First baby born at new maternity ward
Greenslopes Private Hospital is celebrating the birth of its first child, 71 years after the facility opened as a military hospital for World War II Diggers.
Baby Mia made history just by turning up at Brisbane’s new maternity ward.
"She will always number one in our book, but now number one, actually in someone else’s book too," mum Melissa said.
She's the first to be born at Greenslopes Private Hospital.
Cyril Gilbert, who arrived here in 1945, emaciated after being a Japanese prisoner of war said he never thought he would "see it happen."
"I was starved, we were starved. I weighed six stone when I was on the railway," he says of his first visit to the hospital.
Now the 92-year-old is back after a fall. To him, Greenslopes will always be a veterans hospital. But since being privatised the doors have been opened to everyone.
Now they're targeting new expectant mums.
"It’s the most luxurious birthing experience they can possibly have," Hospital CEO Mark Page said.
Luxuries that include a coffee machine in every room, mini bar, Foxtel, iPod docks and a double bed with room for dad.
"I’ve been here 24 hours and I don’t want to leave," Melissa said.
The old wards are now hidden under highrise, but they've kept one bunker as a museum, where once all patients were soldiers. Now the figure is 40 per cent.
But with a new generation of wounded soldiers from Afghanistan, defence numbers are rising, and that includes diggers admitted to the mental health ward.
