Washington Health System’s (WHS) Washington Hospital (Washington, Pa.) sought to transform its obstetrics unit and create a birthing center where families can welcome their babies in a homelike atmosphere while receiving care.

Opened in March 2020, the Care Center for Family Birth and Women’s Health is located on the fifth floor of WHS Washington Hospital and features 13 private postpartum and recovery rooms for obstetric patients and patients who have gynecologic surgery. The birth center also includes five labor and delivery suites, a surgical delivery room, and a nursery with a Level 2 special care area for infants with special medical needs.

The 22,000-square-foot renovation of the obstetrics unit, which hadn’t been remodeled in more than 20 years. The firm worked closely with the Washington Hospital team to project future needs and determine the appropriate number of labor, delivery, recovery/postpartum rooms. From those projections and overall space planning, they were able to consolidate rooms and support spaces to enlarge certain programs to contemporary sizing benchmark standards. For example, postpartum rooms were consolidated, allowing each room to be enlarged by 150 percent with dedicated family alcoves and the family lounge is bigger with a dedicated children’s area with interactive technology.