Elizabeth) Lyons and Dr (Cheryl) Padin both stayed late with me after the delivery,” says Neetal. “Everyone was great.”
After the delivery, Neetal was quickly moved to a private room with a private bath in the Mother-and-Child area. Husband Patrick was able to spend the night with Neetal, sleeping on a pull-out couch that’s available in every patient room at the new hospital. Meanwhile, grandparents were able to stay at home with the Smith’s other child.
Both Neetal and Patrick agree that while the new Kaiser Permanente Redwood City hospital is certainly beautiful, and very different from the original 46-year-old hospital next door, where she delivered her first child, the staff is what makes the difference.
“It’s the Kaiser Permanente care teams, who just do amazing work,” says Neetal.
During the hospital move on the 16th, those care teams transferred 61 patients from their rooms in the original Kaiser Permanente building to more than a dozen waiting AMR ambulances out front. Paramedics, who are experts at transporting patients, then carefully drove each patient around the block into the new hospital’s ambulance bay next door. From there, the paramedics moved the patients to the appropriate hospital floor.
“Our care teams were well-trained and safely moved each of the patients from the original hospital to the new building,” said Frank Beirne, the Senior Vice President and Area Manager of the hospital. “Everyone, doctors, nurses, staff, all did a wonderful, safe job.”
Each nurse had 3 days of training in the new hospital. While most of the advanced health care technology was familiar, many of the devices in the new 280,000 square-foot hospital were “version 2.0”.
But old-fashioned caring delighted the Smiths. In anticipation of the first birth at the new hospital, Kaiser Permanente nurses, doctors, and staff bought a celebratory “onesie” for the family with the first child. On it, they printed a cute blue owl saying “Guess whoooo…was the first baby born at Redwood City’s new hospital.”
It looked cute on Casey Parker Smith but he was sleeping during the presentation.