Florida-based West Boca Medical Center expands neonatal

The Boca Raton, FL-based West Boca Medical Center has expanded its neonatal intensive care unit by 10 beds, from 24 to 34. The $3.5 million, 3,200-square-foot addition to the NICU is important to the community, said Larry Coomes, the hospital's chief operating officer. In 2007 302 babies, more than 13% of the 2,254 deliveries at the medical center, were admitted to NICU with an average stay of one to six weeks. Coomes said women are having babies later in life, and some are becoming pregnant through in-vitro fertilization—two factors that increase the risk of premature birth.