CLEARFIELD – She began working at Clearfield Hospital as a teenager and became known as a legend. Now the memory of B. Ellen “Bert” Armstrong will live on through the Armstrong Birthing Center at Clearfield Hospital.
The center’s construction began in the late summer of 2006, and about a half-million dollars later, the center now boasts four labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum suites.
The LDRPs are designed to look like a room at home and have state-of-the art equipment that allows women to go through the labor and delivery processes and then recover and complete their hospital stay all in the same room.
The center also has three private patient rooms, new furniture and equipment and a hydro-massage whirlpool room.
Dr. Thomas A. Carnevale, chief of obstetrics at the hospital, said Armstrong “cared about all of the citizens of Clearfield.”
He joked that “she was a no B.S. R.N. from the old school.”
Dr. Jennifer L. Graham, chief of pediatrics at the hospital, was moved to tears remembering that Armstrong was there for all of her family’s births.
“Mrs. Armstrong was the epitome of what a nurse should be.”
Armstrong passed away in March, but her husband said she was aware of the center’s construction before her death.
“She was very pleased and very, very proud,” Philip Armstrong said.
“There aren’t any words … to express our deep appreciation and gratitude,” he said.
The project was completed with the help of $50,000 from the Clearfield Hospital Auxiliary and more than $20,000 from the Clearfield Foundation for Health.
All new arrivals also receive a special meal for parents, an embroixered blanket for newborns, hand-knit caps made by Clearfield Hospital Comfort Care volunteers and a birth certificate suitable for framing.
The facility has been in use since February.