A few months ago, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, Chair of the IMBCO Board of Directors, visited our demonstration site at the Feldbach Community Hospital in Feldbach, Austria. Debra shares her thoughts and some images from her visit with us. Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!

Each time I enter Feldbach Hospital and see their amazing birthing suites I have to ask myself why can’t other hospitals do this? Why have so many hospitals set up the room with the smallest bed one has ever had when you are the biggest in your life? When you are welcoming a new baby, why is there not room for your partner, husband, children or newborn to cuddle with you? Why are we creating so much separation at a time that we crave connection?
My heart sings in the birth rooms at Feldbach Hospital. The energy, the music, the lighting the birth ambiance is everywhere. The midwife comments on the view, the openness. Even in the Operating Room there are windows so the woman can experience birth as part of life, not afraid even in this sterile environment she is connected to nature, to the day.
Look around at these images, what does your community hospital room look like?
What would it take to make a change the built environment of your local hospital to an active space? To a welcoming space? To a space that includes our families and provides a home-like environment in the hospital?
My heart sings in the birth rooms at Feldbach Hospital. The energy, the music, the lighting the birth ambiance is everywhere. The midwife comments on the view, the openness. Even in the Operating Room there are windows so the woman can experience birth as part of life, not afraid even in this sterile environment she is connected to nature, to the day.
Look around at these images, what does your community hospital room look like?
What would it take to make a change the built environment of your local hospital to an active space? To a welcoming space? To a space that includes our families and provides a home-like environment in the hospital?