Mount Alvernia Hospital Tour

I did a hospital tour at Mount Alvernia Hospital today! It may seem silly since P was born there, but I didn't do the hospital tour when I was pregnant with P and quite curious what they cover during the tour. Also, I wanted to know how the hospital renovations were coming along, especially with the car park.

Mount Alvernia Hospital provides a Free Shuttle Bus Service that operates from Monday to Saturday (excluding Sundays and Public Holidays) to/fro the following stations:

• Bishan
• Novena
• MacRitchie Reservoir Carpark

Since there wasn't a direct bus from my house, I decided to take their shuttle from Bishan MRT (in front of 7-11). It would be helpful to check the shuttle bus schedules from their website. Since the hospital tour starts at 2.30PM, I thought I will take the 1.55PM shuttle from Bishan and reach in plenty of time. However, the shuttle only arrived at about 2.10PM, so I was just in time to report to the Patient Liaison Centre located at the Main Lobby. Hence, please buffer for late arrival of the shuttle bus if you intend to take it.

There were already a few people in the Patient Liaison Centre, presumably also going for the hospital tour. The receptionist took my name, handed me a goodie bag and some information they were going to touch on during the tour. 

Contents of Mount Alvernia goodie bag

Information on the benefits and privileges of the Mount Alvernia Ladies card is probably the greatest takeaway from the hospital tour. I signed up for the card during a baby fair in May 2013 in order to do a health screening prior to trying to conceive. There wasn't a clear explanation given by them at that point in time on what were the privileges. It was a vague "You get savings on maternity packages, health screenings etc", but since I intended to do health screening, I signed up without asking too much. I also thought there will be lots of information available online with regards to the benefits of the card, but I couldn't find much. Well, there you go, the benefits and privileges of the Mount Alvernia Ladies card... You could also apply online via their website.

For today's hospital tour, we had 4 couples, 3 mothers (who came alone, including me) and 1 mother who came with a friend. My ex-colleague (due on 8 May) was supposed to join me, but she couldn't make it due to work commitments. I guess if everyone turn up in full force with their hubbies, we can expect at least 18 people on the tour.Our tour guide started the tour by going through basic information like maternity packages, and letting us know the tour route we will be taking later. Clyde must have been raring to go on the tour, for he kept kicking me during the entire explanation. The moment we started walking, he only kicked every once in a while, which hopefully means his nod of approval.

We were taken to the delivery suites (where they induced my birth previously), the rooms (only the 2-Bed Room, Single Room and the Single Deluxe Room were available for viewing), the nursery (where babies are) and the Alvernia Parentcraft Centre (final stop). At the end of the tour, we were given a drinks coupon each, which we could redeem from the cafe at L1.

Some useful info I got from the tour:

• The newly constructed car park is now open, but because they do not have a TOP date yet, the lifts are not functioning. It will be good to drop your pregnant/in-labour wives off at the lobby before you go in search of parking
• Maternity packages will start on the date of your delivery. E.g. if you check in on Monday and give birth within Monday, they will not charge extra. If you check in on Monday and give birth on Tuesday, maternity package start on Tuesday but you have to pay delivery suite and nurse charges for that night.
• Do pre-admission registration ahead of time so that all details will be made available to hospital the moment they have your ic number during check in. For pre-admission form, need to complete the Expected Date of Admission field in order to get an SMS confirmation from Mt A that they have received your details.
• Companion is only allowed for single rooms, and a companion fee of $80.25 applies. It covers 3 meals for the companion as well. If you have the financial power to go for the Family Suite (one and only in the hospital at a whopping $896.66/night), the companion fee is included as part of the package.
• The hospital do not encourage us to bring our breast pumps because the nurses will not wash and sterilise for us. Instead, we could rent one from them at $20 for the entire hospital stay. In view of this, I'm considering put my dual breast pump purchase on hold and try out the hospital pumps first. I will still have my Medela Swing and Avent manual from 1st pregnancy as backup, although both didn't work well for me previously.

I can't help but feel excited after the tour. Clyde hits Week 26 today, which means I'll be seeing him in about 14 weeks' time ^^