St. Vincent dedicates hospital
for women and babies

By Mary Ann Wyand           

The new St. Vincent Women’s Hospital at 8111 Township Line Road in Indian-
apolis was dedicated on Sept. 16 and praised for providing state-of-the-art health care for women, infants and families in one location.

The newly renovated and expanded hospital for women of all ages and babies opened three weeks ago with private rooms, specialized neonatal care facilities and many of the amenities of a hotel stay.

It houses seven obstetrical triage rooms, 16 labor, delivery and recovery rooms, 26 high-risk antepartum care unit rooms, a 75-bed newborn intensive care unit, and a 48-bed family care unit for postpartum and newborn care.

The hospital also has a 13-bed medical and surgical unit, and seven operating room suites specializing in general surgery, gynecological procedures and breast surgeries as well as imaging and laboratory services.

The newborn intensive care unit is staffed by neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists and physical therapists.

The hospital also provides newborn transport services for critically ill newborns with two custom ambulances.

The Daughters of Charity hospital system purchased the Women’s Hospital in 2003 from the Humana Hospital chain, which opened it in 1983 to provide health services for women of all ages.

Mara Hoberty, a St. Vincent marketing associate, is looking forward to delivering her second child there in October.

“I’m excited [about the new hospital],” she said. “My first child was born at the [St. Vincent] Family Life Center [formerly on the West 86th Street campus] and my second child will be born here. I’m excited to see the changes and the beautiful rooms. I’ve already taken a parenting class here and had a tour. It will be nice. I’m looking forward to meeting the staff too.”

Hoberty said “any women’s and infant’s health needs can be found in one location. Instead of having to go from campus to campus, everything is combined here in one building.”

Sharon Johns, a perinatal support services staff member, said childbirth education classes offered at the hospital empower women and families “to give birth in a very positive situation” with a focus on “care for mind, body and spirit, and that’s what we offer in our childbirth education classes.”

Julie Miller, a chaplain at the St. Vincent Children’s Hospital on West 86th Street, said the new women’s and infants’ hospital is easily accessible for individuals and
families.

“Both facilities have had a great history and a tradition of providing care for women through the years,” Miller said. “I think the plan to combine the best of both places and to make it the best in Indiana is just a phenomenal vision for us.”

Miller said “the facilities are wonderful, and the associates will put themselves in the places of the patients and families and ask, ‘What can we do to make this the best possible for everybody?’ So not only are the facilities inviting and accommodating, but the associates themselves go out of their way to make it the best hospital stay possible.”

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, dedicated the new chapel at St. Vincent Women’s Hospital on Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

“Mary, given the singular privilege of being the Mother of Jesus, is also the Mother of Sorrows,” Msgr. Schaedel said in his homily. “Mary had no idea how her life would change, the suffering she would have to endure, that day she said ‘yes’ to the angel. Be the Mother of the Savior—yes! Be the Mother of Sorrows—not so sure. Yet, this was the plan. Mary’s life was as God intended. … It’s a reminder that she was only human [and] we are only human. There is no heaven on earth. The Virgin Mary suffered, so she understands our sorrows. … When we pray, she prays with us.

“People will come to this chapel to pour out their hearts,” he said. “Many will spill out heavy burdens—worries about their health, a loved one’s prognosis, the complicated birth of a child. Some, like Mary, will bring broken hearts when they lose someone to death. Our Lady of Sorrows will be here—at the side of her Divine Son. God designed things this way, so she could be our advocate, a consoler.”

This hospital chapel will be a place “to pour out in silence sorrows in our hearts,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “Yet we mostly come here to listen, to find comfort. Another title Catholics use for Mary is Our Lady of Consolation. It’s the way God planned all along. She prays with us and for us—as we say in that familiar prayer—now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” †