INTEGRIS Health Edmond Hospital has quietly wrapped up a major overhaul of its Women’s Center, expanding labor-and-delivery capacity, adding another operating room and boosting neonatal care. The upgrade means more private postpartum rooms, new triage beds intended to speed admissions and fewer long waits on a very big day for Edmond families.
According to Journal Record, the renovated unit now has 16 labor-and-delivery recovery and postpartum suites, three triage beds and a five-bed Level II special care nursery. The project tacked on three new labor-and-delivery recovery and postpartum rooms and a second operating room to improve patient flow. The paper also reports that the center’s staff includes an all-female team of board-certified specialists: Courtney Seacat, M.D.; Katie Shepherd, D.O.; Leah Skaggs, M.D.; Erin Alward, M.D.; Anna McQuary, M.D.; Andrea Partida, D.O.; and Yolanda Prassada, PA-C, with Anna Hooks, D.O., scheduled to join this summer as the seventh O.B. specialist.
In a statement to Journal Record, Susan Duthie, nursing manager at INTEGRIS Health Edmond Hospital, said, "This expansion reflects our dedication to advancing women’s and newborn healthcare." She added that the extra suites and the additional operating room are expected to help the unit keep up with growing demand and cut down on delays for patients.
Support services and staffing
As noted in a press release from INTEGRIS Health, the hospital had already laid out plans for more private labor-and-delivery rooms and another C-section suite to meet local needs. INTEGRIS Health also highlights prenatal classes, lactation consultations and a weekly “Milk Bar” that supports more than 1,000 breastfeeding mothers each year.
The Milk Bar resources page on the INTEGRIS Health site lists meeting times, contact information and the Edmond Women’s Center location for in-person lactation support. Hospital officials say the added clinical space is designed to work hand in hand with those services so mothers and newborns can get care, education and follow-up in one place.
Why it matters for Edmond families
Since INTEGRIS Edmond is currently the only hospital in the city that delivers babies, the expansion is a big deal for local parents-to-be. More rooms and a second operating suite mean fewer transfers out of town and more capacity to handle busy nights with multiple deliveries.
For new parents, that translates into shorter drives for urgent pregnancy care, postpartum support and newborn monitoring that might previously have meant a trip to a larger regional center. Hospital leaders say the project also helps with staffing and scheduling by spreading cases across more rooms and another operating room, which can make the whole process run a little smoother when things get hectic.
Expectant parents interested in touring the unit or signing up for classes can call the Edmond Women’s Center at 405-657-3250 or search "INTEGRIS Health Edmond labor and delivery" to find the hospital’s patient resources. Hospital staff say additional staffing and facility improvements are on the way as demand continues to grow through the rest of the year.
