REXBURG - "When we opened the new labor and delivery unit 10 1/2 years ago, we thought that would hold us for a while. We found the minute we opened, we were already out grown. Then we opened up the new mother baby unit 3 years ago, and we had outgrown it almost in the weeks of opening," said Tammy Ferney, a Nurse Manager with Obstetric Neonatal Services.

Madison County has the highest per capita birth rate in the state of Idaho. With the latest expansion, the hospital brings its total number of beds to 65.

"We deliver as many babies you usually see in larger cities with 200 bed hospital, and here we are, this small rural hospital in South Eastern Idaho, and we're delivering that same amount of babies," said Ferney.

So it's no surprise that the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is quite large in comparison to hospitals in comparable cities. It allows safe delivery of babies of at least 32 weeks gestation. Babies who are born sooner than that go to EIRMC.

"We have state of the art equipment, that you would find in any neonatal intensive care unit in the country," said Ferney.

This piece of equipment is state of the art. It works as an open bed warmer, it has a heat lamp. It closes down and becomes an incubator, and it also has a scale.

"The fact that we can do that in this hospital with these young infants and sick infants, to be able to nurture them back to health is a very rewarding experience. And when you see them on the streets with their families on the streets a couple years later, we don't forget them and they don't forget us," said Ferney.