“We know that women make the decisions about where their family receives healthcare and we want to make all of our services available to all of the women in our community,”  - Dr. Patricia Maryland, executive vice president and regional chief operating officer of St.Vincent Health

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – St.Vincent Women’s Hospital will host a Celebration of Women during events this week that showcase the $19 million remodeling and expansion of the healthcare facility dedicated to women of all ages.

The ceremonies, at St.Vincent Women’s Hospital, 8111 Township Line Rd., include:

• Blessing and Dedication - 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 16.
• Gala featuring Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker - 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16.

The hospital combines the Family Life Center of St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital with St.Vincent Women’s Hospital to create a premier healthcare experience for women. St.Vincent purchased Women’s Hospital in September, 2003 and began planning for remodeling and construction almost immediately.

“St.Vincent Women’s Hospital has been built and designed around a woman’s unique needs for all aspects of health care,” says Anne Coleman, administrator of St.Vincent Women’s Hospital. “This hospital gives us the opportunity to treat the medical needs of women, and to treat their emotional and spiritual needs, too.”

The Virginia B. Fairbanks Pavilion, part of the 60,000-square foot expansion, features the admitting area, a reception lounge, the chapel and a gift shop. A Women’s Education and Resource Center will be located there in the future. The pavilion was donated by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation.

Other new areas of the hospital include a 75-bed Newborn Intensive Care Unit that features 14 separate suites for multiple births. St.Vincent Women’s Hospital NICU is the largest in the state of Indiana and is staffed by board certified neonatologists providing around the clock care. Two Newborn/Pediatric Transport units travel statewide with a neonatologist, an RN and a respiratory therapist to begin caring for babies on their way to the NICU at St.Vincent Women’s Hospital.

Among the maternity services offered are a Maternal Fetal Medicine and Genetics Center with prenatal diagnostic testing, genetic counseling and high risk pregnancy management. The High Risk unit offers 26 private rooms in a home-like environment for those patients who expect an extended hospital stay. The Family Care Unit offers 48 private patient rooms, a nursery, lactation consultants and a newborn portrait studio.

“Our new construction and remodeling allows us to treat our patients in a state-of- the-art-facility, which offers the amenities our patients tell us they desire,” says Rick Gates, MD, medical director, St.Vincent Women’s Hospital. “While maternity services are certainly an important component of our health care ministry, we also offer urologic, plastic and breast surgical services. Additionally, we are the gateway to all women’s services available throughout St.Vincent.”

The medical-surgical unit features 13 private rooms for women undergoing a variety of procedures, including breast, urologic, gynecologic and plastic-reconstructive surgeries. Diagnostic equipment available includes ultrasound and mammography. A full-service laboratory is also on site.

All patient rooms are private. “We believe in family-centered care and these rooms allow us to accommodate the patient and the family in a room that is aesthetically like a hotel and less like a clinical environment,” Coleman explains.

“Our facility provides women of all ages seamless access to services at the Women’s Hospital and to those available at St.Vincent Indianapolis and Carmel hospitals, St.Vincent Breast Center and services available at St.Vincent Children’s Hospital and the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center,” explains Patricia A. Maryland, Dr.PH, executive vice president and regional chief operating officer of St.Vincent Health.