Virtua Health will soon open the newly renovated Mother–Baby Unit at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, marking a significant milestone in the health system’s multiyear effort to enhance the patient experience at the Camden hospital, now celebrating its 75th anniversary.
All three of Virtua’s hospitals providing maternity services—Virtua Mount Holly, Virtua Voorhees, and Virtua-Lourdes—were recently recognized as High-Performing Hospitals for Maternity Care on U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care list. This achievement comes as Virtua advances a broader transformation across its maternity campuses, including the newly renovated Mother–Baby Unit at Virtua-Lourdes Hospital in Camden and ongoing enhancements at Virtua Mount Holly Hospital. Together, these upgrades underscore Virtua’s commitment to creating warm, healing environments that elevate comfort, privacy, and overall well-being for patients and families.
The refreshed Mother–Baby Unit features a series of thoughtful enhancements designed to support new parents during one of life’s most meaningful moments. Renovations include:
- Thirteen modernized private rooms with soothing color palettes, updated furnishings, and improved lighting to promote rest and recovery.
- Two new antepartum rooms for extended inductions, providing a comfortable, spacious place to rest and prepare for labor and delivery.
- Enhanced family spaces that allow loved ones to remain close and engaged throughout the postpartum experience.
- Upgraded bathrooms and amenities that offer greater comfort and accessibility.
- Improved clinical work areas that support care teams in delivering seamless, patient‑centered care.
- Renovated hallways and shared spaces to foster a peaceful and inviting environment for everyone—patients, guests, and staff alike.
The renovation has energized the Virtua-Lourdes clinical team, who delivered more than 600 of the 9,000 babies born at Virtua hospitals in 2025. The medical staff are eager to welcome families into the new space. They shared their excitement about beginning to care for patients in an environment that reflects the exceptional care they provide each day, with a beautiful, thoughtfully designed unit that mirrors the compassion, dedication, and pride they bring to their work.
“Every detail of this renovation was guided by the needs of our patients and the people who care for them,” said Chidinma Arole, MD, MPH, FACOG, lead physician for the unit. “We want families to feel supported, safe, and comforted from the moment they arrive.”
Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes serves as a regional hub for advanced maternal care. The hospital offers specialized support for maternity patients experiencing cardiac or neurological complications — conditions that require immediate access to expert care. When such complications arise at Virtua Mount Holly or Virtua Voorhees, patients are transferred to Virtua-Lourdes to receive coordinated care from the hospital’s multidisciplinary specialists.
Additionally, the hospital offers a Special Care Nursery for newborns who need specialized care. Led by neonatologists at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Special Care Nursery provides consistent, advanced-level care for the region’s most vulnerable newborns.
At Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes, every laboring mother is supported first by a midwife laborist, with physicians on hand for added expertise. This approach combines the personalized, relationship-centered focus of midwifery with the reassurance of immediate access to physician-level care, if needed, providing patients with a more intimate birth experience without compromising clinical support.
The ongoing transformation of Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes represents a significant investment in the future of care delivery in South Jersey. Additional enhancements across the campus will continue over the coming months, further elevating the patient experience and strengthening Virtua’s role as a trusted partner in community health.