Regions Hospital delivers new birth center’s first baby shortly after doors open

The 160,000-square-foot Regions Hospital Family Birth Center was designed with families in mind.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It’s a birth center! The Regions Hospital Family Birth Center delivered its first baby Wednesday, shortly after opening its doors for the first time. Baby Christopher couldn’t wait to check the place out and was born to mother Marissa Olson and father Christopher Roth, of White Bear Lake, at 11:11 a.m., less than an hour after labor began.

The three-story, 160,000-square-foot birth center has increased space and expanded services to improve health outcomes for moms and babies. It was designed for patients to have a birth experience that reflects their culture and values.

At Regions Hospital, 60 percent of patients who deliver at the birth center are people of color, and 25 percent of patients need an interpreter for their care. Those are two reasons why Regions took an intentional and thoughtful approach to health equity at the birth center with three areas of focus to improve outcomes: measuring and understanding patient experiences and outcomes by race, ethnicity and language; partnering and connecting with the communities it serves; and training care teams in racial equity and bias.

Regions broke ground on the birth center in October 2018, making a major investment as part of HealthPartners’ integrated system of care. Just like Little Moments Count, the statewide movement to help parents and communities understand the importance of early childhood development, the birth center is focused on health equity to ensure every child gets a chance for a healthy start.

“We are proud of this investment in the community and east metro’s next generation,” Regions Hospital President Megan Remark said. “We have combined the latest medical knowledge with deep community cultural insights, and this is part of our commitment to starting on the right foot. We want every patient to feel welcome, included and valued.”

The Regions Hospital Family Birth Center is the first in Minnesota to feature enhanced couplet care rooms. This model of care is designed and equipped to keep families together when a baby needs a higher level of care but doesn’t need to go to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Studies show that keeping moms and babies together, whenever possible, improves health outcomes for the whole family.

Features and amenities include:

• Larger, private birthing and postpartum suites
• Hotel-style bathrooms
• Water birth suites
• First-in-the-market expanded NICU with adjoining, private family spaces complete with sleeping areas and private bathrooms
• Expanded rooms for high-risk moms and babies
• Close and convenient reserved parking attached to the birth center
• Larger, dedicated spaces for family, visitors and care team collaboration
• Free high-speed Wi-Fi
• Large hydrotherapy tubs
• Personal refrigerators

WATCH: The All-New Regions Hospital Family Birth Center

The safety of moms, babies and families is at the forefront of every aspect of the new birth center. The award-winning teams of physicians, nurses, midwives, lactation consultants and pediatricians will care for high- and low-risk deliveries in a calm and welcoming environment.

“We have a space that matches our incredible group of highly trained and compassionately caring professionals,” Rochelle Johnson, the director of nursing at the Regions Hospital Family Birth Center, said. “This place has everything and everyone to provide the highest-quality care and birth experience.”

The building was designed by BWBR Architects. Kraus-Anderson was the contractor.